Some time ago Eva Stachniak set her sight on interesting women and proceeded to write novel after novel about female heroes. She chooses women that miSome time ago Eva Stachniak set her sight on interesting women and proceeded to write novel after novel about female heroes. She chooses women that might not be well known (apart from Cathering the Great, of course) or that are forgotten or misrepresented in history books. Such was the case with the Countess Sophie Potocka, featured in Stachniak's second, brilliant novel entitled Garden of Venus. Now we get another fictional retelling of the female story, this time a story of Bronislawa Nijinska, ballet dancer and an accomplished choreographer and teacher, who was her famous brother's Vaslav Nijinsky's sister.
First person narrative makes it super easy to slip into the mind and the world of Bronia, a creative soul positioned in one of the hardest periods of history of humanity. Bronia, dilligently trained in the shadow of her genius brother, in classical ballet, quickly embraced the two worlds: old and new. She took the skill of classical ballet dancer and had no trouble understanding and applying it to modern ballet, to embody the ideas of her brother. She not only understood and accepted it, she took the modernity to a new level and made it her own. In the book we follow the difficult family dynamic, the troubled males touched by mental illness, the selfless dedication to family life and to work of generations of women, Mamusia (Bronia's mother), Bronia herself and later her daughter. I couldn't help wondering how the world would look if such creative, idealistic, passionate and hardworking women could run it. In contrast to all the troubled males, their actions made sense every time.
Sharing the origins with Bronia and Eva Stachniak I was enchanted by all the little tasty morsels (smaczki) that she brought into the book, small details: a string of dry mushrooms, baby's becik, thick slice of bread sprinkled with sugar, tea with lemon. The expressions, the attitudes, the jokes, all those details give authenticity to the novel, we can trust the author to get all her background spot on.
Thanks to the internet and the youtube, upon reading about the famous/infamous performance of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring in Paris of 1913, I couldn't resist to search for a video of the performance to see it directly. I found a contemporary The Mariinsky Ballet's production of "Le Sacre du printemps", faithful to Nijinsky's version. And then, next to it was a version created by the brilliant German choreographer Pina Bausch. I wondered what would Bronia think about this powerful performance by Tanztheater Wuppertal. I imagined her being moved by this graceful and violent choreography and the modern costumes. Would she be shocked or accepting?...more
I loved, loved, loved this little book. Starting with the beautiful title and a gorgeous cover photograph of a woman sitting in the middle of a couchI loved, loved, loved this little book. Starting with the beautiful title and a gorgeous cover photograph of a woman sitting in the middle of a couch with three dogs curled up two on one side and one on the other side, it drew me in and I got lost in it. Gentle flow of this deeply thought and dramatically lived life was purely magnetic. It felt like a heart to heart talk, and I am sorry if I sound cheesy. This is a little gem which is at the top of my favourite personal narratives....more
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