Sunday 13 December 2015

Wacław Niżyński- forgotten genius

In Poland we have some troubles with being proud of and promote geniuses of our nation. There're two manifestations of it: we don't talk enough about them (abroad as well as at schools) or we don't know that many important people of the past had polish roots. Poles like Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Fryderyk Chopin, Wisława Szymborska or Jan Paweł II are world-wide known but even the Poles forget that a man who revolutionised the ballet and is considered a founder of modern dance- the  famous "God of dance" Vaslav Nijinsky (Wacław Niżyński)- was of polish descent.

Niżyński (1889- 1950) was a legend of his time. Till today he's considered the best dancer in the history, despite the fact that nowadays we can't see any video of him. Lack of technical equipment at the beginning of the century? No, Sergei Diaghilev, Niżyński's impresario, forbade recording him to guarantee his ward "eternal glory and fame". Wacław's dancing was enrapturing everyone who saw him on stage. He also introduced many technique innovations and changed the style of costumes. His visionary gift exploded when he became the choreographer of a new ballet in 1913. The collaboration between Niżyński, Igor Stravinsky (composer), Diaghilev (producer) and Nicholas Roerich (stage design) gave life to the ground-breaking masterpiece "The rite of spring" which totally changed music and dance. We could talk a lot about influences which "The rite of spring" has on culture till today, but the most interesting fact for us is Niżyński's choreography. You surely know how "classical ballet" is danced, a lot of you have heard about "The Swan Lake" or "The Nutcracker". Niżyński broke all the rules of classical dance to show the ancient world of Russia with cruel rite of sacrificing a chosen virgin to welcome the coming spring. Just watch the final dance of the chosen one (as well us listen to the music, which in 1913 was as controvertial as the choreography) and compare it with your imaginations of the classical dance!

During the first performance the audience divided into two camps (enthusiasts and their opposites) and they were whistling, applauding, quarelling and even scuffling so loudly that the dancers didn't hear the music! After a couple of years Niżyński's work was appreciated and his importance for ballet is renowned.

Unfortunately his career was short because of schizophrenia he struggled with for almost 30 years. This fight was reminded by Teatr Polski in Warsaw in a spectacle I'm going to write about in next post. Also, if you're interested in, I'll write more about "The rite of spring", mostly about Stravinsky's music, because there aren't many pieces of art which caused so many fervent discussions and scandals.