Editing Vaslav Nijinsky (section)

===1909 opening season===
During the winter of 1908/9, Diaghilev started planning for the 1909 Paris tour of opera and ballet. He collected a team including designers [[Alexandre Benois]] and Léon Bakst, painters [[Nicholas Roerich]] and [[Konstantin Korovin]], composers [[Alexander Glazunov]] and [[Nikolai Tcherepnin]], regisseurs {{Citation needed span|text=[[Vsevolod Meyerhold]]|reason=Meyerhold was working as a director at the imperial theatres in St.Petersburg at the time and was not involved in creating the Ballets Russes|date=April 2022}} and [[Alexander Sanine]] and other ballet enthusiasts. As a friend and as a leading dancer, Nijinsky was part of the group. His sister wrote that he felt intimidated by the illustrious and aristocratic company. Fokine was asked to start rehearsals for the existing ''Le Pavillon d'Armide'' and for ''[[Les Sylphides]]'', an expanded version of his ''Chopiniana''. Fokine favoured expanding the existing ''Une Nuit d'Egypte'' for a ballet.

Diaghilev accepted the idea of an Egyptian theme, but he required a comprehensive rewrite based on new music, by which Fokine created a new ballet ''Cléopâtre''. To round out the program, they needed another ballet. Without sufficient time to compose a new work, they decided on a suite of popular dances, to be called ''Le Festin''. [[Anna Pavlova]], Karsavina and Nijinsky were chosen as principal dancers. Fokine insisted that Ida Rubenstein would appear as Cleopatra, and Nijinsky insisted that his sister should have a part. Fokine noted Nijinsky's great ability at learning a dance and precisely what a choreographer wanted. Diaghilev departed for Paris in early 1909 to make arrangements, which were immediately complicated on the day of his return, 22 February 1909, by the death of Grand Duke [[Vladimir Alexandrovitch]], who had sponsored an application by Diaghilev for an imperial subsidy of 100,000 roubles for the tour.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|1988|pp=47–50}}</ref>

[[File:Nijinsky lido Bakst.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Nijinsky painted by [[Léon Bakst]] at the [[Lido di Venezia|Lido]] in [[Venice]], 1910]]
Rehearsals started on 2 April at the [[Hermitage Theatre]], which the company had been granted special permission to use, along with loans of scenery. No sooner had rehearsals started that the permission was withdrawn, disappearing as had the imperial subsidy. Diaghilev managed to raise some money in Russia, but he had to rely significantly on [[Gabriel Astruc]], who had been arranging theatres and publicity on behalf of the company in France, to also provide finance. Plans to include Opera had to be dropped because of the lack of finances, and logistical difficulties in obtaining necessary scenery at short notice and for free.<ref>{{Harvnb|Buckle|1979|pp=130–135}}</ref>

Diaghilev and Nijinsky travelled to Paris ahead of the rest of the company. Initially Nijinsky stayed at the Hôtel Daunou. He moved to the Hôtel de Hollande together with Diaghilev and his secretary, Alexis Mavrine, before the arrival of the others. Members of the company had noticed Diaghilev keeping a particularly proprietorial eye on Nijinsky during rehearsals in Russia. They took the travel arrangements and accommodation as confirmation of a relationship. Prince Lvov had visited Nijinsky's mother in St Petersburg, telling her tearfully that he would no longer be taking a special interest in her son, but he advanced a significant sum to Diaghilev towards the tour's expenses. Mavrine was known to have been Diaghilev's lover, but left the tour together with Olga Pedorova shortly after it had begun.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parker|1988|pp=51, 52, 64}}</ref>

The season of colorful Russian ballets and operas, works mostly new to the West, was a great success. The Paris seasons of the Ballets Russes were an artistic and social sensation; setting trends in art, dance, music and fashion for the next decade. Nijinsky's unique talent showed in Fokine's pieces such as ''Le Pavillon d'Armide'' (music by [[Nikolai Tcherepnin]]); ''Cleopatra'' (music by [[Anton Arensky]] and other Russian composers) and a [[divertissement]] ''La Fête''. His expressive execution of a [[pas de deux]] from ''[[The Sleeping Beauty (ballet)|The Sleeping Beauty]]'' ([[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]]) was a tremendous success.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         =https://diletant.media/articles/38751321/
 |title       = Вацлав Нижинский и "золотой век" русского балета
| trans-title      =Vaslav Nijinsky and Golden Age of Russian Ballet
| language  = ru
 |publisher   =Diletant Media
 |date        = 10 January 2018
|access-date  = 7 December 2020
}}</ref>