Vaslav Nijinsky Rite Of Spring Analysis

On May 29, 1913, spectators filled every sit in the theatre des Champs-Elysees in Paris. They sat in anticipation of celebrated dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps, in English, The Rite of Spring, a ballet set on the dancers of the critically-acclaimed Russian company, Ballets Russes. Ever since its inception in French courts in the 15th century, ballet has remained a pastime reserved for those with class. When one envisions a ballet, they imagine an evening of grace—an art form that gives off an air of elegance. However, as these highly civilized theatergoers soon found out, Nijinsky’s ballet strayed quite far from the virtues of grace and class—so far so that this dignified group of people found themselves rapidly devolving into primitive entities filled with rage. They had expected to attend a ballet that reinforced their civilized status. The title, The Rite of Spring, gives implications of a performance brimming with spring-themes of new life and rebirth. With this in mind, they hoped to see beautiful tutu-clad ballerinas en pointe, and maybe a few men in tights to accompany them. Instead, Nijinsky’s ballet presented them with two primitive pagan tribes dressed in “holiday peasant wear—bloused tunics in heavy white or red felt” who believed that in order to protect the earth, …show more content…
He took the place of the maiden and danced his career to death. Mialet, in her essay, Do Angels Have Bodies, in which she explores the nature of a genius, notes that “the individual himself [does not call] himself an innovator, but rather his surroundings which [qualify] him as such” (554). Similar to Mialet’s exhibit William, an innovator in thermodynamic technologies, Nijinsky “was constantly evaluated by others—that is he was qualified by his co-workers and subordinates to be an innovator” (554). However, unlike William, he did not maintain this designation as a genius because The Rite of Spring