The dancing body in the invention of the social bond: The nijinsky case

Abstract

(The dancing body in the invention of the social bond: the Nijinsky case) This paper investigates the problem of social bonds possibility conditions in the case of psychotics. Based on the theoretical framework of Lacanian psychoanalysis, it questions the “out of discourse” of psychoses. From the methodological point of view, it undertakes the construction and analysis of the case of the ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, based on his autobiographical notebooks, his biography and various testimonies. The analysis of this case allows us to conclude that the assembly of a body through dance was allowed by the function of “naming for” which Lacan describes in 1974, and which replaces the metaphorical functioning of the Name-of-the-Father. The constitution of a dancing body and its exercise acted in Nijinsky as the cause of desire of the powerful representative Diaghilev, who transformed him into a star, applauded by the public.