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| Scene from Nijinksy, representing The Afternoon of a Faun |
There was a standing ovation for the ballet Nijinsky,
an exciting début to this season’s impressive lineup of symphonies and dance
performances at theThéâtre des Champs-Elysées, The ballet follows the iconic
early 20th century dancer's rise as the muse and lover of Sergei Diaghilev of
the Ballets Russes, to his eventual tragic descent into mental illness.
The
Théatre des Champs Elysées hosted the Ballets Russes for its first
season in 1913, staging the première of the Rite of Spring,
with avant garde movements and music that shocked the Paris audience. The
jeers and catcalls were so deafening Nijinsky stood on a stool in the wings
shouting to the dancers to carry on and counting the beat as Stravinsky hung
onto his coat. There was an allusion to this
historic scene at the very same theater just over a century later
with the performance by the Ballet National du Canada of Nijinsky,
a piece created by American choreographer John Neumeier in 2000.
