Ahead of his time?

Between 1913 and 1920 things didn't go too well for Nijinsky.

He had been out of the limelight for awhile by 1919 and was planning a big comeback performance. This is his version of the show:

"I played nervously on purpose, because the audience will understand me better if I am nervous. One must be nervous. I was nervous because God wanted to arouse the audience. The audience came to be amused. They thought I was dancing to amuse them. I danced frightening things. They were frightened of me and therefore thought that I wanted to kill them. I did not want to kill anyone. I loved everyone, but no one loved me, and therefore I became nervous. The audience did not like me, because they wanted to leave. Then I began to play cheerful things."

Here is what he actually did for his comeback:

"Suddenly the great dancer appeared, still very attractive with his muscular body, slender torso, beautifully sloping shoulders, long neck, oval face and catlike eyes. With the taut grace of a tiger he walked over to the pianist and told her to play something by Chopin or Schumann. The music started. Nijinsky picked up a chair, sat on it facing the audience, and stared back without moving a muscle. The pianist played on. Time went by. Then, the music stopped and there was dead silence. It seemed endless. The music started again. But nothing else happened. Nijinsky just sat there." (p.180)

Our biographer of the penis concludes: "Again Nijinsky was way ahead of his time."

Once Nijinsky snapped out of this he did a little jig, and then he danced "the war". "The war which you did not prevent and are also responsible for," he explained. This started off quite well but ended badly. Afterwards he showed the audience his bleeding feet. Some of the ladies he showed them to were a bit squeamish about this. He thought they wanted to have sex with him.