Chosen Ones

The Hidden Stories of Ballet’s Warriors: The Chosen Ones

Nijinsky's Warriors

Once upon a time I collected photos of each Chosen One performing in a different ballet. Wasn’t too hard to do. But finding them in their own skin, their own choice is hard to do and wanna know why? About 11 Chosen Ones want nothing to do with me. Eventually I will name them. Today, these women control the atmosphere.

  • Marie-Claude Pietragalla
  • Joanna Drabik
  • Karen Mesquita
  • Daria Pavlenko
  • Priscilla Albuquercue
  • Maude Sabourin
  • Renata Versiani
  • Taryn Kaschock Russell

I don’t give up easily. If I feel up to it I will dig around for more. But I am more focused on my personal confession and comedy blog. I am saying too much there.

Yours for a few pain meds,

Fatova

YOU ARE MARIA PLITZ

Chosen Ones

Here are the only photographed female dancers of the Ballet Russes’ first staging of Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps from 1913.After 4 hours of trying to tease out the real names even with Lynn Garafola and Millicent Hodson’s publications, I could not determine the actual names.  Here is the best I could do.

Julitska (nope) Zhulitska?  nope

Marie Rambert  ding!

Jadwiga Jezierska  (close enough/ semi ding!)

Boni (nope)Janina Boniecka (ding!)

Doris Faithful (ding!)


And then of course is the terrible foreshadowing of the Chosen One, Maria Plitz. 

This is the only known photograph of Maria Plitz, the first girl to dance herself to death but while people were hurling rotting vegetables at her and real Russian Pagans showed up and shot arrows at her and then the other girls laughed and didn’t include her in anything anymore.  Ok, that is a lie I think.  But they were booing and disrupting and Nijinsky was going shithouse in the wings.  Don’t believe me?

Ladies, Chosen Ones who I have championed, fought for, searched for tirelessly… Maria Plitz was your destiny.

You are all Maria Plitz.

Marjo, Susanna, Kirsi, Katja, Asta, no photos at all:
you are Maria Plitz.

Paula Passos, Renata Versiani, same:
you are Maria Plitz.

Patrizia Manieri,
you are Maria Plitz.

Heather

Heather Aagard:   you are more than that. –>

You started this whole archive project, you! And were it not for you, no one would be documented at all.

Your recollection of that one night in the circle is a poem as is Paula Passos’ and Kirsi Tiiliharju and more I am sure. 

You are the inheritance of Maria Plitz.

You should both be fucking pissed.

Yours for the price of a cocktail,

Fatova