La Nijinska: Finally, the biography she deserves
By Kristen Lawson
Bronislava Nijinska had a profound impact on dance as both an artist and teacher, but she has largely been forgotten. Everybody has heard of the legendary avant-garde choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky, yet his equally talented sister, “Bronia,” was a phenomenal dancer and choreographer in her own right.
Dance historian and professor Lynn Garafola delves into the life and work of one of the 20th century’s most overlooked artists in La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern (Oxford University Press). Nijinska (1890-1972) created over 60 original works across Europe, Argentina, Australia, and the United States. Inspired by constructivism and other painting abstractions, she sculpted her ensembles into architectural shapes and complex movement patterns. She argued that the choreographer and composer should work together to create a unified ballet, and insisted that movement was the primary element in dance, rather than miming and poses.
Like her famous brother, she didn’t rely on codified steps when creating, but generated new movements. Unlike Nijinsky, whose career was cut short due to mental illness, Nijinska went on to create her own school of movement, training dozens of dancers over her more than 50-year career.
Nijinska had an innate understanding of the body and how to use it. “She used her upper body with freedom and in dynamic contrast with her legs; abandoning classical restraint, she infused the choreography with modern rhythm,” writes Garafola. She explains how Nijinska taught dancers to work with the deep muscles close to the core, emphasizing the importance of breath, balance, and a lack of tension.
Believing that training an artist’s mind was just as important as training their body, Nijinska’s students learned art history, music theory, movement creation, and design. She advocated for the modernist approach, in which the choreographer is responsible for all of the artistic direction of a work.
Garafola credits Nijinska with discovering and training many ballet stars of the 20th century, including Alicia Markova, Irina Baronova, and Maria Tallchief. She taught 12-year-old Allegra Kent not to be afraid to compete with the men in class, showing her that “an old woman, and a child” could move just as vigorously.
A powerful dancer, Nijinska believed that movements were not gender-specific. She played male and androgynous roles, and showed off her full virtuosity even when playing female characters. Male critics called her brazen self-awareness grotesque, urging her to dance in a more traditionally feminine (i.e. passive) manner.
In 1922, at 31, she became the first female choreographer and rehearsal director of Les Ballets Russes. Nijinska choreographed two of her most important works over the next two years. Les Noces has been recognized as one of the first neoclassical ballets, and was the company’s greatest success of the 1920s. The sexually charged Les Biches featured characters such as the androgynous Garçonne, two female “inseparable friends,” and Nijinska’s own role, The Hostess, who boldly danced men’s steps in heeled slippers.
Nijinska possessed seemingly inexhaustible energy. She moved from company to company, whipping the dancers into shape and producing works in record time. At 75 she was still dancing full out to demonstrate every movement in classes and rehearsals.
At almost 700 pages, La Nijinska: Choreographer of the Modern is a dense read. This chronicle paints a rich picture of Nijinska’s life and work but it’s easy to get lost in the immense detail. Much of the text is made up of quotes from diaries, articles, letters, and books. Since the Russian names are transliterated in different ways, depending on the source, they can be confusing. For example, Nijinska’s name can also appear as Nizhinskaia or Nizynska.
Yet, by the end, the pay-off is worth it. Nijinska is painted as a fully rounded artist and woman, as well as a brave one. As a young artist, Nijinska nearly starved to death in Kyiv after the Russian revolution, eventually fleeing with her mother and her two children. She settled in Paris, where she continued dancing and creating despite the hurdles of World War One and the Great Depression. In 1939, the family had to leave everything behind a second time and start again in California.
Throughout the text, we also witness the intrigue of ballet politics, full of broken promises, undercut artists, and unpaid salaries. Nijinska is hit hard by these dirty tactics more than once, having to borrow money to fund her own sets and costumes, fighting for fair payment, and building up enormous debts. She also dishes it out, refusing to work with certain artists, breaking contracts, and evading taxes.
With this biography, published 50 years after Nijinska’s death, Garafola has breathed new life into the history of the artist’s work. La Nijinska is finally being properly acknowledged for her contributions to dance in Europe and the Americas.
