Vaslav – the life, dance, music and madness of a creative genius, starring Godfrey Johnson, comes to the Kalk Bay Theatre, hot off its premiere at the National Arts Festival.
“People thought I was mad, I just thought I was fully alive” – Vaslav Nijinksy
This exciting new cabaret celebrates the life of legendary Russian Ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Actor, composer and cabaret artist extraordinaire, Godfrey Johnson, enchants and captivates in the title role.
Vaslav Nijinsky was a visionary and daring performer who changed people’s perceptions of male performers and of dance in general. For nine years, he was the most admired ballet dancer in the world. Labelled ‘The God of the Dance’ by adoring critics, the star of the Ballet Russe company danced for the last time aged 28, in 1919. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, he spent the next 30 years of his life in and out of mental institutions. Such was the impact of his short career, that his legend still captivates audiences 100 years later.
Based on Vaslav Nijinsky’s own diaries, and the world he lived in – around the time of the First World War with its explosion of creativity, change and industrial and technological advances – Vaslav blends together an intoxicating combination of original and period music, with dance and video. Set in a mental asylum when Vaslav is an older man, his story unfolds in vivid fragments of memory and flashbacks to his past.
“This is a tragic and beautiful human story of an artist trying to find wholeness as he faces the onset of Schizophrenia,” says Bye. “During his time, cabaret was an emerging art form, and instead of exploring Vaslav’s life through dance, we are using cabaret as our narrative. He was also a skilled pianist, who took great pleasure and escape in playing the piano. His friends and collaborators were musicians and composers – it is this talent as well as his passion for music that links him and Godfrey as artists. I am also interested in the challenge faced by a great artist where there is conflict between what the audience demands and expects of the artist, and the ordinary man behind the stage persona. Off stage Vaslav was not a ‘god of the dance,’ but a shy man with a bad stutter.”
“We have created a rich soundscape for Vaslav Nijinsky’s world, where characters and scenes from his past connect and collide with the old man at the piano,” says Johnson. “I have been influenced by the music he would have been exposed to – the beauty of Debussy, Satie and Bach, and the modernism of Stravinsky, who composed the controversial Rites of Spring, and who informed the jazz movement, as well as a diverse range of genres that inspire my original music for the production. Every note has a purpose for his story.”
“Karen Jeynes’ text is inspired by Nijinsky’s diaries, which he wrote over a period of only six weeks,” adds Bye. “Fiona du Plooy has created a gestural language from both Vaslav Nijinsky’s revolutionary, original choreographic style, and the dances of the time.”
The production is directed by Lara Bye and performed by Godfrey Johnson. Text is by Karen Jeynes based on the diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky and Movement Coach /Design is by Fiona Du Plooy. Music is composed and arranged by Godfrey Johnson with additional song lyrics and text by Lara Bye and Godfrey Johnson. Lighting is by Jon Keevy and Set and Costume Co-ordination is by Joanna Evans.
WHAT, WHERE & WHEN: Vaslav will be performed at Kalk Bay Theatre, 52 Main Rd, Kalk Bay 7975. Tuesday to Saturdays from 17 July until 9 August at 8pm.
Age restriction: 13+ (Language and sexual reference)
TICKETS: R80 and R70 for Gallery seats, where you sit upstairs. To book, visit
PHOTO CREDIT: Rob Kirsner
