The National Ballet of Canada / Giselle, choreographed by Sir Peter Wright after Jean Coralli and Marius Petipa, music by Adolphe Adam, Four Seasons Centre, closes Nov. 24. Tickets here.
The National Ballet has mounted a magnificent production of Giselle, and I do not use that word lightly. Needless to say, the National dancers were simply sensational.
The ballet, which premiered in Paris in 1841, is the quintessence of the French style, which differs from the flash and dash of the Russian imperial style because of its restraint. The challenges and difficulties of the technique are found in the intricate footwork, the straight up and down jumps, the thrusting mid-air limbs, the turns in every direction, and the all-important port de bras, to mention but a few. It requires both delicacy and control.
As well, French ballet has stronger storytelling elements, which means there is a great deal of mime to carry the narrative forward. In this performance, the mime was clean, clear and natural, and was seamlessly incorporated into the choreography. Whoever coached the dancers in mime did a bang-up job.
Performances: Major Roles
Principal dancer Svetlana Lunkina spent 15 years with the Bolshoi Ballet, and at 18, in her first season, was the youngest ballerina in that august company’s history to perform Giselle. According to her online biography, she is now 45, as impossible as that is to believe, and her performance was incandescent.
Giselle has been called the Hamlet of ballet, because of all the role’s demands. In the first act, Giselle is a simple village girl, shy and modest and sweet. When she is betrayed by her lover Albrecht, she goes mad. In the second act, she has risen from her grave, and now floats through the air like an ethereal spirit. The radiant Lunkina was all this and more.
Her mad scene was particularly impressive. Giselle’s choreography mirrors her happy dances with Albrecht, but Lunkina made these repeat steps seem halting and angular, even wild. At one point she hurled herself into the air with very non-ballerina abandon. It certainly took me by surprise, but was, nonetheless, very effective — maybe the best mad scene ever.
In short, Lunkina’s Giselle was perfection.
Principal dancer Harrison James (Albrecht) was the best I’ve ever seen him in terms of acting and character. With his handsome good looks, he is the quintessence of a ballet prince, and he certainly has the technique chops, but opposite Lunkina, he came alive in a very special way and gave a sterling performance. She seems to have brought out the best in him.
The other main role in Giselle is Myrtha, Queen of the Willis, who is the meanest woman in ballet. The malevolent Willis are spirits of girls who died from grief after being betrayed by their lovers and seek revenge on men by forcing them to dance to their death.
I was surprised by the casting of principal dancer Genevieve Penn Nabity in the role of Myrtha because, for me, she has a lighter stage presence. However, in her debut in the role, she almost pulled it off and will only get better with repeat performances.
She certainly had the necessary severe expression on her face, but her arm movements were not as sharply defined and pointed. She needed more force of character. Nonetheless, what Nabity brought to the role was the dancing. Her technique was dazzling as she sailed across the stage in split jumps and executed exquisite footwork. Her performance was flawless. She just has to work on character.
As Myrtha’s two second in commands, Selene Guerrero-Trujillo and Miyoko Koyasu, both second soloists, proved to be very fine technicians in their own right.
Corps de ballet & Featured Roles
At this point, we have to mention the wonderful corps de ballet.
The Willis are given beautiful patterns to negotiate, but the most famous choreography is the one legged, flat foot hop, which was done with absolute synchronization, and which the audience rewarded with a round of applause. These ballerinas, clearly, had been rehearsed to within an inch of their lives, which is all part of artistic director Hope Muir’s aim of bringing the National’s classical technique to the very top level.
First soloist Donald Thom made a striking debut as Hilarion, Giselle’s jealous peasant beau, in both character and dance. In fact, when the Willis sent him to his death, I saw choreography I’ve never seen before. In his death throes, Thom’s Hilarion executed a complex series of turns and jumps that really caught the eye.
The first act of Giselle contains the Peasant Dances which provides showy secondary roles for company members. In this case, Muir brought back the Pax de Six, the original Sir Peter Wright choreography, which features three couples rather than two, and thus provides more opportunity for performance. The dancers included first and second soloists and corps de ballet members, which shows depth in the ranks.
The solo couple, second soloist Emerson Dayton and corps member David Preciado were very impressive. Dayton beautifully displayed the intricate footwork, while Preciado has to be one of the best classicists in the company. His jumps and turns and pin-spot landings were quite breath-taking.
The two other couples, first soloist Hannah Galway and second soloist Noah Parets, and corps de ballet members Keira Sanford and Jason Ferro, had a unique difficulty. They had to perform at the exact same time which means they had to be musically and physically attuned, and that is not easy. For example, the men had to jump and land at the same time, while the women were given ultra-fast footwork. Nonetheless, they acquitted themselves with distinction. The Pas de Six gave the Peasant Dances an exciting edge.
The non-dance roles, which rely on mime to carry forward the story, are essential to the ballet. These characters were very well performed and should be noted — former company member Stephanie Hutchison as Giselle’s mother, former company coach Peter Ottmann as Albrecht’s father, second soloist Isaac Wright as Albrecht’s squire, first soloist Alexandra MacDonald as Bathilde, Albrecht’s fiancée, and corps member Trygve Cumpston as a court nobleman.
Music
The National Ballet Orchestra under Maestro David Briskin excelled themselves in the lushly romantic score by Adolphe Adam. The dynamics were superb — the sweetness and joyous nature of the first act in contrast to the menace and melodrama of the second were clearly defined. As well, the difference in speed, when to go fast, or when to go slow, was beautifully calculated. The orchestra was masterful in underpinning the choreography.
In short, the National Ballet’s Giselle is a performance not to be missed.
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