Bronislava Nijinska Is Back In Ballet

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30603, 20 November 1964, Page 2

Bronislava Nijinska Is Back In Ballet

Madame Bronislava Nijinska was literally bom into dancing. Her mother came off stage from dancing a mazurka at 10 one evening and gave birth to Bronislava two hours later. Her elder brother was the great Vaslav Nijinsky. Now, at 75, she has suddenly emerged again, bringing the illustrious family name back to the forefront of ballet, says a London correspondent.

Madame Nijinska is rehearsing the Royal Ballet in “Les Biches,” her own ballet first performed at Monte Carlo in 1924 to be presented at Covent Garden on December 2. In England this one-act ballet has always been known as "The House Party.” It was in the repertoire of the Markova-Dolin company (1937) and the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet (1947). It is danced to the music of Poulenc Golden Age “Les Biches” was quite revolutionary when it was first produced towards the end of the Golden Age of ballet. Madame Nijinska was encouraged to be daring by her contemporaries—men and women with names as legendary as her own—among them Diaghilev. Madame Nijinska had come from Kiev and Moscow, where she had been dancing and training young dancers and working out new ballets. She was probably the world’s first woman choreographer. She built up a great reputation in Czarist Russia and survived the revolution. The Russians, whatever their political affiliations, have always been tender towards anyone connected with the ballet. Tragic Life In a long and successful life there has been much sadness. Her brother. Vaslav, became insane. Her son, Leon, was killed at 17 in 1935 in a motoring accident in France. Shortly afterwards she went to live in Los Angeles, where she set up a ballet school. Even at an age when most women would be content to settle for a rocking chair and memories, Madame Nijinska does not regard her life’s work as complete. She wants to publish a book about her brother: the definitive work. “Much,” she says, “has been written about him, and written badly because it was done by people who did not really understand his technique, his art, and his genius.” In the meantime she is back in ballet, looking no-

where near her age. Clad in slacks, a silk blouse, green socks she leaps about shouting instructions in Russian and in French. In the strict world of ballet, she. is strictness itself. The girls may not talk to the boys during rehearsals and leaning on the piano is not allowed. Madame Nijinska is keeping the Royal Ballet dancers on their toes. (All Rights Reserved.)