American Ballet Theatre's "Giselle"

Last night I went to the Kennedy Center to see the American Ballet Theatre perform Giselle. This is a classic ballet, and is actually the oldest continually-performed ballet, having premiered in the summer of 1841. ABT performed it for the first time in 1940, and they have done several productions of the show ever since. The music, composed by Adolphe Adam, is the epitome of the score (?) of a classic ballet; I enjoyed just listening to the music itself!

I had never seen this ballet before, so I was thankful for the synopsis in the program. Not much actually happens in this story. Count Albrecht (Cory Stearns) pretends to be a villager because he is in love with Giselle (Hee Seo), a villager herself; they get engaged, but later she finds out that he's already engaged to a noblewoman, and Giselle dies of a broken heart and becomes a wili, or a restless spirit who has died of unrequited love. So, the plot isn't complicated, and honestly the ballet kind of drags along because there isn't a lot of action. It's not particularly exciting. It's beautiful but very slow paced. I couldn't help but doze off here and there because it's just a lot of the same for most of the performance.

Villagers dancing as Giselle is crowned queen of the Wine Festival. Image found here.

Most of the first act centers around the wine harvest and the Wine Festival, so it's a lot of villagers dancing. This was the part that I thought was particularly slow. But I did like when the Court ladies and gentlemen arrived. Their costumes were so opulent and were a great contrast to the villagers' costumes (and I think they brought salukis or Afghan hounds on stage!). And of course this is where we meet our main characters and where the relationship drama happens. Giselle goes a little crazy in the end once she finds out the bad news, pulling at her hair, shaking, running around the stage. But I suppose that's an understandable response (?).

These are the wilis, or spirits. Image found here.

During the second act, we are transported to a scary forest with mist and lightning. Myrta (Devon Teuscher), the queen of the wilis, was great to watch. I wasn't in love with the choreography for this part. There was a lot of jumping and hopping around (cabrioles and brisés, you get the idea), and not in a graceful way. But I was impressed by the lifts and the way the wilis danced as if they were floating (called bourrée). I wish the music for this part could have been more ethereal and mournful, like the spirits themselves. There were actually times when the music sounded joyful, which didn't really match the scene. But I loved the white costumes, which were also very classic.

I was particularly annoyed with the gist of the second act. First of all, it's essentially saying that if you're a woman who doesn't find love, you are dead to society. God forbid you never get married! And then Giselle saves Count Albrecht from his doom, even though he's a two-timing liar. These are not the messages we should be sending women! Okay, maybe I'm just bitter because I recently went through a break-up with a guy who was disrespectful and patronizing (imagine microaggressions out the wazoo), but come on! Women have more to aspire to than falling in love, and they certainly shouldn't help or protect men who have done them wrong. Blerg. Ok, stepping off my soapbox now.

Here's a snapshot video of the performance:

Misty Copeland will be playing the part of Giselle on Thursday, and of course that show is sold out. But you can still buy tickets for the other shows!