Fokine, Nižinskij, Nižinskaja between performance and Weltanschauung

Abstract

Elena Randi analyses and compares four masterpieces of the Ballets Russes: Petruška by Fokine (1911), L’Après-midi d’un faune (1912) and Le Sacre du Printemps (1913) by Nižinskij and Les Noces by Bronislava Nižinskaja (1923), observing that some of their themes correspond. But while in the former three works a belief in the existence of an ideal age or at least of an original perfect art still transpires, in Bronislava Nižinskaja’s Les Noces such belief in the ideal seems to evaporate, a sense of resignation rather emerging. Between them lay the First World War and the Russian Revolution – the latter, enthusiasti- cally welcomed by many at start, disappointed many supporters later on.