appear more animal. The nymphs wore white muslin that was tailored into long pleated tunics and decorated with stencilled patterns in blue or rust red. Some tunics had checkered borders and others had wavy lines or leaves. The nymphs had little makeup, except that their eyes were painted in pale pink. They wore tight wigs of golden rope which hung down in long strands. The Faun and senior nymph wore golden sandals while the rest of the dancers had bare white feet with rouged toes. Difficulties Vaslav Nijinsky was an exceptional dancer but not an exceptional teacher. Nijinsky's sister notes in her memoir that, throughout the development of all his ballets, he had difficulty explaining to others what he needed them to do and operated through demonstration rather than explanation. Bronislava notes that Nijinsky ignored the gap in ability between the dancers he directed and his artistic vision for the choreography. Nijinsky had difficulty accepting the limitations of others, expecting them to be able to perform as well as he could. Bronislava acted as his guinea-pig, trying out dances and positions. She describes the experience as feeling as though Nijinsky were a sculptor and she the clay which he positioned through each step. Nijinsky and his sister performed the partially developed work for Diaghilev and Bakst in St. Petersburg at the start of 1911. From the beginning, the ballet's development was kept secret until Diaghilev was ready to stage it, because he feared it would offend Fokine. The company was relying on Fokine for other ballets that were also in production, and thought that he might walk out if his position as undisputed choreographer to the company was challenged. The régisseur, Grigoriev, was let into the secret in early 1912. In March of the same year, rehearsals began with other members of the company. Fokine, who now knew about the project, resented the loss of rehearsal time for his own productions. He attacked Nijinsky's incompetence at getting across his own ideas, claimed he only had the job because he was Diaghilev's lover, and announced his intention to resign which confirmed Diaghilev's fears. The 12-minute ballet required 90 rehearsals. This led to the reduction of time Fokine received with the dancers which was the basis for many of his complaints. All the dancers suffered the same difficulties Bronislava had reported in trying to adapt to the strange new movements. Nijinsky's choreography