Giselle – a synopsis
As the ballet begins, a nobleman
named Albrecht is busily wooing a young, beautiful peasant girl named Giselle.
Albrecht leads the young maiden to believe that he is a farmer named Loys.
Giselle falls in love with the man, unaware that he is already betrothed to
Bathilde, daughter of the Duke. She agrees to marry the man, despite the
romantic advancements of another peasant, Hilarion, who suspects that Albrecht
is an imposter.
The Duke and his entourage are soon announced
by a hunting horn. When the Duke’s daughter realizes that she and Giselle are
both engaged, she gives her a gold necklace. Hilarion tells Giselle that
Albrecht has been deceiving her, that he is actually a nobleman. Bathilde
quickly reveals to Giselle that Albrecht is indeed her fiancé. Horrified and
weak, Giselle goes mad and dies of a broken heart.
The second act of the ballet takes
place in a forest beside Giselle's grave. The Queen of the ghostly Wilis, women
who have died of unrequited love, calls upon them to accept Giselle as one of
their own. When Hilarion enters, the Wilis make him dance to his death. But
when Albrecht arrives, Giselle (now a Wili herself) dances with him until the
Wilis' power is lost, when the clock strikes four. Realizing that Giselle has
saved him, but was now forever parted, Albrecht cried at her grave.
Review: The Paris Opera Ballet’s production…
Giselle is an iconic work in the
ballet repertoire. Since its premiere in Paris with the POB, it has had an
almost unbroken tradition of performance around the world.
This company is the oldest on
Earth and, as such, is almost equal with ballet itself. For such an old ballet,
one of the most striking things about it is the relative youth of its dancers,
with an average age of 25.
There was no sign of fatigue or
complacency. It was as if Giselle was a new ballet and this was its debut. This
sense alone is one of the Paris Opera Ballet’s and this production’s great
strengths. The role of Giselle is one of the most sought-after in any ballet
company. To win the role, a ballerina must have near perfect technique,
outstanding grace, and great drama skills.
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Karl Paquette as Albrecht |
Karl Paquette, playing Albrecht,
was amazing. His entrechats in act two, would have to be among the highlights of the ballet. His
feet were a blur as they criss-crossed each other during graceful leaps. It’s
as if he were thrust from the stage by unseen forces; no effort was apparent,
his legs alternating like an egg-beater whisking an omelette to fluffy
delectability.
|
Isabelle Ciaravola as Giselle |
The object of his and Hilarion’s
(played by Audric Bezard) affections, Giselle is danced by the exquisite
Isabelle Ciaravola, (in the role) the very quintessence of the wide-eyed
innocent; a sincere, naïve girl whose heart is open to love and its achy-breaky
consequences. It is her sympathetic feeling for her character that
distinguishes her performance as much as her dancing, which is flawless.
|
Emilie Cozette as Queen of the Wilis |
One wouldn’t normally associate white meringue
and dainty wings as power dressing, but it works for Emilie Cozette: as queen
of the Wilis, she radiates power and authority.
Christine Peltzer, a quadrille,
steps up as Berthe, Giselle’s mother, who betrays the dualistic
ballet-pantomime tradition with a clear defined and urgent vocabulary of gestures
predicting dire straits, should Giselle persist with her infatuation.
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Mélanie Hurel and Emmanuel Thibault in
the peasant pas de deux |
One of the most artistic sidelights was the
peasant pas de deux (dance of two),
performed by Mélanie Hurel and Emmanuel Thibault. Very beautiful and charming!
However, the core strength of the
Paris Opera Ballet is in the corps de
ballet: there is a uniformity of excellence which other companies don’t
have. Thus, the delight lies not so much in the feats of technical brilliance
by the principals, though they’re very much in evidence, but in care of performance en masse; every move is a work of art,
every line and arc as if described by an architect’s sharpened pencil. Here, in
act two, were 26 dancers that didn’t need the wings on their backs to show they
could fly.
|
Corps de Ballet |
It was ballet master Jean Georges
Noverre’s desire for ballet, as a stand-alone art form, to be able to tell a
story; a goal finally realised, although around a century later, with Giselle.
Its strong themes and bold flavours, so clearly communicated and easily
savoured, seem, somehow, no less modern and, certainly, no less sophisticated.
Musically, choreographically and otherwise, Giselle, in the loving care of the
Paris Opera Ballet, remains a work of almost unmatched elegance and finesse.
Back in the day, it was
enthusiastically and willingly declared the greatest ballet of its time. That
time may still be with us. It’s a work and production that reclaims from the
realms of cliché the phrase, poetry in motion.
Besides, it’s so Frenchy, so
chic.
Love Sararose xox