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Ballet West's spring production, "The Nijinsky Revolution," presents three interpretations of ballets by the early 20th-century choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky (1890-1950). Two are recent BW commissions and the third is a mini-masterpiece by the legendary Jerome Robbins that premiered on New York City Ballet in 1953.

Retrospectives on Nijinsky range from painstakingly accurate historic reconstructions to theatrical portraits that cast him as a mad genius. Ballet West artistic director Adam Sklute saw a different through-line.

"Nijinsky's brilliance was as a revolutionary," Sklute said. "His whole idea on choreography was to transform the way we looked at dance. His revolutionary ideas have influenced every ballet choreographer that followed: Balanchine, Ashton, Forsythe, Tharp."

Modern-dance icons including Martha Graham, Paul Taylor and Pina Bausch were also inspired by Nijinsky's controversial style and themes.

"Nijinsky was the greatest classical ballet dancer of the era, and yet he wanted to choreograph this strange, earthbound heavy stuff that people had never seen before," Sklute said.

Reinventing or interpreting famous works of art can range from risky to tedious, but this spin on Nijinsky aims to investigate his ideas and show where they have taken dance rather than where it started. Robbins' "Afternoon of a Faun" (1953) lends insight into the original and is thought to be a perfect ballet. The lesser-known "Jeux" was modernized by Helen Pickett for BW in 2015 and retitled "Games." And in 2014, BW resident choreographer Nicolo Fonte built on the choreographic architecture of Nijinsky's "The Rite of Spring," adding a complex set and keeping the element of primitivism.

Last week Bart Cook, repetiteur for The Balanchine and The Robbins Rights Trusts, was in Salt Lake to stage "Afternoon of a Faun." Cook is a Utah native who studied under BW founder Willam Christensen and became a highly respected principal dancer with New York City Ballet, working closely with Robbins and Balanchine.

"'Afternoon of a Faun' is a very beautiful remake of the original Nijinsky," Cook said. "Jerry was the first to dare use that same music and choreograph a ballet to it. It's genius — Jerry was very observant, clever and creative. He had the idea of using the setting of a ballet studio to explore the budding sexuality of young people — the use of the mirror reflects their narcissism. The set is exceptional — beautiful, warm, billowing silk — it floats in the middle of the stage. There is not one extraneous movement in the whole ballet — everything is purposeful and leads to the next. It is quite a perfect little gem."

Nijinsky's original 1912 "L'après-midi d'un faune" to music by Claude Debussy was set in nature and is about the awakening of animal instincts.

Cook said Robbins extended the metaphor to be about art and life. Robbins' version with scenery and lighting by Jean Rosenthal and costumes by Irene Sharaff is set in a ballet studio and is the audience's window into the dancer's world. The pas de deux is performed entirely with the dancers' gaze toward the audience, as if they were looking at themselves in the ballet studio mirror.

"The metaphor can be about the person who exists only as a reflection of who they are in the mirror for other people to look at," Cook said. "To students of ballet, it is such a demanding world and dance is a big metaphor for being alive. Robbins leaves it open to interpretation, but it is often viewed as the natural expression of the awakening of the animal instinct in these young people, at an age when they are becoming aware of their budding sexuality and maturing as artists."

Nijinsky's choreography often examined big-picture themes such as choice, loss of innocence and sacrifice. Pickett's "Games," an interpretation of Niinsky's "Jeux," takes the pas de trois off the tennis court and into the workspace to investigate the complexities of a love triangle.

It is profound when a work of art creates an inner logic so soundly it challenges your previously held beliefs. This is where "Games" fascinatingly succeeds.

The work Nijinsky is most known for, yet was only performed eight times during his lifetime, is "The Rite of Spring" or "Le Sacre du printemps." The ballet and orchestral concert work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky was written for the 1913 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and created quite a stir at its opening.

Many choreographers have since taken a stab at "Le Sacre," and in 2014 BW's resident choreographer presented his own version. It wasn't Fonte's first attempt, but it was his most satisfying.

Fonte has been resident choreographer for BW since 2012, and first soloist Allison DeBona told The Tribune in 2014 before his premiere, "Nicolo's 'Rite of Spring' is like a rite of passage for us. He knows us now and trusts us as dancers. We were very much a part of his choreographic process this time. And I promise you, it is going to blow you away."

She was right, it did not disappoint.

This week after polishing the ballet in rehearsal, Skute said he hopes audiences will react with the same excitement as at the 2014 premiere.

In 2014 as Fonte was finishing the last 50 seconds of his world premiere, he told The Tribune, "I want the curtain to go up and you're either mesmerized by it or you reject it — but you're going to have a reaction." —

Viva Vaslav

Ballet West presents "The Nijinsky Revolution." On the program are three modern-day interpretations of the legendary Ballets Russes dancer's work: Helen Pickett's "Games," set to the original Debussy score; Jerome Robbins' "Afternoon of a Faun," placing Debussy's music in a ballet studio; and Nicolo Fonte's "The Rite of Spring," set to Stravinsky.

When • Friday and Saturday, April 15 and 16, and Thursday-Saturday, April 21-23, 7:30 p.m.; new Early Curtain series Wednesday, April 20, 7 p.m.; April 23, 2 p.m.

Where • Capitol Theatre, 50 W. 200 South, Salt Lake City

Tickets • $19-$87; 801-355-ARTS (2787) or arttix.artsaltlake.org