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Classic romantic ballet is an ageless odd story
BALLET: GISELLE
London Coliseum
GISELLE is the archetypal romantic classical ballet. English National Ballet have performed it 343 times and this version by choreographer Mary Skeaping, first performed in 1971, opts for the deeply traditional with pantomimic woodland sets, Adophe Adam’s fulsome original score and a 166-year-old lesson in mime from original choreographers Coralli, Perrot and Petipa.
It’s an odd story. As Dame Beryl Grey herself says in the programme: “The story is ageless. It doesn’t matter if there’s a prince or not, girls will always fall for unsuitable men who won’t marry them.”
That is the heart of its appeal as the notion of the betrayed Giselle’s collapse in a fit of madness after a man she’s just met dumps her, no matter how fragile she looks, is quite far fetched.
The second half is even odder, with the woodland spirits, the Wilis, out to avenge all rejected brides by luring their grooms to their deaths.
Giselle saves the prince who she thought loved her then discovered was engaged to marry someone else. The price is to be eternally parted from him.
I am told principal dancers Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks are well up there in the pas de deux stakes. The new Fonteyn and Nureyev? Perhaps. They have an easy, lyrical pairing but she is rather glacial for me – lacking dramatic weight and like a stringless marionette occasionally, although technically a very good dancer. Estonian Edur recalls the Russian style: big jumps, elegant artistic legs and lines. He out acts Oaks and stands out alongside other principals.
Sarah McIlroy as Queen of the Wilis makes a touching entrance and is always a stalwart and committed contributor. Yat-Sen Chang is rather subdued as a peasant. He is a dancer whose progress I have watched with interest and always appreciate the fire in his steps, albeit a little doused on this particular evening.
This is a good workmanlike production, but not an outstanding one.
Run finished
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