It turns out there’s a good reason why most modern productions of Giselle are heavily edited. Left to its own devices, as with Mary Skeaping’s 1971 production, it’s far too long, especially the first act. Skeaping’s great innovation, having found a piano reduction of the original score in the archives of the Royal Ballet of Sweden, was to utilise Adolphe Adam’s music almost in its entirety. Over the years different directors had added music from other composers and removed some of Adam’s, resulting in a hotch-potch of styles and a deadening of narrative thrust. Although a couple of items from other composers do remain, the effect is undoubtedly more coherent but has the dubious honour of allowing room for the Pas des Vendanges, an extra but entirely unnecessary pas de deux for Giselle and Albrecht.
Never mind, all the important bits of Giselle remain intact, hops and all, and a more traditional rendering you couldn’t hope to find. David Walker’s staging looks good in its autumnal first act and spooky gothic second, and the costumes are lovely. The lighting, too, is excellent, especially at crucial moments such as when the vengeful Wilis are rounding up any men foolhardy enough to be wandering through the forest at night.
As for the dancing, the English National Ballet corps were superb in Act 2, even gaining a rare burst of of mid-performance applause during the famous ‘hops’ routine – Giselle really doesn’t work without a good corps. Giselle herself, Katja Khaniukova, was dainty and lovelorn, fully believable as a naive young girl but any passion she felt for Albrecht after she died failed to reach as far as the audience, lost as it was in a mist of technique. Albrecht was another matter. Aitor Arrieta is a tremendous dancer, languid but elegant, and his journey from potential scallywag to misunderstood heart of gold was perfectly defined. I liked too Alison McWhinney’s reading of the devilishly tricky Myrtha. Unlike most Myrthas she only started out as mildly menacing, but, then again, this job of haunting the forest was all routine to her, merely the day (or night) job. It was only with Giselle’s annoying interruptions of her fun that she started to get really ticked off and McWhinney expressed this brilliantly through the gradually increased ferocity of her dancing.
In other roles, Minju Kang cut a striking figure as Zulma, one of Myrtha’s right-hand women, and the ideally matched Ivana Bueno and Daniel McCormick gave a very enjoyable Peasant pas de deux. On the whole, this was a very good show.
Gerard Davis
Dancing Review 