The tragic side of Nijinsky's immortality

But there is another side to Nijinsky's immortality, a tragic one.  This man will never die because he never lived.  From infancy on, his life was hemmed in by impediments.  Some of these he tried to leap over -- his father's abandonment, his mother's poverty, the exploitation of talent that is so often found in institutions, schools, and companies where artists work.  When he was young and supple, he had a phenomenal track record.  He danced all the great roles and created new ones.  He achieved stardom in only a few years.  He found love in the arms of men and women.  He became world famous.  Yet certain barriers Nijinsky could never surmount -- the depressiveness in his family, the isolative, malignant qualities in his own personality, and the psychosis that he shared with his brother.  As long as he was in the theater and pretending to be a slave, clown, lover, specter, puppet, half-animal, or whatever role he was dancing, the inner disturbances of mood could be kept under control.  Offstage, however, he remained childlike, helpless, and insecure, with but a single interest -- the art of ballet -- to give any meaning to his life.

Most of his relationships with people were grossly impaired by an irritable, tempestuous explosiveness.  Outbursts of rage would disrupt his sweet, affectionate, and childlike appeal.  Lovers could tolerate him only when there a a definite payoff -- sexual favors for Prince Lvov, dancing for Diaghilev, self-aggrandizement for Romola.  Handicapped by his utter perfectionism and a tendency to want to do everything in his own way, he finally became completely unsociable, an eccentric recluse.  Most of his ballets remained unfinished -- what a terrible loss.  Think of the marvelous things Nijinksy might have done with Mephisto Waltz, the Bach ballet, Papillons de la Nuit, or the improvisatory Dance of Life Against Death.  If only he had been able to work well with others and win the kind of support a man of genius needs.  The behavior of an artist may seem eccentric at times, but to succeed in the theater it is necessary to maintain a certain amount of sociability and be conciliatory.  A certain craftiness may also help, if one hopes to be a leader, to run a company, to form a school.  One must be able to bend to the will of others, and also know how to manipulate them.  These were qualities that Diaghilev and Romola Pulszky possessed.  But not Nijinsky.


Vaslav Nijinsky: A Leap into Madness by Peter Ostwald. 1991. Pages 339-40.