We all love a mystery, but a mystery concerning the great visionary of ballet Vaslav Nijinsky is particularly intriguing. A brand new exhibition coming to the Well Walk Theatre’s Livingstone Studio now reveals the previously untold tale of a dancer from Nijinsky’s only briefly performed Till Eulenspiegel. The exhibition will be complemented by an illustrated talk and Q&A for two nights at the Well Walk Theatre itself.
Back in the early 1990s, ‘dance detectives’ Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer began to reconstruct Nijinsky’s almost lost ballet Till Eulenspiegel. This piece was created while the Ballets Russes was on tour in America, when the hostilities of World War I had closed theatres in Europe. It was the only work in the repertoire of Sergei Diaghilev’s company that was made without him, and Till premiered in New York in the autumn of 1916 before touring the US until spring 1917.
Only a single dancer from Nijinsky’s Till was still surviving as Hodson and Archer set about the reconstruction – Valentina Kachouba, and she generously agreed to assist them in their task. Kachouba was then living in isolation in Madrid, but she shared memories and snapshots from her old Kodak that enabled the reconstructors to save costumes that would otherwise have disappeared. She also revealed that she was a close confidant of Nijinsky, who had sat her beside him for press calls – a fact that is verified by company photographs in archives and private collections. Interestingly, Diaghilev never saw Till, but despite 15 curtain calls at its premiere he had declared it a failure, and history perpetuated that judgement. To amend this perception, the Paris Opera premiered a reconstruction of the ballet in 1994 and invited Kachouba to attend. However, she died shortly before the journey to France.
Decades later, in the massive press books of the American tour that are housed at the Library of Congress in Washington DC, Hodson and Archer discovered Kachouba’s untold story, which brings fascinating revelations and insight about this hidden chapter of dance history. The pair now plan to share their findings in a unique exhibition. This will include Hodson’s choreographic and costume drawings and documents from the couple’s reconstructions of Till Eugenspiel at the Paris and Rome Operas, which give a glimpse into the fine and even forgotten details of the production.
If you want to find out more about how this remarkable information was unearthed, there will be an illustrated talk with a Q&A by Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer at The Well Walk Theatre on Thursday 4 and Wednesday 10 September at 7:30–8:30 pm. Before and after the talk, you can enjoy food, drinks, and an exhibition featuring Hodson’s unframed original drawings, which will be on sale in the theatre bookshop along with the event catalogue.
Right: Paris Opera poster for reconstructed Till Eulenspiegel by Millicent Hodson & Kenneth Archer
A free exhibition about the reconstruction will follow at Livingstone Studio 36 New End, Hampstead, London NW3 1LS Saturdays and Sundays 6-7 September and 13-14 September from 1:00-4:00pm.
