Nijinsky

This is the second time that the Australian Ballet have staged John Neumeier’s ballet about one of the 20^th century’s greatest male dancers.  To many, Nijinsky was and continues to be the ‘god of dance’ but in this production the madness of the artist is laid traumatically bare.

If you are hoping your night at the ballet will include sparkles and pointe shoes you will probably find yourself disappointed with this telling of the life, or at least parts thereof, of one of the greatest ballet dancers of history.  Nijinsky ruled the stages of the Ballet Russes and brought the Russian style to Paris in the early part of last century. Sadly his career was marred by his quickening decsent into schizophrenia and he spent most of the latter part of his life institutionalized.  On January 19^th 1919 Nijinsky danced in public for the last time.  It is this performance, titled ‘Wedding with God’, that starts Neumeier’s ballet.

Callum Linnane anchors the performance as one of many versions of Nijinsky in this ballet, often interacting with others dancing as the titular character in other ballets. Linnane has grown in the time since his rapid rise to Principal Artist with the ballet. Nijinsky is an incredibly physical role for him, complete with lifts of his male counterparts, and these things Linnane handles easily. He has now also developed his performance skills – separate and yet tied to the dance – where the level of intensity is sometimes frighteningly believable and Nijinsky grabs for or pushes away the madness he will not be able to escape.   Ballet Russes Impresario and Nijinsky’s lover, Serge Diaghilev, is played by Soloist Maxim Zenin and it is in the interaction of these two men that the first moments of peace and tenderness appear in this ballet.  There is a lovely pas de deux which demonstrates the great love and reliance that the two men at one point had.  There is a tenderness in the way that Diaghilev (Zenin) carries Nijinsky (Linnane) onto the stage in his arms.  That is until you are once again reminded that Nijinsky is unable to connect with himself and in no fit state to dance once again. 

As Act I continues we see Linnane’s Nijinsky remembering and even interacting with his favorite past roles. The Nijinsky of the present dances with himself as Harlequin and Spectre of the Rose (Marcus Morelli), Golden Slave and Faun (Jake Mangakahia) and later in Act II with himself as Petruschka (Brodie James).  What should have been an inspired idea by Neumeier actually becomes quite confusing in these interactions with no real clarity about where we are or why. The dancing in and of itself is wonderful and perhaps that’s all some audience members want.  Grace Carroll and Jill Ogai are excellent as Nijinsky’s wife and sister respectively, but there isn’t a lot of meat in their roles.

In Act II, the Nijinsky who had started on the precipice of sanity has completely lost his grip on reality and almost the entire act consists of the Corps entering and leaving the space wearing military jackets whilst Elijah Trevitt depicts Nijinsky’s brother Stanislav and his own battle with mental health. Linnane’s Nijinsky then battles with his wife Romola (Carroll) in a confronting violent piece of choreography which includes him kicking her in the face while she lays on the ground.

This ballet is not for the faint of heart. Act II is intense and in some ways almost traumatizing. It is, however, wonderfully staged and danced.

L.B. Bermingham

Photographer: Kate Longley