After the finale, there was no end to the applause: Star choreographer John Neumeier (85) and the ballet of the Semperoper Dresden were frenetically celebrated at the premiere of the piece "Nijinsky". The audience gave the dancers an ovation. Neumeier also had to get on stage and in front of the curtain again and again.
From the crowd of soloists, not only James Kirby Rogers as Nijinsky and Svetlana Gileva as his wife were cheered. The dancers who portrayed Nijinsky in the great roles of his career also received much applause - as did the Staatskapelle Dresden with Simon Hewett conducting.
The ballet about dance icon Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950) premiered in 2000 at the Hamburg Ballet - Neumeier's longstanding place of work. In his own words, he created a recreation for Dresden. In fact, the production seemed very fresh.
It is also topical. At the time, Nijinsky was traumatized by the horrors of the First World War. In an interview, Neumeier referred to current wars and political uncertainties. The proximity to the Ukraine war is strongly reminiscent of the feeling of horror in the First World War, he emphasized.
"I have always studied Nijinsky in greater depth and tried to understand events better. But the fascination for him has always remained the same, whereas the interest has even become stronger and stronger," Neumeier told the German Press Agency.
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