"Nijinski" is the contemporary ballet performance by the choreographer Marco Goecke that deals with the ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. It reveals the most important moments in Nijinsky’s life on and off stage showing how closely art and madness are related.
For ten years (1890-1950) Vaslav Nijinsky was the premiere and choreographer at the Sergei Diaghilev’s legendary "Ballets Russes". He intoxicated audiences with virtuoso leaps and androgynous charisma, while his audacious choreographies provoked scandals. The last thirty years of his life Nijinsky spent in mental asylums.
The original of "Nijinski" was premièred at the Theaterhaus Stuttgart’s Gauthier Dance festival to great acclaim in 2016; since then, it has been performed on worldwide tours to great success. In 2017 Marco Goecke received the Italian prize "Danza&Danza" for "Nijinski" as the best choreography of the year.