"Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers will perform excerpts from Peter Boal's new staging of Giselle prior to its June 2011 premiere at McCaw Hall in Seattle. The ballet features reconstructed choreography by dance scholar Doug Fullington and Giselle scholar Marian Smith based on Stepanov notation circa 1903 and French sources from the 1840s. PNB will be the first American company in modern times to use the Stepanov notations from the Harvard Theatre Collection for a ballet production. Artistic Director Peter Boal will discuss the production with Fullington and Smith. PNB dancers Carrie Imler, Carla Körbes, James Moore, and Seth Orza will perform."

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/worksandprocess



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"Pacific Northwest Ballet 3pm"


(original mention of this program by sophia at Dansomanie in French)

A few quick thoughts based on viewing the first 40 minutes. Peter Boal mentions right at the beginning that he didn't use some of the 'old rediscovered elements' because they just didn't work for him. This brings up the very interesting fact that these productions have been 'refined' over time and in some cases what we love today can be different from the original.

I can imagine how some of the classics have been refined over time. I personally think that this can work very well considering how talented the new interpreters were and how sensitive to our times the new interpretations can be based on the beauty of what we see today. I would really like to see what the Balanchine 'norm' will be many years from now. You can already see differences between NYC, Miami, Paris and Moscow in performing these works.

One other observation about this current 'reevaluation' of "Giselle." There seems to be a great deal more importance given to miming with even the music trying to pronounce actual words.

[Added comments]

Having finished the video several other ideas appear.

At the time of the original "Giselle"s virtuosity (complicated step-jump combinations, etc.) was very important with the more aerial jumps, etc. that we see today being introduced by the Bolshoi in the mid 20th century. Curiously the old virtuosity seems somewhat like the 'new' Balanchine. The connections between PNB's Balanchine orientation and this more 'original' "Giselle" have interesting parallels. Things do seem to go in circles sometimes.

Also mentioned is that the Royal Ballet (London) and Paris Opera Ballet versions, both on DVD's, are the closest to the Stepanov notations that Doug Fullington is using.

Another interesting comment is that the PNB work is a 'blending' of several 19th century sources.

Authenticity is always a topic of discussion, especially in dance, where there is no all encompassing form of notation. The elements are essentially passed visually and verbally from one generation to the next.

From the limited insight that I can get from this video the 'new-old' Pacific Northwest Ballet should be a very fine addition to the wonderful world of "Giselle"s.