page_title: Vaslav Nijinsky
section_title: In ballet
hierarchical_section_title: Vaslav Nijinsky / Cultural depictions / In ballet
caption_attribution_description: English: Nijinski Vaslav and Bronislava by Gennadij Jerszow.Grand Theatre, WarsawPolski: Niżyński Wacław i Bronisława autorstwa Gennadija Jerszowa. Teatr Wielki w WarszawieРусский: Нижинский Вацлав и Бронислава, скульптор Геннадий Ершов. Большой Театр, Варшава.
context_page_description: Vaslav Nijinsky was a Polish ballet dancer and choreographer cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. Born in Kiev to Polish parents, Nijinsky grew up in Imperial Russia but considered himself to be Polish. He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps.
  Nijinsky was introduced to dance by his parents, who were senior dancers with the travelling Setov opera company, and his early childhood was spent touring with the company. His older brother Stanislav and younger sister Bronislava "Bronia" Nijinska also became dancers; Bronia also became a choreographer, working closely with him for much of his career. At age nine Nijinsky was accepted at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, the pre-eminent ballet school in the world. In 1907, he graduated and became a member of the Imperial Ballet, starting at the rank of coryphée instead of in the corps de ballet, already taking starring roles.
  In 1909 he joined the Ballets Russes, a new ballet company started by Sergei Diaghilev.
context_section_description: Nijinsky, Clown of God, choreography by Maurice Béjart, to music by Pierre Henry and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. First performed by the Ballet of the Twentieth Century, Brussels, 1971.
  Vaslav (1979) Hamburg Ballet, choreographer John Neumeier
  Nijinsky – Divine Dancer (1990) by Joseph Hölderle (composer) and Juha Vanhakartano (choreographer). The libretto (Juha Vanhakartano) is based on Nijinsky's diary. The two act ballet (1st "Life" / 2nd "Death") was commissioned in 1989 on the occasion of Nijinsky's 100th birthday (1889 or 1890) by the Finnish National Opera and it was premiered on 18 January 1990 at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki.
  Nijinski, choreography by Marco Goecke, to music by Frédéric Chopin. First performed by Gauthier Dance at the Theaterhaus in Stuttgart, Germany. In performance at the Staatsoper Hannover in the 2019/2020 season.
caption: Sculpture of Vaslav and Bronislava Nijinska by Giennadij Jerszow, the Grand Theatre, Warsaw
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