About the work
Nijinsky is a full-length narrative ballet by John Neumeier, premiered in 2000 by the Hamburg Ballett. It portrays the life and mental disintegration of the legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and uses music by Chopin, Schumann, Rimsky-Korsakov, and above all Dmitri Shostakovich.
Plot
The ballet begins in 1919, at Nijinsky's last public appearance in a hotel in St. Moritz, shortly before his final descent into mental derangement. From this moment, his life unfolds in a sequence of memories and visions: his rise to celebrated star of the Ballets Russes, the formative relationship with the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, his great roles, his marriage to Romola, and the increasing loss of reality, overshadowed by the horror of the First World War.
Cultural significance
Nijinsky is regarded as one of John Neumeier's most important works and a high point of the psychological narrative ballet. Neumeier, a passionate Nijinsky collector, combines biographical accuracy with an expressive visual language that makes the madness experienceable from within. The title role is one of the most demanding in the modern repertoire, requiring exceptional dramatic and dance gifts. The work cemented the worldwide reputation of the Hamburg Ballett.