Dreamscapes

There's a wonderful collection of photographs from 1911 of Nijinsky taken by Auguste Bert. Nijinsky was 21 and at the peak of his dance career, about a year before he would begin choreographing; about eight years before the nervous breakdown that would end his career and thrust him in and out of psychiatric wards for the rest of his life.

Performance

“Le Spectre de la Rose” and “La Rhétorique des Dieux” by Christopher Williams

Place

92NY, New York, NY, October 29, 2026

Words

Cecilia Whalen

“La Rhétorique des Dieux” by Christopher Williams. Photograph by Richard Termine

1911 was the year the Ballets Russes premiered “Le Spectre de la Rose” by Fokine, a dream ballet where a young girl falls asleep clutching a rose after her first ball and is visited by the spirit of the flower. Nijinsky danced the titular role: In one of Bert's pictures, Nijinsky, dappled in petals, crosses his wrists in a high fifth position, framing his lowered gaze. In another, his body faces the corner while his head is tilted down and forward, his eyes glancing coyly over his arm which wraps delicately around his neck.

In a third picture, Nijinsky's body is fully upright, his bulging quadriceps tensed as he squeezes his feet into a fifth position sous-sous, raised onto his toes. His lower body is steely, the leaves patterned on his tights like the tops of trees that are firmly rooted into the ground.

But from the shoulders up, a different Nijinsky emerges. One arm hangs lifted above his head in a gentle curve, fingertips dangling. In the bend between his elbow and shoulder, his head falls naturally sideways, turned in profile as if his ear rested on a pillow behind him, his nose tickled by the cuff of fabric wrapped around his bicep. His liner-winged eyes are shut but appear to curl upwards, and his painted lips are separated into a sparkling smile. With a glow lighting his face, it's as if a spotlight has just announced his presence. You can almost hear the crowd roaring, and Nijinsky, young and adorned with roses, laughing in delight.

“Spectre de la Rose” by Christopher Williams. Photograph by Richard Termine

Multi-award-winning choreographer Christopher Williams, who has long been interested in the legacy of Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes, recently premiered a reimagining of “Le Spectre de la Rose” at the 92NY, along with a New York-premiere of his new work “La Rhétorique des Dieux.” Williams is known for his queer reimagining of the Ballets Russes canon: recasting originally heterosexual partnering with same-sex and nonbinary pairings; incorporating contemporary queer culture through costuming, music, and popular movement vocabulary; and highlighting queer dancers in his performances.

The Ballets Russes have always held a prominent place in queer history. Many of the artists involved in the company were queer—Diaghilev, the director of the company, and Nijinsky, its lead dancer, were lovers for a period before Nijinsky married Romola de Pulszky (and Diaghilev expelled him from the company, supposedly in a jealous fury). Some of the company's works already played with ideas of same-sex partnering, including Nijinsky's “Jeux” from 1913, which was originally supposed to center a sexually-charged encounter for three men (Williams restored this original vision in a 2023 commission for Baryshnikov Arts Center). “L’Après-midi d'un faune” (1912) and “Le Sacre du printemps” (1913) also challenged sexual norms, demonstrating overtly erotic scenes in solo and among large groups.

Radical though they may have been, the Ballets Russes were still subject to the mores of their time. Protests by Debussy lead Nijinsky to choreograph “Jeux” as a trio for two women and a man instead. “L’Après-midi d'un faune,” after its initial premiere to public uproar, had to be subsequently chaperoned by police; “Le Sacre du printemps” similarly resulted in infamous controversy (a New York Times headline reporting from the premiere in Paris declared “Parisians Hiss New Ballet”).

Williams' work reimagines but also liberates some of these early visions, realizing some of the original "queerness" of the Ballets Russes while adding contemporary elements to create his own twenty-first-century dreamscapes.

