Research Paper Vaslav Nijinsky - Admission/Application Essay Example

In her memoirs, Bronislava describes her brother as a lively, mischievous boy who “could bounce just as high and forcefully as a rubber ball” (Encyclopedia.com). Nijinsky was accepted by the prestigious Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg at the age of ten.  He was chosen along with five others from 150 auditioners. His ballet teacher, N. Legat, soon recognized his genius as a dancer. However, he was a poor academic student, except in Geometry. His school dance and mime performances established him as a child prodigy.

On his graduating with honors from the Imperial School in 1908, Nijinsky became a regular member of the Imperial Ballet, starting as a coryphee, one rank higher than the customary entry level into the corps de ballet (Acocella). Nijinsky started his professional career by partnering the leading ballerinas at the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg. Male solo parts were rare at that time. His first patron was thirty-year-old Prince Pavel Lvov, a wealthy sports enthusiast, with whom Nijinsky probably had his first sexual relationship.

In 1908, Lvov introduced Nijinsky to Sergei Pavlovitch Diaghilev. This was to prove the most significant relationship of Nijinsky’s life. Diaghilev, a leader of the St. . In 1913, Nijinsky and Diaghilev grew apart. Diaghilev gradually lessened Nijinsky’s importance in the Ballet Russes. In the summer of 1913, while on a tour of South America, Nijinsky married Romola de Pulszky (1891-1978), a wealthy, headstrong Hungarian who wooed him resolutely. As a consequence, the enraged Diaghilev fired Nijinsky from the Ballet Russes.

Nijinsky’s attempt to conduct his own company of ballet dancers through a season in London failed. The increased stress and responsibilities led to the beginning of his psychosis. At the outbreak of World War I in 914, Nijinsky was interred as a civilian prisoner of war in Budapest. In 1916, he rejoined the Ballet Russes for a season in the United States, which was only moderately successful. The following cross-country tour was a financial disaster. Severe disagreements with Diaghilev totally severed their personal relationship.

With another brief tour in South America, Nijinsky ended his professional life. He moved with his family to St. Moritz in 1917 (Acocella). Signs of Nijinsky’s schizophrenia were now apparent. It may have had genetic roots, as his brother was hospitalized with mental illness as a teenager and his maternal grandmother starved herself to death. Nijinsky may also have suffered brain damage in a serious fall when he was twelve. Over the next decade, Nijinsky was in and out of mental institutions in search of a cure.

When specialists discounted any chances of recovery, Nijinsky was finally committed to an asylum in 1918, where he remained until his death in 1950. Nijinsky’s descent into madness is tragic. He was always an introvert, who lacked social communication skills. According to the dancer Lydia Sokolova, “when addressed, he turned his head furtively, looking as if he might