Dancing genius
Subtitle: the stardom of Vaslav Nijinsky
By: Hanna Järvinen
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 325
ISBN-13: 9781137407726
Subjects: Ballet dancers; Biography; HISTORY / Europe / Eastern; PERFORMING ARTS / Dance / Classical & Ballet; PERFORMING ARTS / Theater / History & Criticism
Description: "Dancing Genius is the first book-length critical study on Vaslav Nijinsky as a star dancer of the Ballets Russes company. Through looking into definitions of virtuosity, stardom and genius, Hanna Ja;rvinen contrasts contemporary materials from Russia, France, England and the United States with later, hegemonic interpretations. Nijinsky emerges as a celebrity figure whose dancing was attributed with genius in order to raise the prestige of the art form, but a figure also attributed with 'racial' characteristics in a thoroughly Orientalist manner. Tracing the historical figure in contemporary documents and later reminiscences, the book opens up questions about authorship in dance, about critical evaluation of performance practice, and the manner in which past events are turned into history"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 283-316).
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Introduction: A Genealogy; title: PART I: THE RUSSIAN INVASION; title: 1. An Audience for Ballet; title: 2. Orientalism; title: PART II: THE SILENT BODY OF A GENIUS; title: 3. The Unique Genius; title: 4. Male Beauty; title: 5. Corporeality; title: 6. The Mad Genius; title: PART III: A RUSSIAN BALLET?; title: 7. The Old and the New Ballet; title: 8. Revolutionary Exiles; title: Conclusion; title: Bibliography; title: Index.