Nijinsky: A Life

"Superb biography. . . . Moore recounts [Nijinsky's story] with scholarship, grace, and imagination."—The Sunday Times

"She never loses sight of why Nijinsky's art was so great. The result is a captivating biography."—The Financial Times

Arguably the greatest dancer of the twentieth century, Vaslav Nijinsky (1889–1950) transformed the world of ballet. On stage he blazed a trail as the first male star of the modern era, with critics and audiences hailing him the God of the Dance. In his brief career as choreographer, his astonishing modernist compositions—most controversially, Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring)—had the same dramatic impact on ballet as the work of Pablo Picasso had on painting.

His turbulent relationship with the powerful impresario Sergei Diaghilev not only propelled him to stardom but made him into a gay icon before such a thing had been dreamt of. But when Nijinsky escaped Diaghilev's control by eloping with a starstruck young follower of the Ballets Russes, their personal and professional association was shattered. Unable to work, Nijinsky's world fell apart.

In the first full-length biography of Nijinsky for over thirty years, drawing on his diaries for the first time, acclaimed historian Lucy Moore introduces this troubled genius and the world around him to a new generation, providing extraordinary insights into the creative process and personal relationships of one of the great cultural figures of the twentieth century.

Lucy Moore is a writer and broadcaster whose books include the bestselling Maharanis. She lives in London England.