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Even before the house lights go down at the beginning of "Nijinsky," the jarring sound of human voices onstage makes it clear that this is not your typical ballet.

A crowd of well-dressed guests has gathered at a hotel ballroom in Switzerland in 1919, waiting to see the legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in what will be his last performance. There is no music, but the guests are talking _ greeting and kissing and laughing, their voices even mixing with those of the real audience, still settling in its seats.

There is much that is different and exciting in "Nijinsky," John Neumeier's 2000 creation for the Hamburg Ballet. The ballet is filled with potent and arresting references from the troubled life of this superstar dancer, who was certified insane shortly after that final solo and spent three more decades in sanatoriums before he died.

And that is the ballet's problem, too; it presupposes a knowledge of Nijinsky's life and works. Anyone not familiar with his story or with the characters he danced _ the harlequin, the spirit of the rose, the golden slave, the faun _ might have a very difficult time understanding the production.

The dancing, though, is first rate, and the choreography is absorbing, although there might be too many fits and twitches, too much frantic rolling around on the floor for some tastes. On Saturday night, in the second of three performances at the City Center, Ukrainian dancer Alexandre Riabko was impressive in his technique and affecting in his acting, providing a moving portrait of a man's descent into insanity.

Nijinsky was born in 1889 in Kiev, Ukraine. At the age of 19, he drew the attention of the man who would become his lover and mentor, Serge Diaghilev, who hired him to tour with his new Ballets Russes. Nijinsky became a star, known to the world as the God of Dance.

On a ship to South America, Nijinsky met Romola de Pulsky and soon abruptly asked her to marry him _ an event that led to his break with Diaghilev. Romola nursed Nijinsky until his death in 1950.

The ballet takes a sweeping look at people and roles in Nijinsky's short but blazing career, including the madness and death of his brother, Stanislav; his sexual relationship with Diaghilev; and his wife's infidelities. It also looks at Nijinsky's torment over the violence of World War I, which led to his painful last solo in Switzerland, a dance he called "Wedding With God."

In Saturday's performance, the men were more striking in their dancing than the women; besides Riabko, Yukichi Hattori was a standout as Stanislav, an exhausting role.

Also striking were the costumes, specially Neumeier's updated versions of Nijinsky's androgynous, provocative attire in such ballets as "Scheherazade" and his own "Afternoon of a Faun."

The Hamburg Ballet takes "Nijinsky" to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., from Feb. 25-29