|
- - - -
Bronislava Nizhinskaya
NIZHINSKAYA Bronislava Fominichna
(01/08/1891 - 02/21/1972)
Ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, one of the reformers and greatest woman choreographers of the XX century
Bronislava Nizhinskaya, a sister of Vatslav Nizhinski, was born in Minsk. In 1900-1908 she studied at the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre School. In 1908-1911 she was a dancer of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, but later she left it in protest against the dismissal of her brother. In 1909-1913 Nizhinskaya performed in Paris (France) in the annual guest performances of the Russian opera and ballet "Russian Seasons", and performances of the ballet company "Russian Ballet" founded by S.P. Dyagilev. In 1914 she performed with the ballet company of her brother in London (United Kingdom). In 1915-1921 Nizhinskaya was a choreographer and a dancer of the Opera House in Kiev (Ukraine), where she started her own ballet school, and was engaged in teaching. In 1921 she emigrated to France. In 1921-1925 she was a dancer, director and choreographer of the troupe "Russian Ballet". Then she worked as a guest choreographer at the Paris Opera and the Teatro Colon (Columbus Theatre) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 1928 Nizhinskaya was an artistic director and choreographer of the troupe "The Ida Rubinstein Ballet", in 1930-1931 she worked with the Russian Opera House in Paris. In 1932-1934 Nizhinskaya owned her own ballet company, "The Nizhinskaya Dance Theatre", also called "The Bronislava Nizhinskaya Ballet". In 1935 she worked in the ballet troupe of the Russian Ballet of Monte Carlo, made her debut as a choreographer in the film "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by M. Reinhardt (Hollywood, the USA). In 1937 Nizhinskaya became the artistic director of the Paris troupe "The Polish Ballet", which presented five new ballets at the World Exhibition in Paris. Since 1939 Nizhinskaya stayed in the USA, where in 1941 she opened a ballet school in Los Angeles (California). Since 1952 she headed the school "Ballet Theatre" in New York. In the 1960ies she choreographed new ballets, renewed her earlier ballets in various theaters around the world, including the Royal Ballet in London. Nizhinskaya is choreographer of nearly 60 ballets, many of which are considered classics. She is best known for her ballet "Les Noces" ("The Wedding") staged in 1923 to the music of Igor Stravinsky. In 1920, in Kiev she published a book "School of Movement: the Theory of Choreography", which first outlined the principles of the neoclassical ballet choreography. Among her students there are Serge Lifar, Maria and Marjorie Tolchif, Allegra Kent, Syd Charisse. In 1967 Nizhinskaya directed the "Buffalo Ballet". She died in Pacific Palisades, near Los Angeles. There is a crater on Venus named after her.
Works:
1. Школа движения: теория хореографии. Киев, 1920.
2. Early memoirs. Durham: Duke University Press, 1981.
3. Ранние воспоминания: В 2 частях. М.: Артист. Режиссер. Театр, 1999.
Literature:
1. Van Norman Baer N. Bronislava Nijinska: A Dancer's Legacy. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1986.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
|
|
