DANZ QUARTERLY No 7 April 2007

Reviews

GISELLE - The Royal New Zealand Ballet
Aotea Centre, Auckland December 2006

Reviewed by Briar Wilson

It was 1993 when the RNZB last gave us the romantic gem, Giselle, and again we saw the traditional picture book scene of a German village on the Rhine - Giselle’s home on the left, Albrecht’s house on the right, the castle in the background - and the moonlit dark greens of the second Act contrasting so well with the long white dresses of the Wilis.  Design was by Peter Cazalet.

The poet, Théophile Gautier, enchanted with the dancer Carlotta Grisi, saw the story of the Wilis as the perfect vehicle for her, and after working with librettist, Vernoy de Saint-Georges (for three days), composer Adolphe Adam (who wrote the score to order within the week) and choreographers Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, the ballet was speedily put on by the Paris Opera in 1841.  Through Nicholas Sergeyev, Petipa’s revision of it was first danced by Sadler Wells in London in 1934, and, always popular, it has probably never been out of production since.

The dance and mime is not incidental.  It carries along the tragic story of the village girl who loved to dance, and fell in love with a disguised nobleman, Albrecht, whose betrayal brought her to madness and death and so to become a Wili.  The Wilis were young women, angry with men because early death denied them a chance to live out their love, who would come to life at night to dance any man in the forest to death.  However Giselle’s love helped Albrecht survive this ordeal as a somewhat chastened man.   
 
Gary Harris, with Sherilyn Kennedy, restaged it after the original, although there is always some difference – this time using some music by Minkus and Friedrich Burgmuller.  But the story remains the same  - it was a traditional Giselle.

In the show I saw, Chantelle Kerr was Giselle and Craig Lord, Albrecht, and if they were not the opening night dancers, they could have been.  If the company can put up three sets of principals of this standard, it is doing very well.  The only cavil with Kerr was that, in the first Act, she smiled too much.  Giselle may be naïve, but she is not inane.

Two more minor criticisms, although the end of the season, one or two of the male villagers looked a bit shaky, and a draped hairstyle for the girls was most unbecoming. But overall the production was a great success, enriched by the setting and the two principals at the centre.

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