Inside the ballet: Giselle
As a curious bunhead who likes to research famous ballet icons' birthdays, I couldn’t miss the chance to write a post in honor of Jules Perrot’s birthday anniversary, which happens to be on August 18th. Together with Jean Coralli, a French ballet dancer and choreographer, Jules Perrot, who was a dancer and choreographer himself, choreographed the well-known masterpiece “Giselle”.
In one way or another, I am quite sure that you are already familiar with “Giselle”: you’ve probably seen the full-length ballet at least once, you can maybe sing Giselle’s 1st act variation music or you are currently picturing countless ballerinas dressed in a white romantic tutu with their wrists crossed in front of the stomach.
I was in my first year of pre-professional training when I first saw Giselle and I immediately fell in love with it, captivated by the touching music, delicate-looking choreography, but most importantly by the rich psychology of the characters. I immediately felt close to the young Giselle: shy, curious, dramatic and in the end, compassionate and loving.
Whether you know a lot or a little about this magnificent ballet, I hope that you will enjoy reading this post and that it will help you enrich your dancing by expanding your knowledge. Giselle holds a special place in my heart as it was the first full-length ballet I have ever watched, even though on video, and it had a huge impact on me.
A few words on the storyline
Giselle’s plot is influenced by both a book, written by Heinrich Heine, and a poem, written by Victor Hugo. These sources inspired the character of Giselle, a young girl who loves to dance so much that she dies from dancing because of her poor health conditions and the legend of the wilis, which seems to be a traditional German legend.
The storyline is quite simple: Giselle is a young peasant girl who falls in love with Albrecht, a mysterious man who suddenly gets to the village and swears to love her. Little does Giselle know that Albrecht is a noble and he is about to get married with another noblewoman: Bathilde. Hilarion, a gamekeeper who lives in the village and loves Giselle as well, tries to warn the young peasant without succeeding. He finds out the truth about Albrecht’s identity, but nobody initially believes him. All of a sudden, a court of nobles gets to the village looking for a place to sit and something to drink after a hunting trip. Among them we have Bathilde and her father.
It goes without saying that Bathilde recognizes Albrecht and eventually Giselle finds out the truth about him. Feeling betrayed, she goes mad and due to her weak heart, she dies. Giselle turns into a wilis, like every girl who died before getting married. Wilis make every man they find on their way dance till exhaustion and death. While visiting Giselle’s grave in the night, Albrecht gets captured by the wilis. In the end, Giselle manages to save Albrecht from the evil wilis queen Myrtha, she is finally freed from her destiny as a wilis and allowed to rest in peace forever.
I purposely skipped through some important details as this is only supposed to be an introduction to the ballet and I am by no means an expert. If you want to dig deeper into the story, I recommend watching different versions of the full-length ballet and reading everything you can find about it.
Some anecdotes on Giselle
Giselle was created for an Italian ballerina, Carlotta Grisi. Many ballets were created for Italian ballerinas in the past as their technique was said to be very strong. In fact, some virtuoso steps that we know today, such as the 32 hops on pointe in Giselle and the 32 fouettés in many pas de deux codas, were first performed by Italian ballerinas. You may have noticed that I am not talking much about male dancers. While from the 15th to the 18th centuries, in the Italian and French Renaissance courts where ballet originated, male dancers actively participated in court dances, in the 19th century we find a different scenario.
During the Romantic era ballerinas took center stage, representing the ideal of fragile, delicate, elegant and ethereal women. In this period, ballets such as La Sylphide, Giselle, Pas De Quatre and countless more romantic ballets that went lost were created and regularly performed. Male dancers were then covering marginal roles that mainly consisted in pantomime scenes and partnering.
Naturally, Giselle as we know it today must be quite different from its premiere in 1841. Depending on the version, every plot is slightly modified and the choreography certainly evolved to reflect today’s technical standards. You have to keep in mind that pointe shoes had just been introduced at the time Giselle was created.
Did you know that the peasant pas de deux was not originally supposed to be in the ballet? It was added to give a soloist role to another ballerina, but has little to do with the story itself. What might surprise you more is that the 32 entrechat-six performed by Albrecht in the second act were just brisés across the stage. I recently saw a video featuring Michail Baryshnikov in Giselle and guess what? He performed the original brisés version. What remained the same is the music, composed by Adolphe Adam. I love the score because even by simply listening to it, I can picture the story and imagine what would be happening on stage.
What does Romantic mean?
Giselle was one of the first Romantic ballets ever to be choreographed. Whenever I see the term “romantic”, the first image that pops into my head is the romantic tutu (I bet I am not the only one). The romantic tutu is a long skirt made of many tulle layers. It should evoke softness and make the ballerina look like an ethereal-being floating across the stage. The tutu should cover the ballerina’s knees and cut in the middle of her calf to show her precise foot work.
Apart from the tutu, romantic ballets share many other characteristics:
they portray stories of peasants and common people instead of fairies and nobles;
they are usually divided in two acts, one of which is a “ballet blanc” where ballerinas are all dressed in white romantic tutus on a dark stage set, usually at night in a forest;
their plot often involves a love triangle;
their style demands soft, rounded lines and accentuated tilts of the head and body;
as mentioned above, instead of the pancake tutus, romantic ballets are danced in long and soft tulle skirts, the so-called “romantic tutus”;
If you will soon be dancing the role of Giselle or perform any other romantic role, pay attention to the style of the choreography: keep your movements delicate and linked to one another, use soft port de bras and incline your bust and head. Consider investing in a good romantic tutu for your rehearsals as it will help you find the right movement quality while getting you used to the stage costume’s feeling.
Names to remember
When I was a kid, I often heard people around me proudly stating that the Italian ballerina Carla Fracci was without any doubts the best Giselle ever. One day, while I was browsing ballet videos on YouTube, I found a full-length Giselle with Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn in the main roles. Once I started watching it, I could not take my eyes off of the screen.
It wasn’t just Carla and Erik’s exceptional technical precision who kept me in front of my laptop for two hours straight. I was particularly captivated by how they made everything look so natural and realistic. They had a complete understanding of the story and the style, which made the ballet seem like an actual movie. I could almost hear words coming from their movements. Here are more names to remember for their performances in Giselle (according to my personal taste and to the performances I’ve seen up to now):
Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov
Genuine. Every single thing that Makarova and Barysnikov do on stage seems spontaneous. You will be so immersed into the ballet that you’ll forget time is passing by.
Carla Fracci (once again) and Rudolf Nureyev
Touching. Carla Fracci and Rudolf Nureyev are best known for their performances as Giselle and Albrecht. Expect to be mesmerized by their dancing and acting, they literally speak without words.
Natalia Osipova and Carlos Acosta
Intense. I suppose this is the best way to describe Osipova and Acosta’s performance in Giselle. You’ll be overloaded with emotions and astonished by these dancers’ technical abilities.
Dorothée Gilbert and Mathieu Ganio
Lively. There is something about Dorothée Gilbert and Mathieu Ganio that makes their Giselle dynamic, even in the second act. Enjoy their meticulous technique and moving artistry.
With this, I am concluding my post on Giselle. I’d love to hear from you: what are your thoughts on this ballet? Who are your favorite dancers as Giselle and Albrecht? Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message on Instagram.
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Sources
Romantic ballet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_ballet (22/07/21)
The storyline of Giselle and other anecdotes on the ballet
https://petipasociety.com/giselle/ (22/07/21)