Adolf De Meyer’s famous gelatin-silver photographs of Nijinsky’s ballet, taken in sequence, “informed this experiential encounter.” She unfolds her legs, favoring a sore back, and muses about the ways in which the photographs led her to conclusions about Nijinsky’s performance. “Had I not been a dancer, it’s
hard to imagine I could have seen this.” She also interviewed Yoav Kaddar, the very dancer performing Faune in the 1989 Juilliard School production. In January, 2008, Huddleston and Kaddar will present their combined Nijinsky research at an international humanities conference in Hawaii. This year, Huddleston also traveled to London for further Nijinsky research. “I interviewed Anne Hutchinson Guest, who broke Nijinsky’s code–he created an original dance notation system that parallels the musical score, but unlike other systems at the time, allowed for tremendous detail of movement to be recorded.” Huddleston sees herself continuing as an academic and Nijinsky scholar, while also writing plays. “I would love to be able to combine my work as a scholar with my passion for playwriting. I think I can combine them.” Her attention breaks as Penworthy, an 18-year-old cat, mewls petulantly from the bedroom yet refuses to join Huddleston despite entreaties. The
setting sun, a virtual fireball on the horizon, prompts Huddleston’s mention that soldiers at the nearby Navy School “play Taps every evening at 10 and Reveille every morning at 8.” At dusk, with Taps approaching, Nijinsky’s photographs appear even more brooding. Refilling tea glasses like a gracious Southern host, Huddleston says with a laugh that she much prefers Taps at night to Reveille in the morning, but appreciates the dramatic tension and the drama of both.
Fo r Fu r t h e r S t u d y
-------------------------Nijinsky by Richard Buckle, and Nijinsky by Vera Krasovskaya, are both excellent sources, according to Huddleston. She adds this caveat:
· “I think the best is his sister Bronislava Nijinska’s, titled Early
Memoirs; it weaves Nijinsky’s biography with her own life—but her point of view as a dancer and
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choreographer (and an adoring sister) provides invaluable intimacy
A B O U T VA S L AV N I J I N S K Y Vaslav Nijinsky (1890–1950) was born to traveling Polish
to the portrayal.” For incredible
dancers. He became the star pupil of the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg, Russia, and
photographs and lyrical writing
the premiere danseur of the company known as Ballets Russes. Ballets Russes took Paris by
about his performance, Huddleston
storm in 1909.
recommends Lincoln Kirstein’s
Nijinsky Dancing.
· “From his transformative, phenomenal performances in Les Sylphides, Scheherazade, Le
To learn about Nijinsky’s original
Spectre de la Rose, Petruschka, and in his own ballet, L’Apres-midi d’un Faune (Afternoon of
dance notation system, Huddleston
a Faun), Nijinsky became the greatest male ballet dancer in the world, arguably the greatest
recommends Nijinsky’s Faune
Restored by Anne Hutchinson
male ballet dancer who has ever lived,” says Huddleston. A devastating mental illness cut
Guest and Claudia Jeschke.
Nijinsky’s dance career short in 1919.
“Films — good ones, that is — are rather few and far between,”
“Although there is no known or existing motion-picture footage of Nijinsky dancing, from his
Huddleston says. “But the French film Revoir Nijinsky Danser is the
photographs and the eyewitness accounts of those who saw him perform on the stage, his
best, I think. I didn’t like the recent
legend continues to mesmerize dancers and lovers of dance to this day,” Huddleston notes.
The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky.”
Graduate School Magazine
WINTER 2007
15