Masayu Kimoto – Landgraf on Dance

24. October 202624. October 2026

It Is What It Is

“Nijinsky”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
October 20, 2026 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2026 by Ilona Landgraf

The insight I gained from the Vienna State Ballet’s premiere of Nijinsky hit me at the curtain call when choreographer John Neumeier took his bow. He looks back on an oeuvre of more than 180 pieces, and though his foundation’s website announces a new choreography for 2027, his career is nearing its end. He held on past his prime and missed the right time to hand over his company. On stage, another career was over: Nijinsky’s. But he certainly hadn’t yet realized his full potential.

I saw Nijinsky several times in 2009 and 2011, always danced by Neumeier’s home company, The Hamburg Ballet, and each time Nijinsky’s misery preoccupied me. What was the final straw that shattered his mental health? That both his wife, Romola, and Diaghilev used him? The brutality of World War I? The untimely death of his older brother, Stanislav? Although Nijinsky does not show the hero’s stay at the sanatorium, I wondered what harm the high insulin doses he received there might have done to him.

Fifteen years later at the premiere in Vienna, these questions have become secondary. To ruminate on the wherefore of Nijinsky’s sad fate is pointless. Nothing can be fixed anyway. And when watching the eighty-seven-year-old Neumeier, visibly touched and gratefully acknowledging the applause, I recognized that the same applies to Neumeier. He has done his best. The time for changes is over.

Nijinsky (2000) is one of his strong pieces. It recaps key moments of Nijinsky’s career in a flashback that lasts from the first bars of his 1919 farewell performance at the Suvretta House, St. Moritz, to its last. He remembers his famous roles and choreographies—L’Après-midi d’un faun, Jeux, Le Sacre du Printemps, and Till Eulenspiegel—the blossoming romance with Romola and her later betrayal, the romantic and professional entanglement with Diaghilev, his brother’s fatal decline, and the relentless approach of a crushing war. Countless associations and thoughts run through his mind, which Neumeier merged into two cleverly constructed acts.

Back in 2000, he drew on a broader choreographic palette that allowed fascinating characterizations: Nijinsky’s Marriage to God solo, for example, his and Romola’s sultry encounter on a ship to South America, and Diaghilev’s power plays in which seduction and repulsion alternated at whim. I was mesmerized by the Golden Slave’s sensuality, suffered with Petrushka, and shared Nijinsky’s horror at Stanislav losing his mind. But being familiar with the works that followed Nijinsky and the movements and poses Neumeier increasingly used until they became hackneyed is a red rag to me. It’s like spoiling a fine menu with a stale ingredient.

Compared with Hamburg Ballet’s doyen, Alexandre Riabko, who frequently danced the title role and set the standard high, Alessandro Frola’s performance in Vienna was impressive. A former principal of Hamburg Ballet, Frola has grown tremendously since he joined the Vienna State Ballet one year ago. Also, Ketevan Papava’s stony-faced Romola was convincing. Nijinsky’s erotically charged roles enamored her more than the man himself, but she deserves credit for taking care of him when his psyche cracked. (Let’s disregard that she later neglected him for years while pursuing her ambitions in the U.S.) Why she would cuckold Nijinsky with the aloof Doctor Frenkel of all people (Masayu Kimoto) was incomprehensible to me.

Ionna Avraam portrayed Nijinsky’s sister, Bronislava (Avraam’s sculpted features made her a perfect cast). Tamara Karsavina (Madison Young) joined her in the dance scenes of Nijinsky’s choreographies and Bronislava’s Les Noces. Karsavina also appeared as the sylph, reminding Nijinsky of his role as the poet. Davide Dato crossed his mind as the Harlequin and the Spirit of the Rose, and Rinaldo Venuti scampered as the tragic Petrushka (but couldn’t match his Hamburg colleagues, Ivan Urban and Lloyd Riggins). Jerking as if electrocuted, António Casalinho’s Stanislav died a terrible death.

The impenetrable facade and rigidity of Eno Peci’s thin-lipped Diaghilev made it hard to believe that Nijinsky—and later Massine (Laurids Seidel)—gave in to his sexual desires voluntarily. Victor Caixeta’s Faun convinced, but the way his Golden Slave switched between eye-dazzling speed and sensual wriggles looked calculated and lacked the eroticism that Hamburg’s Otto Bubeníček oozed.

