The iconic romantic ballet performed like never before
Recently staged by English National Ballet, Giselle is considered the highest achievement in romantic ballet, remaining a popular fixture in repertoire lists of dance companies worldwide. But this performance is not of Giselle but of Giselle… – instead this story retraces the history and context of the famous piece through striking performance art.
Part lecture, part retelling, this performance provides detailed background on the ballet and its connection to the art form. The result is a fascinating story of how Giselle is connected to the formation of modern ballet as we know it. Everything from ballerinas dancing en pointe and wearing tutus to male dancers acting as props to support the graceful movements of their female counterparts.
Created by François Gremaud with dutch dancer Samantha van Wissen, this work is their second piece centred around tragic female characters in the classical arts. Once the lecture section of the piece is complete, van Wissen goes on to comedically orate the ballet itself, retelling the entire plot from start to finish with interesting facts and amusing pieces of dance and mime.
A magnificent feat, van Wissen speaks and dances for nearly 2 hours, keeping the audience engaged with various techniques from jokes to audience interaction. Assisted by 4 onstage musicians, the performance is scored with music by Luca Antignani, based on the original Giselle score by Adolphe Adam. The musicians are spectacular, able to stop and start their pieces with perfect precision and unison even without a conductor.
Performed entirely in French, the choice to not present the piece in English makes the content more challenging to absorb as an audience member. Although surtitles are provided for the majority of the text, they are often mistimed, either giving away a joke too early or providing it too late, after it has already been told. It’s difficult to fully appreciate the movements and expressions of van Wissen, as to actually understand what she’s saying the surtitles must be constantly monitored.
There is no reference to the performance being entirely in French, which is a confusing choice as it has a profound impact on the viewing experience. At the conclusion of the performance the audience is gifted with a copy of the play text, which is also entirely in French. Although a nice souvenir, with a London-based English speaking audience, it would have made more sense to gift an English version by the surtitle translator Sarah Jane Moloney.
Despite this, the performance is a fascinating deep dive both into Giselle and the ballet genre itself, and is a real treat for any ballet fanatic. This mischievous text is both humorous and informative, bringing together the musical and the theatrical in a riveting piece of performance art.