As audience members enter the Regent Theatre and take their seats, a pianist is already playing on stage to set the scene.
Part 1 transports us to a ballroom of the Suvretta House Hotel in St Moritz, Switzerland. It’s 19 January 1919 and preparations are underway for the great Vaslav Nijinsky’s last public performance.
Dialogue is incorporated into this opening scene, as a smattering of guests arrive to watch the improvised solo Nijinsky called his Wedding With God. Legend has it that Nijnsky began this performance seated in a chair, glaring at his discomfited audience for half an hour. Although choreographer John Neumeier realistically recreates this setting, the timeline is condensed for obvious reasons.
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After debuting in The Australian Ballet’s premiere performances of John Neumeier’s production in 2016, Callum Linnane reprises the titular role. Once again, he demonstrates astonishing emotional depth and technical virtuosity throughout – the Parisians dubbed Nijinsky “le dieu de la danse” (the god of dance), so no pressure, right?
Linnane boasts a magnetic stage presence and his striking facial features enhance the agony and ecstasy; he really looks the part.
Nijinsky’s schizophrenia symptoms prematurely terminated his illustrious dancing career after only ten years. Then he tragically lived out his 30 subsequent years in and out of institutions.
Neumeier’s demanding, contemporary-based choreography – which draws from a limitless movement vocabulary – often leans into ugliness to reflect the fragile mental states of multiple characters. No video footage of Nijinsky’s dancing exists – only still photographs – and Neumeier utilises some of his most recognisable gestures as recurring motifs throughout.
Dancing Nijinsky’s mentally ill brother Stanislav, Elijah Trevitt is transfixing and appropriately confronting; precise positioning down to the fingertips and toenails refine his every line.
His brother’s wartime death haunts Nijinsky’s troubled mind, which plays out on stage like a series of unwelcome hallucinations.
The picture of elegance and poise, Grace Carroll inhabits the role of Nijinsky’s devoted-to-a-fault wife, Romola. Maxim Zenin’s portrayal of dance impresario Sergei Diaghilev – Nijinsky’s mentor/lover and founder of the Ballet Russes – is immaculate, thanks to his perfect posture, long limbs and lines. As Harlequin, Marcus Morelli’s meticulous dancing is a delight to watch and he lands every single complex pirouette sequence with the utmost control.
This production of Nijinsky requires many male leads, since this virtuosic dancer’s most iconic roles are incorporated as separate characters within the storyline. Jake Mangakahia (The Golden Slave, The Faun) shines within a show-stopping pas de trois as The Faun dances with Nijinsky and Romola – those breathtaking lift combinations, though!
Neumeier’s sets and costumes are inspired by the exotic glamour of the Ballets Russes. Throughout, the mise en scène miraculously transforms, escaping our notice while we’re distracted by the dancing. The Regent Theatre’s side boxes are even utilised at one point as the dancers portray spectators.
Orchestra Victoria’s versatility is on full display here, with Part 1 (Chopin, Schumann, Rimsky-Korsakov) starkly contrasting Part 2, where Nijinsky’s descent into madness is accompanied by a selection of Shostakovich’s sonatas and the striking Symphony No. 11 in G Minor.
An unconventional ballet for connoisseurs, Nijinsky immortalises this tortured luminary whose mad genius permeated his artistic legacy. It’s a deliberately challenging work, for dancers and audiences alike. Recommended for mature audiences.
Nijinsky runs at Regent Theatre until 1 March.
