I knew the one of a middle-aged stocky Nijinsky suddenly performing an entrechat but

I knew the one of a middle-aged, stocky Nijinsky, suddenly performing an entrechat, but I hadn’t realised it was part of a series showing the dancer Serge Lifar demonstrating ballet steps in an effort to stimulate Nijinsky’s memory. The photographs of Nijinsky in Giselle show a gorgeously costumed romantic hero, but also the bulging leg muscles and you do wonder how long he would have lasted in classical roles if the Ballets Russes opportunities hadn’t come along. The other celebrated studio pictures of him by Baron de Meyer, Roosen and Bert exercise their eternal fascination through Nijinsky’s eerie and unique gift for absolute concentration and total immersion into the essence of a role. From the heady macho dash of the “Lezginka” in Le Festin (1909) to the curling, asexual Le Spectre de la Rose, from the sensuous plastique of the Golden Slave in Scheherazade (1910) to the tragic puppet stiffness of Petrushka (1911), he is each time utterly unrecognisable.For all his eye-popping classical virtuosity, the photos remind you that like all great artists he was not that interested in empty tricks.

He sought, in his roles and his choreography, expressiveness through movement, so that even when dancing a bravura part such as the Blue Bird in The Sleeping Beauty he created “his dance-image of the Blue Bird,” as his sister Bronislava Nijinska wrote. “It seemed that after each entrechat Nijinsky did not come down to touch the floor but was flying higher and higher like a bird soaring upwards.” And by the end: “The body of Nijinsky had seemed to lose its human contours and design a bird’s flight in the air.”Nijinsky was never filmed and this exhibition is what remains of him. His genius may be elusive, yet it can still work its potent magic and you can go some way towards understanding what it was that so transfixed audiences. But the experience will leave you wishing desperately that you had seen him dance.Musée d’Orsay, Paris, to 18 Feb. The actor Michael Williams has died after struggling against lung cancer for more than a year.

The actor Michael Williams has died after struggling against lung cancer for more than a year.
In a statement yesterday, his wife, Dame Judi Dench, said her husband of more than 30 years had died after a long and “bravely fought battle. He died peacefully surrounded by his family and friends on Thursday afternoon.”The previous day had been spent celebrating his recent papal knighthood, and that evening he said, ‘It was one of the best days I have ever had’.”Williams, 65, had been made a Knight of St Gregory – one of the highest honours given by the Catholic Church – by Canon John McDonald, the national chaplain of the Catholic Stage Guild. Michael Slater, a member of the Guild, said the actor had been chosen to receive the award long before he became ill. “He gave us a tremendous example as a spiritual and a family man,” he said. “He gave Judi a rose every Friday and he was a wonderful example of how to sustain a marriage over a long period of time. He was full of talent and gave so much pleasure to so many.”Williams was perhaps best known for his television role in A Fine Romance, in which he starred with his wife.