Tropical Tales: No. 21 - Vol. 1
- On Pointe
Giselle
n'est pas un simple classique quelconque de la
danse. C'est meme plus que le morceau dans
lequel le ballet romantique culmine en une
apogee unique, non reiteree (accent on the three
e's; sorry my French-Canadian friends) en depit
du Lac des cygnes ou de La Belle au bois dormant
il este le plus grand joyau des ballets du XIX
siecle. Dans l'optique actuelle, Giselle est l'
incarnation de la danse romantique, et qui plus
est, due ballet meme.
Giselle is nicht einfach nur irgendein
Tanzklassiker. Es ist nicht einmal nur das
Stuck, in dem das romantische Ballet zu einem
einmaligen, unwiederholbaren Hohenpunkt
kulminiert; Giselle is - trotz Schwanesee oder
Dornroschen - das grosste Kleinod unter den
Balletten des 19 Jahrhundredts. Von heute asu
gesehen ist Giselle der Inbegriff des
romantischen Tanzes, ja des Balletts
schlechthin.
Giselle's music by Adolphe Adam (1803 - 1856)
is not just another dance classic - it is also
more than merely the piece which has brought
romantic ballet to unique, inimitable heights -
or even the piece which, Swan Lake and The
Sleeping Beauty notwithstanding, has become the
most brilliant jewel of the 19th century ballet.
Galina Ulanova danced Giselle with
breathtaking precision at the Bolshoi Theatre in
Moscow, but it is a matter of personal taste as
to whether Dame Margot Fonteyn of the Royal
Ballet in London or Alicia Markova, an extremely
beautiful ballerina, was the most sensitive
Giselle.
Most experts will agree that Jules Perrot
from the Paris Opera was the gifted
choreographer who was responsible for the
Giselle dances in 1841, but it was Petipa who
had recomposed it, making it a memorable
contribution to the dance repertoire fifty years
later.
In Act 1, the curtain opens on a village on
the river Rhine when the Duke Albrecht emerges
to court the farmer's daughter, Giselle. She
plucks a marguerite but the final petal says,
"he loves me not." She throws the flower away in
tears. Albrecht picks it up and removes the last
petal, so it now says: "he loves me." The couple
is separated by the gamekeeper, Hilarion, who
states that Albrecht does not really love her.
Her mother warns her not to dance so fervently
because of her delicate heart. But regardless,
after dancing a pas de deux with Albrecht, she
dances another delirious dance then dies of a
broken heart.
In Act II, Albrecht appears at her grave and
Giselle's spirit is moved and dances a pas de
deux with him in a sort of death-dance. When the
bell intones the end of the dance hour of the
spirits, Albrecht remains among the living and
Giselle loves him from beyond her grave.
Depending on the mood I am in, it is
impossible for me to decide whether Giselle is
my favorite ballet, or the music and beautiful
dancing of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's, Swan
Lake.
Romantically yours,
Alinka Zyrmont
