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Frolics in the forest Giselle
Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton
**** WHAT an exquisite little dancer Ekaterina
Bulgutova is as Giselle, lifting the whole ballet with some delightful
footwork. She is the star of this production from the
Russia State Ballet of Siberia well supported by Mikhail Khushutin as
the disguised Count Albrecht who showed athleticism and some excellent
work in both solo dances and a splendid pas de deux in the second act. Giselle is one of those airy fairy mid 19th
century ballets with remarkably well dressed peasant girls in a bucolic
landscape where the sun always shines and various princes, counts and
assorted nobles wander about, often in disguise, partaking of the local
womanhood and breaking into dance at the drop of a feathered hat. Set sometime in the Middle Ages, when such events
seemed to be common, we find lurking among the hedgerows various
sprites, supernatural beings and, in this case, a collection of Wilis,
Wilis being a supernatural bunch of women who dance men to death – a
sort of early form of disco. The basic tale is simple. Giselle falls for this
happy-go-lucky peasant lad, Loys, not knowing he is really Count
Albrecht, out among the peasantry sowing his up-market wild oats among
the masses before he has to settle down to a life of royal visitis and
state openings with his betrothed, the Countess Bathilde. When Giselle discovers the truth that her
likeable peasant is a count and set to marry another she dies on the
spot, there and then of a broken heart or at least she shuffles off her
mortal coil after a pretty dance. The second act sees her grave set alone in a gloomy forest where it is visited by the now grieving Count. This sees the Wilis turn out in force, raising Giselle from the dead as bait to dance the life out of Albrecht. But Giselle’s love saves him and they all live . . . well not exactly happily ever after. Giselle is still dead of course and while Albrecht has been saved from death he realises what a love he has lost and slopes off dragginghis cloak behind him. IMPOSING QUEEN Anastasia Kazantseva is an imposing Queen of the
Wilis and a confident dancer aided by Tatiana Gavrilova and Nadezhda
Vlasova as her main cohorts and a corps of 16 fine dancers. Among the peasantry we have Hans the forrester
danced by Egor Osokin who is carrying a torch for Giselle to no avail,
and Vera Surovtseva as Giselle’s mother.
The music by Parisian composer Adolphe Adam was
unusual at the time, 1841, in that it was largely original and wasn’t a
collection of popular classical tunes of the time which was the fashion,
sort of jukebox ballets. But it is still as if it has been written
specifically for dance, rather like ballet etudes, with music which
might be easy to choreograph but is hardly memorable. This is perhaps most noticeable set against the
two other ballets the company are performing at the Grand, Sleeping
Beauty and Sawn Lake both with music by Tchaikovsky who brought the art
of symphony into ballet, producing scores which stand as concert pieces
on their own. This touring production also suffers a little
from a thin sound, which is not to detract from the 14-piece orchestra,
which was excellent, but playing with 14 musicians inevitably reduces
the depth and colour of the music which becomes even more noticeable
with less familiar melodies. It is not a fault, or criticism, just a necessary
compromise and a fact of touring life. Touring with a full orchestra
would increase costs – and ticket prices - considerably with perhaps
another 50 or so musicians to be housed and paid - and live music, even
in smaller numbers, is far better than the recorded music some smaller
companies use on tour. A small point and one that hardly detracts from
an enjoyable performance. The visit ends with Swan Lake on 25-03-14. Roger Clarke
And pars de deux from the back **** IT can be very cold in Siberia, but this
superb company delivered a heart warming fantasy ballet to the Black
Country with their performance of Giselle. The first act was particularly colourful, with
delightful costumes as the cast developed the emotional story of the
delicate peasant girl as she falls in love with a young man called Loys
who is posing as one of the villagers. He is, however, Count Albrecht, sewing his wild
oats before marrying his fiancée, Countess Bathide, and the deception
leads to tragedy. Ekaterina Bulgutova excelled as Giselle, dancing
beautifully while at times able to reveal the strain of her medical
condition and finally reacting to the realisation that she has been
deceived. A superb performance, too, from Mikhail Khushutin
in the role of the Count, especially in the second act when he visited
Giselle’s grave in the forest and her spirit appears to him. Egor Osokin also impressed as the forester Hans,
the local man with a genuine love for Giselle. The Russian dancers and orchestra also staged
Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake before leaving Wolverhampton. Paul Marston
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