The pretentious posturing of the Suvretta House’s audience reminded me of modern-day realities. Nijinsky is, in fact, highly topical. War today feels as close as then, and Nijinsky’s empty glance made me think of a shop owner in last week’s riot-battered Paris. He hunkered on the doorstep of his demolished shop with exactly the same look.

Links:		Website of the Vienna State Ballet
		Introductory matinée
		Nijinsky—rehearsals
		Nijinsky—trailer
Photos:	1.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	2.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	3.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	4.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and Madison Young (Tamara Karsavina), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	5.	Victor Caixeta (Faun), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	6.	Davide Dato (Spirit of the Rose), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	7.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), Olga Esina (Eleonore Bereda, Vaslav’s mother), and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	8.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), Olga Esina (Eleonore Bereda, Vaslav’s mother), António Casalinho (Stanislav Nijinsky), and Ionna Avraam (Bronislava Nijinska); “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	9.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	10.	Ketevan Papava (Romola Nijinska), Victor Caixeta (Faun), Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), and Masayu Kimoto (Doctor Frenkel); “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	11.	Eno Peci (Sergey Diaghilev) and Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	12.	Laurids Seidel (Léonide Massine), Eno Peci (Sergey Diaghilev) and Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	13.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky) and ensemble, “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	14.	António Casalinho (Stanislav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	15.	Ketevan Papava (Romola Nijinska) and Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	16.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	17.	Rinaldo Venuti (Petrushka), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
	18.	Alessandro Frola (Vaslav Nijinsky), “Nijinsky” by John Neumeier, Vienna State Ballet 2026
		all photos © Vienna State Ballet/Ashley Taylor
Editing:		Kayla Kauffman

14. April 202525. April 2025

A Farewell Triplet

“Pathétique” (“Divertimento No. 15”/“Summerspace”/“Pathétique”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
April 09, 2025 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2025 by Ilona Landgraf

Triple bills have become a trademark of the Vienna State Ballet since Martin Schläpfer took over as artistic director in 2020. The latest, Pathétique, is titled after Schläpfer’s newest and last creation. As on previous occasions, the program’s safe and well-tested base was a Balanchine followed by Cunningham’s Summerspace. Continue reading “A Farewell Triplet”

29. March 202424. April 2024

Incomprehensible

“The Lady of the Camellias”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
March 24, 2024, (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

Shouts of “Bravi!” mingled with enthusiastic applause after the curtain closed on John Neumeier’s The Lady of the Camellias last Sunday at the Vienna State Opera. I, who was following the performance on screen, was less happy. Being familiar with this piece as it was performed by other companies, I felt that this premiere left a lot to be desired.

To begin with, the choreography—almost forty-five years after its creation—suffers from the same mannerisms present in large parts of Neumeier’s oeuvre. The tools that he uses to express his protagonists’ inner life are repetitive. For example, books, confectionery, and bunches of flowers slipped from the dancers’ grip to signal astonishment or absent-mindedness. The number of people who stumbled, fell, barged into one another, and ran around precipitously was remarkable. As in other Neumeier-ballets, the buffoon (in this case, Count N., whom Géraud Wielick turned into an especially silly specimen of jealous lover) wore glasses. That Neumeier intertwined Marguerite and Armand’s fate with that of Manon Lescaut—a connection that is inherent in Alexandre Dumas’s novel—would be ingenious if the relevant scenes were less mawkish and didactic. Continue reading “Incomprehensible”

4. January 202425. January 2026

Rekindled

“Shifting Symmetries” (“Concertante”/”Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
December 23, 2023, (online: December 27, 2023)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2024 by Ilona Landgraf

The Vienna State Ballet’s newest triple bill combines pieces by Hans van Manen, William Forsythe, and George Balanchine. As Forsythe doesn’t allow video streaming of his works, his In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated wasn’t part of the online broadcast on December 27^th (which showed a recording of the premiere on December 23^rd).
I’ve often been unhappy about the Viennese performances, but what’s to expect when the choreographies given to them are mediocre? This time though, a meaty dance-diet was on the menu, and the company rose splendidly to the occasion.

