In Pursuit of Wisdom & Truth

Giselle, the Gazelle

Just watched Giselle, performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, at the Kennedy Center.

How did the performance compare with those of the American Ballet and the Mariinsky Ballet I witnessed last summer at the Lincoln Center?

Giselle (played by Aurelie Dupont) pranced across the stage with all the grace of a gazelle and all the demureness of a doe-eyed fawn. Her unravelling was truly disturbing; I could literally see her loosing grasp of her 정줄. Meanwhile, her unrequited lover, Albrecht (played by Mathieu Ganio) sprang with all the spriteliness of a Lothlorien elf.

But it’s not just the etoile who impressed. The entire company was like a well-oiled machine. Every perfectly-synchronized move was well executed, showing all the control of the poor French hornist who held the same note for 16 bars during Myrtha’s eerie dance. They really did look like ethereal beings, especially in the second act where the company’s lily-white dresses glowed eerily on the twilit stage (except for the initially-shaky Myrtha). Their mid-air footwork was as intricate as the meticulous brush strokes that adorned the set, created in 1924 by Alexandre Benois for the revival of Giselle at the Paris Opera. 

역시, 파리발레는 이길 수 없구나. The Paris Opera Ballet was unnaturally beautiful and expressive. Not one quake or shiver did I see, like I did so often with the American Ballet, but I did see a lot of expression, which I did not see so much with the Mariinsky Ballet.

But hey, I’m just an amateur judge.