So, you might have picked up that I'm a pretty avid ballet freak. I go to school for dance, I use the word in the title of my blog, I geek out over ridiculously cheap NYCB tickets... you probably got the idea.
Last weekend, the CCM Ballet department performed Giselle, which is probably one of my favorite classical ballets ever. There is absolutely nothing happy about this ballet. It's supposed to have some message or another about the power and strength of true love, but I don't really see it.
Basically, the ballet is focused around a peasant girl named (surprise!) Giselle, who is sweet and naive--and also happens to have a weak heart.
Along comes a spoiled rich boy named Albrecht, who is bored with his life and takes a fancy to Giselle. Basically the entire first act is about their cutesy little courtship and life in the village. I was a peasant woman (or, more specifically, Giselle's Friend #6, thank you very much), so I spent most of the first act jumping around and acting genuinely ecstatic about my impoverished, boring, and difficult life as a villager in sixteenth century Germany.
The real drama in act one happens when Giselle's other lover, Hilarion, exposes Albrecht as a prince. Albrecht's princess fiance comes along and Giselle is heartbroken. In fact, she literally goes insane, has a heart attack of some sort, and dies. It's really dramatic and was actually an incredibly fun scene to be a part of. As one of Giselle's friends, I got to act completely and utterly traumatized and generally sob hysterically over her dead body. It was fun.
Then, the second act is wayyyyy darker (if it could get much darker beyond someone going insane and dying over the fact that her bf was cheating on her). Basically, Giselle is turned into a Wili, which are ghosts of women who died of broken hearts before their marriage. They chill in the forest after dark with their hands crossed iconically in front of torso--which supposedly either symbolizes the child they will never be able to carry or an attempt to catch their broken heart; whichever you pick, it's damn depressing. The queen of the Wilis, Myrtha, is not only heartbroken, but also a really hateful, bitter woman who likes to make any man who ventures into the forest dance until they die. Hilarion, weeping over Giselle's grave, is caught by the Wilis and forced to dance until he dies.
Albrecht comes along hoping to make amends for his generally obnoxious behavior, and is caught by the Wilis, but Giselle (for some reason unbeknownst to us--she still loves him even though he was totally just playing with her heart??) defends him and asks Myrtha to spare his life. Giselle and Albrecht dance this super iconic and gorgeous pas de deux, but Myrtha refuses to spare his life.
Here's were some versions differ. Some say that Albrecht was screwed, and danced to his death. Others say that Giselle managed to keep him alive until dawn, when the Wilis lost their powers, and Albrecht was spared. Either way, there is absolutely no happiness or solace in it. If Albrecht lives, then he's stuck with a huge pile of guilt and a marriage to a snobbish princess for the rest of his life, and Giselle gets to glide around in a veil for the rest of her eternal existence as a ghost. If Albrecht dies, well then, you don't even have that lovely thought that they're together in death like you get from Romeo and Juliet, because Albrecht sure as heck can't become a Wili, and, like I previously mentioned, that's what Giselle is stuck being for the rest of eternity. Which sucks.
I don't know why I love this ballet so much, but despite my sarcastic summary, it is seriously incredible. There is something so terrifying about Giselle's mad scene, and so very touching about the way she throws her arms out in front of Albrecht to protect him from Myrtha. Their second act pas is so tender and delicate, and she really does seem like this otherworldly creature.
I had so much fun being in the ballet. I hadn't done a full length classical work in ages, and I've never done actual corps work besides Snow and Flowers in Nutcracker, so Giselle was an incredible experience.
Overenthusiastic peasant :)
All photos copyright Rene Micheo!
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