Royal New Zealand Ballet's magnificent Giselle goes on tour

Giselle
Royal New Zealand Ballet
Regent Theatre Wellington, August 11
National Tour dates: Napier August 19, Christchurch August 23–34, Dunedin August 28, Auckland August 31–September 3, Rotorua September 6,  Palmerston North September 9

Opening night of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s magnificent production of Giselle saw a captivating Lucy Green and dynamic Qi Huan produce  technically mesmerising and emotionally riveting performances.

Like many of the romantic classical ballets, Giselle is a tale of love but not of an idyllic love. Along with the idea of a pure love, there is also the fickleness of love, doomed love and the jealousy, despair and cruelty that can come from blighted relationships. The first act of the ballet presents an intense, joyous love while the second act presents its dark, cruel side.

Giselle, a peasant girl, dies of a broken heart on discovering that her lover, Albrecht, who is a prince in disguise, has deceived her as he is already betrothed. In the second act she rises from her grave and is commanded by the Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, to dance Albrecht to his death. However, she dances with him, till dawn so his life is spared and she returns to the grave.

It’s crucial for a great performance that these two contrasting and conflicting aspects need to be given emotional and physical authenticity through the dancing, the music, the sets and costumes. With this production the creative team has ensured that these have all been brought together to create a remarkably powerful narrative which is both close to human experience and to the core of romantic myth.

The two choreographers Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg have created an intelligent and finely resolved work with a clear narrative in the first act and a thrilling denouement in the second half.

The sets are cleverly juxtaposed, with the first act set bright and colourful, providing a cute little ginger bread house along with jolly peasants, with a romantic vista with a distant castle – presumably Albrecht’s home. The second act set is dark and mysterious, merging the bleak world of the graveyard and the mythical world of the jilted maiden.

The dark underbelly of love was made visually obvious by the curtain bearing a huge tree with tendrils of roots which opened the two acts. This was further reinforced by the lone figure of an older Albrecht (Kohei Iwamoto) who is seen at the beginning and end of the dance contemplating his lost love and his tragic life.

All the principals were outstanding, dancing with elegance and virtuosity while the corps de ballet showed flair and skill.

The role of Giselle requires a dancer to display a range of emotional states: the joy of youthful love, the despair and madness which comes with her rejection, through to the sweetness of the ethereal love she displays beyond the grave.

Lucy Green achieved this effortlessly, providing a real sense of character with her Giselle, from the demure young villager of the first half of Act I through her realisation that her world is falling apart and then her dancing in the final act where she is torn between regret and despair. Hers was a performance which showed she was able to understand and empathise with Giselle’s body and mind torn between conflicting desires through gesture, dance and acting.

Her descent into madness at the end of Act I was a superb piece of tragic acting. In addition to her distraught appearance, she conveyed her distress in dance. She repeats the same dainty steps she used at the start of the act but they become sombre, slow movements at variance with the music, creating a disturbing discordance.

Qi Huan as Albrecht had an exuberant performance, with some of his solo work providing a chance to show off his effortless gravity-defying leaps which often seem to go past the point of endurance.

The dancers provided an exquisite pas de deux in Act II, which had a more sensual dimension to it than their dancing in Act I, which was more like sedate courtship dancing. Green conveyed a sense of the ethereal with soft cursive movements, tentative steps and gentle turns.

While most of the time they avoided contact, when they did touch there was a frisson of tension. Unable to consummate physically or emotionally, they only connected spiritually.

Jacob Chown as the rejected lover Hilarion gave a tremendous display as the macho lover in Act I while in Act II his vigorous movements were highlighted by the ferocious dancing of the Wilis. In his final dance to the death sequence, he displayed his physical exhaustion and growing terror with movements that conveyed a mixture of rage and desperation.

Mayu Tanigaito as the impassive Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, gave a tense and icy performance, conveying a real sense of power, vengefulness and mystery.

The Wilis are female spiritual avengers – women who have died because they have been rejected and who now take their revenge on wayward males. This aspect of their supernatural power is a romantic concept of a parallel world reflecting the dual nature of the human condition.

The tightly disciplined corps de ballet in their role of the avenging Wilis adorned in their wedding veils were commanding, giving a chilling, visceral performance.

Adolphe Adam’s music for the ballet has some of the greatest ballet music of all time notably the themes to which Giselle dances. Conductor Marc Taddei led Orchestra Wellington with absolute control ensuring  the music was allowed to complement and enhance the emotional displays of the dancers.

John Daly-Peoples has a relative on the Royal New Zealand Ballet board