In 2001, arts writer and balletomane Jill Rivers was introduced by a ballet friend to filmmaker Paul Cox, who was making a film based on the extraordinary diary written in 1919 by legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, when he was entering psychosis. The idea of Rivers writing a book about Nijinsky’s life came up and Cox loved the idea. He was in touch with Nijinsky’s second daughter, Tamara Nijinsky, as she was a consultant on the film, and he arranged for Rivers to stay with her as part of her research. The film company, MusicArtsDance Films, offered to pay for her airfare. Rivers was not one to pass up such a marvellous opportunity. Before she knew it, she was on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona to meet Tamara and her daughter, Kinga Nijinsky Gaspers.

Vaslav Nijinsky. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Nijinsky was a dancer and a choreographer with the Ballets Russes, a troupe from Moscow that arrived in Paris in 1910, transforming the art form and heralding the dawn of the modern ballet company. He was lionised for his prowess and magnetic stage presence, although offstage he was...