Nijinsky's Biography (Richard Buckle)

To be extremely honest: since a long time I had not read a book that has been so well-researched. I think this is the 4th edition and how I admire a writer that makes corrections of the first editions and tells his readers quite openly about "mistakes" that he had done. I think that many people could learn from that. Nothing wrong at all with having a "low-profile"! This is not only beautiful but is also greatness. Thanks to my dear friend Alexandra Young for recommending this beautiful book to me!

I would like to copy here a short paragraph that impressed me extremely. Patrick de Bana will understand that (page 90, a comment from Benois about Vaslav... ):

"The final metamorphosis took place when he put on his costume, about which he was always very particular, demanding that it should be an exact copy of the sketch made by the artist. At these moments the usually apathetic Vaslav became nervous and capricious... He gradually began to change into another being, the one he saw in the mirror. He became reincarnated and actually entered into his new existence as an exceptionally attractive and poetical personality. The fact that Nijinsky's metarmophosis was predominantly subconscious is in my opinion the very proof of his genius. Only a genius - that is to say, a phenomenon that has to adequate natural explanation - could incarnate the choreographic essence of the rococo period as did Nijinsky in "Le Pavillon d'Armide" - especially in the Paris version of my ballet"