Where Is Home?

Abstract In 1922, as Diaghilev seeks to counter the failure of The Sleeping Princess by steering the Ballets Russes in a new direction, Nijinka becomes his resident choreographer. In Paris, where the company plays back-to-back seasons at the Paris Opéra and Théâtre Mogador, she creates several new ballets, including Le Renard to music by Stravinsky, and Aurora’s Wedding, a distillation of dances from The Sleeping Princess. She reclaims her old Fokine roles and adds several ballets choreographed by Léonide Massine to her repertory, including his version of The Rite of Spring, in which she is cast as the Chosen Maiden. Finally, she dances a number of male roles, including her brother’s in L’Après-midi d’un Faune. Although praised for infusing new life into the Ballets Russes, she dreams of returning to Kiev and continuing her choreographic experiments, but is urged by friends there to stay in the West. After plans to re-establish the School of Movement in Vienna fall through, she arranges for a handful of her male students to leave Kiev and join the Ballets Russes.