Quite often in the history of fashion the ghost of Vaslav Nijinsky has appeared on the runways as the main inspiration of a few designers. That's only natural, as Nijinsky was considered almost a superhuman being, the epitome of manliness and youthful beauty, a performer that, by dancing, could break his earthly ties and raise himself up to perfection, getting closer to God. Yet there is an aspect in his career that is rarely referred to or analysed – his madness. Some dance fans have actually already seen this topic being tackled on the stage in July at the Spoleto Festival, through the performance "Letter to a Man".
Directed by Robert Wilson and starring legendary choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov, the piece was indeed based on the Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky.
Born in 1889, Nijinsky became famous for his performances with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. A celebrated prodigy and a sensation, he also proved he was a gifted choreographer: though no one living today can remember Nijinsky as no images of him dancing were ever recorded, we do have historical evidence that he was a man with a vision from ballets such as "L'Après-midi d'un Faune", that caused a scandal when it opened in 1912, and "Le Sacré du Printemps" (1913).
Diaghilev's lover and protégée, Nijinsky eventually became engaged to and married Romola de Pulszky. He started his descent into mental madness in his twenties, and between 19th January 1919 - when he danced in public for the last time - and 4th March that year, he recorded his thoughts and the progress of his psychosis in a diary. After its completion Nijinsky plunged into a silent existential abyss (though he would paint and draw disturbing images) and died in England in 1950.
The diaries were censored by his wife on their first publication in 1936, but were later on published in an unexpurgated version in French in 1995.
"Letter to a Man" - the title comes from a letter Nijinsky wrote to Diaghilev in which he wouldn't mention the impresario's name - is not about Nijinsky as a dancer or about reviving his ballets.
The piece is indeed about a man's irreversible journey towards dementia, though it also touches upon further topics including art, creativity and moral issues. Baryshnikov analyses them on stage through a performance that combines extracts of text with dance movements in a surreal setting in which every single element - lights, costumes (by Jacques Reynaud ), music (curated by Hal Willner) and words - is vitally important.
The diaries are broken into fragments, they are analysed from a sort of shattered perspective that replicates Nijinsky's state of mind: Baryshnikov finds therefore divided between lucidity and madness; love and hate (for Sergei Diaghilev, impresario and lover); war and peace; the brightest hope and the blackest desperation.
Believing he is God, but tortured by sexual obsessions and by the criticism moved to his choreographies, Baryshnikov/Nijinsky finds himself trapped in a schizophrenic environment in which minimal movements represent the diary entries, while the broken noises and voices (at times performed live by Baryshnikov himself) represent the confusion heard by Nijinsky as he wrote his diary, that at times turns from starting point for this performance into the real protagonist.
Both Baryshnikov and Wilson fell under the spell of the diaries, their content and style and the director even quotes on his site what American author Henry Miller stated about them: "It is a communication so naked, so desperate, that it breaks the mold. We are face to face with reality, and it is almost unbearable...had he not gone to the asylum we would have had in Nijinsky a writer equal to the dancer."
"Letter to a Man" is the third collaboration between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Robert Wilson: they first worked together on a Video Portrait of Saint Sebastian, and then on "The Old Woman", a theatre piece based on a short story by absurdist Russian author Daniil Kharms, that featured Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe.
Premièred in Spoleto, "Letter to a Man" will debut this week at Milan's Crt (from today until 20th September 2015) with costumes by Giorgio Armani including a tuxedo in black crepe, a classic dark suit and white and black shirts.
In the last two days we have seen dance and choreography invading the New York Fashion Week runways, this collaboration takes back instead fashion to the stage, a well-established tradition especially for many Italian designers who in their careers often collaborated with choreographers, corps de ballet and opera theatres.
After Milan the show will then embark on an international tour stopping in Madrid, Monte Carlo, Paris, New York and Los Angeles (but you can keep updated with the dates on Robert Wilson's site).
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