Bronislava Nijinska

Bronislava Nijinska was born in Minsk, the third child of the Polish dancers Tomasz and Eleonora Bereda Niżyńsky. Her brother was Vaslav Nijinsky. She was just 4 years old when she made her theatrical debut in a Christmas pageant with her brothers inNizhny Novgorod. In 1900 she and her brother were accepted at the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg on a 7-year scholarship from the State of Russia. From 1900 – 1907 she studied dance and music at the Imperial School of Ballet, graduating with honors as a ballet dancer. After graduating in 1908, she then joined the Maryinsky Ballet.  She and her brother joined Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in 1909. Some of the roles she created were in Fokine’s Carnaval (1910), and Petrushka (1911). Vaslav was dismissed from theMaryinsly Ballet in 1911, Nijinska insisted that she also be dismissed, and she was forced to forfeit her title “Artist of the Imperial Theatre.” Nijinska danced in her brother’s short lived ballet company in London in 1914. In 1915, she returned to Russia. Nijinska danced in Kiev, opening a school where she trained her most famous student, Serge Lifar. In 1921 Nijinska rejoined the Ballets Russes. While a dancer with the Ballets Russes, she also became the chief choreographer of the company.  One of her first pieces was Three Ivans for Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty. Her first ballets were Igor Stravinsky’s Renard in 1922 and Les Noces 1923. The following year she choreographed Les Biches, Les Fâcheux and Le Train Bleu. Bronislava later choreographed for the Opera de Paris, Opéra Russe à Paris, and her own company. Ocassionally she taught at the American Ballet Theatre School in New York City. From 1927 – 1929 Bronislava Nijinska worked for the Ballet of Paris, then in 1928 – 1929 she worked for the Ballet of Ida Rubinstein. During the seasons of 1930 and 1931 she worked with the Russian Opera in Paris, 1932 – 1934 directed her own ballet company, called Polish Ballets of Paris, then, in 1935 worked with the Ballet Russe of Monte Carlo. In 1935 Nijinska made her film debut as a choreographer in Max Reinhardt’s film version of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935).  In 1938 Nijinska moved to America, settling in Los Angeles. There she opened her own school of dance. She established herself as a reputable teacher and choreographer, and worked with the touring company called Original Ballet Russe.  She was married twice. Her first husband was Alexander Kochetovsky, a fellow Ballet Russes dancer by whom she had two children-a son, Leo Kochetovsky, who was tragically killed in a car accident and a daughter, Irina Nijinska, a ballet dancer in her own right.  The true love of her life, but to whom she was never married, was the great Russian bass singer Feodor Chaliapin. Bronislava died of heart failure on February 21, 1972, in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.

Source : Russian Ballet history

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