#14 Nijinsky A Ballet by John Neumeier Principal Casting Announced October 28, 2014… Karen Kain, Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced the principal casting for the greatly anticipated return of Nijinsky, a ballet by John Neumeier, which runs November 22 – 30, 2014 at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. Principal Dancer Guillaume Côté and Second Soloist Skylar Campbell reprise the role of Vaslav Nijinsky and making his debut in the title role is Corps de Ballet member Francesco Gabriele Frola. The role of Nijinsky’s wife Romola will be danced by Principal Dancers Xiao Nan Yu, Sonia Rodriguez and Svetlana Lunkina. Both Ms. Yu and Ms. Lunkina will be making their debut in the role. Principal Dancer Piotr Stanczyk will perform the role of ballet impresario and Ballet Russes founder Serge Diaghilev. John Neumeier’s moving, unflinching ballet is less a biographical study or narrative account of Nijinsky’s life than a portrait of the artist’s inner journey. Nijinsky is a work of great theatricality and a glimpse into the soul of an artist of unique and astonishing vision, whose life and works helped changed the face of modernity. One of the most legendary and transformative figures in the history of ballet, Vaslav Nijinsky transfixed audiences even as his own life descended into instability and finally madness. All ticket holders are invited to attend the National Ballet’s popular and free Ballet Talks which will take place in R. Fraser Elliott Hall at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The Ballet Talks begin one hour before the performance with seating on the orchestra level only and is available on a first come, first served basis. Principal Casting Vaslav Nijinsky Guillaume Côté (November 22, 26, 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30 at 2:00 pm) Skylar Campbell (November 23, 29 at 2:00 pm/November 27 at 7:30 pm) Francesco Gabriele Frola* (November 27 at 2:00 pm/November 29 at 7:30 pm) Romola Nijinsky Xiao Nan Yu* (November 22, 26, 28 at 7:30 pm/November 30 at 2:00 pm) Sonia Rodriguez (November 23, 29 at 2:00 pm/November 27 at 7:30 pm) Svetlana Lunkina* (November 27 at 2:00 pm/November 29 at 7:30 pm) Serge Diaghilev Piotr Stanczyk * Debut Casting subject to change. BMO Financial Group presents Nijinsky. Lead philanthropic support for Nijinsky is provided by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation, an anonymous friend of the National Ballet, The Volunteer Committee of The National Ballet of Canada and The Producers’ Circle: John & Claudine Bailey, David Binet, Susanne Boyce and Brendan Mullen, Gail Drummond & Bob Dorrance, Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan, Kevin & Roger Garland, The William & Nona Heaslip Foundation, Rosamond Ivey, Hal Jackman Foundation, Anna McCowan-Johnson & Donald K. Johnson, O.C., Judy Korthals & Peter Irwin, Judith & Robert Lawrie, Mona & Harvey Levenstein, Joan & Jerry Lozinski, The Honourable Margaret Norrie McCain, C.C., Julie Medland, Sandra Pitblado & Jim Pitblado, C.M., Lynda & Jonas Prince, Susan Scace & Arthur Scace, C.M., Q.C., Sandra L. Simpson and Noreen Taylor & David Staines, O.C. Performance Sponsor: The Globe and Mail, November 28 at 7:30 pm Guillaume Côté is sponsored through Dancers First by Emmanuelle Gattuso and Allan Slaight. Sonia Rodriguez is sponsored through Dancers First by Ira Gluskin & Maxine Granovsky Gluskin in celebration of her 25th Anniversary year. The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Economic Development & Culture Department; the Government of Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages; and the Government of Ontario through the Honourable Michael Coteau, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. - 30 - For more information, please contact: Catherine Chang Christine Achampong Senior Communications Manager Publicity Coordinator 416 345 9686 x302 416 345 9686 x332 [email protected] [email protected] national.ballet.ca national.ballet.ca BMO Financial Group Presents Nijinsky A ballet by John Neumeier Choreography, Sets*, Costumes* and Lighting Design: John Neumeier *based partly on original sketches by Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois Music: Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Dmitri Shostakovich Lighting Reconstruction: Ralf Merkel Premiere: The Hamburg Ballet, Hamburg, Germany, July 2, 2000 The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: March 2, 2013 Lead philanthropic support for Nijinsky is provided by The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation, an anonymous friend of the National Ballet, The Producers’ Circle and The Volunteer Committee of The National Ballet of Canada. Performance Dates: November 22 – 30, 2014 Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Few dance figures compare to that of Vaslav Nijinsky. Although few performers matched his greatness, his passion, physicality and the adoration that he received from audiences