Nižinski
Norman Allen
Nijinsky’s Last Dance
Director: Marko Mlačnik
Translator: Jakob J. Kenda
Performed by: Primož Bezjak
Description
Vaslav Nijinsky (1890–1950) was a Russian ballet dancer and choreographer of Polish origins, but schizophrenia pre-empted his brilliant artistic career in 1919; what followed were three decades of hospitalization in various psychiatric institutions.
Marko Mlačnik’s production begins from the idea that dance, ballet, movement are the very basis of the Nijinsky personality phenomenon. Are dancers, like Martha Graham said, truly “God’s acrobats”? Does the thin line between a genius and a madman exist at all? What is the body’s response to schizophrenia and long-term isolation?