Deniz Erkan Sancak in “Spectre de la Rose” by Christopher Williams. Photograph by Richard Termine

Williams uses a blend of classical ballet forms and Merce Cunningham technique with the occasional hip gyration or shoulder shimmy. Softened hands and arms and gently tilted heads give a sweetness to his technical rigor. Honoring classical ballet choreographic form, both “La Rhétorique des Dieux” and “Spectre de la Rose” consist of numerous solo divertissements which unfold one after the other, and conclusions of ensemble unison. Formally traditional, Williams' works still find ways to subtly subvert classical norms: For example, in classical ballets, generally only soloists or principals receive solos, while in Williams' work, every dancer gets a feature.

“La Rhétorique des Dieux,” which appeared first on the program at 92NY, is a new creation, not a reimagining of a Ballets Russes classic. Performed to seventeenth-century suite for lute by Denis Gaultier, the two-act dance follows the myth of Phaëthon, who is cast down to earth by the gods after wrecking his father Helios' chariot. Phaëthon (danced by Logan Pedon) finds himself exiled among the mortals, who Williams imagines to be a sorry (but fierce!) group of vagabonds, addicts, and hustlers who drag Phaëthon through their land of sin.

Particular solo standouts from “La Rhétorique” were Justin Lynch (a Hustler), whose long limbs gave elegant clarity to Cunningham lines and curves and Jack Blackmon (a Street Urchin), a powerful mover who leaps in and out of the floor with drunken glee.

“La Rhétorique des Dieux” by Christopher Williams. Photograph by Richard Termine

In “Spectre de la Rose,” the opening ballroom scene is translated into a queer ball, with voguing and a blend of music from Kiss, Roy Rogers, and Berlioz, among others.

Deniz Erkan Sancak was fluid and sinuous in both works. Especially in “Spectre de la Rose,” his precision and alluring sustain somehow made his pink-and-purple-pompom-covered costume look cool rather than comical. Costumes are a major part of Williams' work (as they were Diaghilev's), and his extraordinary attention to design truly stands alone in American contemporary dance. Never does Williams—who designed the costumes for “La Rhétorique” along with Andrew Jordan and Benjamin Stange—settle for any costume that is less than fabulous. The gods in “La Rhétorique” shimmered in gold-leaf dresses, skirts, and head pieces, while the mortals strutted in black leather and bandanas. Williams, himself, made a cameo as Crius Chrysomallus, the flying ram of Greek mythology, wearing a spectacular gold ram's head.

Each costume by Andrew Jordan in “Spectre” was its own feat, with every dancer dressed in their own show-stopping pink or purple outfit. They danced shirtless, in leather booty-cut-out jeans, and in cowboy hats and fringe.

Much has been written about Williams' ability to create distinctive, fantastical worlds. These worlds can be playful and intimidating, sometimes tragic; in “Spectre de la Rose,” it is mostly joyous. The lithe and sprightly MJ Edwards bounds and flies in Nijinsky's original leading role, greeting and joining Julian Donahue (the Young Girl character replaced by a Young Guy) in leaps and turns across the stage. Towards the end, Edwards mounts a tall platform and falls gracefully into the arms of the ensemble like a leaf—or a petal—floating comfortably and soundlessly into water.

We can imagine the beaming Nijinsky of Bert's photographs, too, falling backwards, his head already turned peacefully to rest on some imaginary bed of roses. We know that, tragically, his glittering smile was only fleeting; it has now been brought to new life by Williams.

Cecilia Whalen

Cecilia Whalen is a New York City-based dancer, choreographer, and writer. She is a graduate of the Martha Graham School and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. In addition to her work with Fjord, her writing can be found in various publications, including Dance Magazine and Commonweal Magazine.

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Dreamscapes

There's a wonderful collection of photographs from 1911 of Nijinsky taken by Auguste Bert. Nijinsky was 21 and at the peak of his dance career.

Dreamscapes

Cecilia Whalen

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comments

Featured

In Orbit

Myth Meets Grit

Bending the Process

Dreamscapes