Concertante (1994) has the punchy elegance that van Manen is known for. It’s sophisticated (but without frills) and so densely energetic that my eyes stayed glued on the dancers. Van Manen doesn’t choreograph pretty steps. His dancers prance cooly and strongly, throw challenging glances, and are forcefully present on stage. Continue reading “Rekindled”

31. October 202224. August 2026

Unpalatable

“The Sleeping Beauty”
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
October 24, 2022 (live stream)

by Ilona Landgraf
Copyright © 2022 by Ilona Landgraf

A few months before the premiere of his “Sleeping Beauty” with the Vienna State Ballet, artistic director Martin Schläpfer stated that he did not intend to alter Petipa’s original – that he was not creating something “a bit Schläpfer and a bit Petipa”. There are already enough of these blended works in the canon; instead of adding another, he preferred to stick with the original. Back then, though, he did not have a detailed vision for his production. So – how did his version finally turn out?

I’ll make one thing immediately clear: Schläpfer did not deliver a radically new take on the fairy tale. The three-acter still unfolds at court, includes the key characters, and follows the well-known storyline. Florian Etti’s modern and unsophisticated set includes an open yard looking out on a king-sized garden of red roses. Nestled among the twigs is the crib of the newborn Aurora, her birth an airy dream. Continue reading “Unpalatable”

20. January 202226. August 2026

Absurd

“Liebeslieder” (“Other Dances” / “Concerto” / “Liebeslieder Walzer”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
January 14, 2022 (live stream)

The Vienna State Ballet’s new triple bill is an all-American one, combining works from staple choreographers (Robbins and Balanchine) with a short piece by Lucinda Childs, whose name is less familiar in Europe.

Robbins’s “Other Dances”, a pas de deux set to one waltz and four mazurkas by Chopin, was tailor-made for Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1976. In Vienna, Hyo-Jung Kang and Davide Dato brought folksy playfulness to their roles as the carefree, happy-go-lucky couple. Their encounter is as lighthearted and upbeat as the light blue backdrop and the sheer blue fabric of Kang’s dress suggest (costumes by Santo Loquasto). After swaggering about with macho energy in a solo, Dato attends to Kang’s every step with buttery care. Continue reading “Absurd”

19. November 202127. August 2026

In Seventh Heaven?

“Im Siebten Himmel” (“In Seventh Heaven”): “Marsch, Walzer, Polka” / “Fly Paper Bird” / “Symphony in C”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
November 14, 2021 (live stream)

“Im Siebten Himmel” (“In Seventh Heaven”), the Vienna State Ballet’s second new triple bill this season, follows the formula of the previous one: one piece by Balanchine + one by Martin Schläpfer (the company’s artistic director) + one by a contemporary choreographer. Last time, this third choreographer was Ratmansky; this time, it’s Marco Goecke.

For the music, Schläpfer’s “Marsch, Walzer, Polka” – created for the Ballett Mainz in 2006 – was a fitting choice. What could be more engaging for the Viennese audience than popular melodies by Johann Strauss I and his two sons, Josef and Johann? Schläpfer uses “The Blue Danube”, “Annen- Polka”, “Sphärenklänge”, and “Radetzky March” – and, to expand the existing choreography, draws in the “New Pizzicato-Polka” as well. Continue reading “In Seventh Heaven?”

25. September 202130. August 2026

Comparisons

“Tänze Bilder Sinfonien” (“Symphony in Three Movements” / “Pictures at an Exhibition” / “Sinfonie Nr. 15”)
Vienna State Ballet
Vienna State Opera
Vienna, Austria
September 21, 2021 (live stream)

The Vienna State Ballet opened their season with a revival of “Tänze Bilder Sinfonien”, a triple bill that premiered in June. It is comprised of two ballets originally created for the New York City Ballet: Balanchine’s “Symphony in Three Movements” from 1972 and Ratmansky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” from 2014. The third choreography—“Sinfonie Nr. 15”—was a new piece by Martin Schläpfer (formerly the artistic director and choreographer of the Ballet am Rhein; currently in the same positions at the State Ballet Vienna). I viewed the live-stream of the performance on September 21, 2021.

“Symphony in Three Movements”, set to Stravinsky’s eponymous composition, is Balanchine’s tribute to the composer following the latter’s death in 1971. Continue reading “Comparisons”