page_title: Bronislava Nijinska
section_title: Her initial coreographic work, and derivations
hierarchical_section_title: Bronislava Nijinska / As a choreographer / Diaghilev's 'Ballets Russes' in Paris and Monte Carlo 1921–1925 / Her initial coreographic work, and derivations
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Marius Petipa ()Deutsch: Kabinettkarte von Marius Petipa, um 1890—1895. Die handschriftliche Widmung ist mit dem 14. Februar 1898 datiert.
context_page_description: Bronislava Nijinska was a Polish ballet dancer, and an innovative choreographer. She came of age in a family of professional dancers. Her career began in Saint Petersburg. Soon she joined Ballets Russes which ventured to success in Paris. She later met war-time difficulties in Petrograd and in turbulent Kiev. In France again, public acclaim for her works came quickly, cresting in the 1920s. She then enjoyed continuing successes in Europe and the Americas.
  Nijinska played a pioneering role in the broad movement that diverged from 19th-century classical ballet. Her introduction of modern forms, steps, and motion, and a minimalist narrative, prepared the way for future neoclassical works.
  After serious home learning, she began at nine her lengthy formal training in Saint Petersburg, then the Russian capital. She graduated in 1908 as an 'Artist of the Imperial Theatres'. An early breakthrough came in 1910 in Paris when a member of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. For her dance solo Nijinska created the role of Papillon in Carnaval, a ballet written and designed by Fokine.
context_section_description: In 1921 Diaghilev asked Nijinska to return to Ballet Russes, chiefly for her choreography. He had become aware of her recent work in Kiev, especially that she had staged the Petipa-Ivanov classic Swan Lake, to music by Tchaikovsky. He had re-engaged her "because" of this demonstration of her abilities. As well as ballet mistress and a principal dancer, she was in line to be the Company's first and only female choreographer. Yet Diaghilev as ever was also cautious. Partly to test the quality of her work, and partly because of his company's financial condition, he first gave Nijinska major tasks in his on-going ballet productions.
caption: Marius Petipa in 1887
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