The Genius of Nijinsky – With Jill Rivers

Jill Rivers will tell the story of Nijinsky, the Russian Dancer  – a tale of brilliance and despair, of innocence and stardom, celebrity, sensitivity, and tragedy, and amongst the saddest historical cases of artistic success versus mental health.

Her interest in his story began over discussions with filmmaker Paul Cox during his filming of the dancer’s diaries in 2001, resulting in an invitation to stay with Nijinsky’s daughter Tamara in Phoenix, Arizona, and the opportunity to probe further in the Jerome Robbins Dance Department of the New York Public Library and numerous other places. I gradually pieced together my interpretation of the famous dancer’s life and controversies from research including meeting his grandson and namesake Vaslav Markevitch, in Italy in 2005.

What became apparent was that Nijinsky was ahead of his times – at the vanguard of Western Modernism in multiple art forms – movement, literature, and art. This book applauds his genius, a century on.

As a long-term Media Director of The Australian Ballet, the subject is close to her heart.

The Genius of Nijinsky was published on 31 March to coincide with The Australian Ballet Sydney season of the ballet Nijinsky and celebrate a couple of little-known links to Australia. The book was launched by Steven Heathcote AM, Principal Repetiteur & Chief Touring Advocate, The Australian Ballet on 20 May.