Vaslav Fomitch Nijinski (in; in), born with Kiev the March 12th 1889 and deceased the April 8th 1950 with London, is a Danseur and Russian choreographer of Polish origin .

Vaslav Nijinski is the son of a couple of Polish dancers and the brother of the dancer Bronislava Nijinska. Regarded as the largest dancer of its time, it was the star of the Russian Ballets, and marked of its interpretation creations of Schéhérazade , of the Specter of the pink , Petrouchka and the Afternoon of a fauna .

Principal dancer of the Theater Mariinsky, Nijinski refuses to carry top-of-fits them lawful. Thus in the Bird of fire , in 1911 and in spite of a brilliant interpretation with its partner, Tamara Karsavina, it is put at the door, its justaucorps short and its grinding shirt regarded as indecent.

Nijinski operates a rupture with the past in 1912, with the Afternoon of a fauna , according to the Prélude to the afternoon of a fauna of Debussy. Very good ballet dancer, famous inter alia for his splendid jumps, it creates this part with only one small jump, of side displacements, broken body, without reference mark, in a single movement, without topics nor accents marking the tempo. With the Rite of Spring , it peels the traditional positions: the dancers have the foot S sunken and the Genou X folded. The modern is essential in full tradition of the Russian ballet.

Nijinski is also the author of a system of notation of the dance which he invented for his personal use. Thanks to the searchs for specialists, one could accurately reconstitute some of his choreographies, of which the Afternoon of a fauna and part of the Rite of Spring .

A distinction delivered with personalities of the dance bears the name of the famous dancer and choreographer: the Price Nijinski. A film was made on its life: Nijinski .

Choreographic works

• the Afternoon of a fauna (Paris, Theater of Châtelet, May 29th 1912), music of Debussy
• Plays (Paris, Theater of the Fields-Élysées, May 15th 1913), music of Debussy
• the Rite of Spring (Paris, Theater of the Fields-Élysées, May 29th 1913), music of Stravinski
• Till Eulenspiegel (1916), music of Richard Strauss

Gallery