he created the model for male dancing throughout the early 20th century. Part memory-ballet and part biographical narrative, Nijinsky explores the world that shaped its subject and his efforts to assert the art form for which he became so revered. A moving and unforgettable ballet of the borderline between genius and madness, Nijinsky is a brilliant homage to the man once known as “Le Dieu de la Danse”. Quotes “Nijinsky is definitely a jewel in the crown for the National.” The Globe and Mail, 2013 “A triumph of dramatic intensity… the National Ballet rises to the challenge of presenting John Neumeier’s Nijinsky, a spectacular, sprawling, surreal and often mind-bending homage to ballet’s most legendary male dancer.” Toronto Star, 2013 “Nijinsky soars to intense heights… richly detailed production” National Post, 2013 Page 1 of 1 John Neumeier Choreographer, Set, Costume and Lighting Designer, Nijinsky John Neumeier was born in 1942 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received his first dance training. He continued his dance studies in Chicago as well as at Marquette University in Milwaukee where he created his first choreographic works. After further ballet study both in Copenhagen and at The Royal Ballet School in London, John Cranko invited him in 1963 to join Stuttgart Ballet, where he progressed to Soloist and continued his choreographic development. In 1969, Ulrich Erfurth appointed Mr. Neumeier Director of Ballett Frankfurt, where he soon caused a sensation due to his new interpretations of such well-known ballets as The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet. In 1973, he joined The Hamburg Ballet as Director and Chief Choreographer and, under his direction, The Hamburg Ballet became one of the leading ballet companies on the German dance scene and soon received international recognition. In 1972, he set his first work for The National Ballet of Canada, Don Juan with Rudolf Nureyev in the title role and in 1993, he created Now and Then for Karen Kain. As a choreographer, Mr. Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, while giving his works a modern dramatic framework. His ballets range from new versions of evening-length story ballets to musicals and to his symphonic ballets, especially those based on Gustav Mahler’s compositions, as well as his choreographies to sacred music. His latest creations for The Hamburg Ballet: Christmas Oratorio I-VI in 2013, and Tatjana in 2014. Mr. Neumeier holds the Dance Magazine Award (1983), Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and French Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honour. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Nijinsky Award for Lifetime Achievement. He received the Herbert von Karajan Musikpreis in 2007 and the Deutscher Jubiläums Tanzpreis in 2008. In 2007, he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Hamburg. Nijinsky Synopsis On January 19, 1919 at five o’clock in the afternoon in a ballroom of the Suvretta House Hotel in St Moritz, Switzerland, Vaslav Nijinsky danced publicly for the last time. He called this performance his Wedding with God. Nijinsky begins with a realistic recreation of this situation. The choreography which follows however, visualises his thoughts, memories and hallucinations during this last performance. Act I Prompted by the imagined appearance of his former mentor, impresario and lover, Sergei Diaghilev, Nijinsky recalls images of his sensational career with the Ballets Russes. Dancers, as aspects of his personality, perform fragments from his most famous roles. Harlequin, the Poet in Les Sylphides, the Golden Slave in Schéhérazade and the Spectre de la Rose merge and mingle with characters from his private life. His sister Bronislava (later a choreographer), his older brother Stanislav (trained also to be a dancer, but marked from childhood by signs of madness), and his mother, the dancer Eleonora Bereda, who along with his father Thomas were the children’s first teachers, also appear in his dreamlike fantasy. In another scene of the ballet, Nijinsky remembers his search for a new choreographic language. His experiments with movement result in his own original ballets L’Après-midi d’un faune, Jeux, Le Sacre du printemps and later Till Eulenspiegel. A woman in red, Romola de Pulsky who will later become Nijinsky’s wife, crisscrosses his confused recollections. He relives their first encounter on a ship to South America and their abrupt marriage – an event causing the ultimate break with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Act II Nijinsky’s madness drives him more and more inside himself. Memories of childhood, family, school, and the Mariinsky Theatre blend with nightmare visions of World War I – and his wife’s infidelity. The scandalous premiere of his ballet Le Sacre du printemps appears juxtaposed with the brutality of World War I and his brother Stanislav’s death. Romola is with him through difficult and bad times.