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For the program notes of her production of Giselle, Guillem speaks with a frustration concerning the course Giselle has taken over time. She mentions Gautier and Heine's ideas being "buried by stiff, choreographic, purely mechanical movements...becoming a kind of incoherent language that was supposed to "speak" the story." She then adds, "I have tried to rediscover the real Giselle, to make th blood flow in the veins of the various characters." With the exception of a few troublesome set designs and orientation, I am convinced that she did exactly that.<P>Initially, the most noticable difference between Guillem's Giselle and the more traditional productions reveals itself in the sets and costumes. Disposing of the typical left stage shed and right stage home, Paul Brown opted for one main wall, cumbersomely situated in the center of the stage. Everytime the scene changed from one side of the house to the other, the wall whirred noisily around in a circle,interrupting the music. It introducting an industrial noise which reminds us all that we are not in Giselle's village, but in the 21st century, using technology in the wrong way with regards to providing fully enjoyable performance. Not only was the noise problematic, but the division of stage space became a highly disagreeable situation. Because of its central position, the wall cut off half of the stage's depth, leaving the corps and character dancers to fend for themselves, frantically shuffling out of the way when the male leads embarked on their grand jetes. <P>As far as costumes were concerned, Brown eliminated the kitschy, Alice-in-Wonderland style dress that Giselle usually dons, and instead clothed her in a lengthy, fluid, watery-blue dress. In truth, it looked about as ordinary as something purchased from the Land's End catalogue, only in silk, but ir worked well with the tone of Guillem's production and the character of the other costumes. None of the men wore tights, but instead revelled and frolicked in trousers that were obviously well-designed for each dancer. None of the performers seemed hindered by their dress, except perhaps for Gismondi, whose full-skirted dress got in the way with some of the turns in the pas de deux. <P>This change in costuming reflected the change in dramatic focus which Guillem brought to this production. One can almost feel the dramatic past in Guillem, and see the marvelous danseurs that shaped her through her choreography and dramatic direction. namely Nureyev. By keeping the peasants in more realistic clothing, rather than tights and fluffy tutus, the entire mood of the First Act was brought out from this stale and fixed fairy tale picture of Giselle, to a lively and thriving image of a town during "crush" season. The choreography featured more folk and character dancing than other productions I have seen, wrapping the audience up in its festivities. I felt as if I could have been a part of the celebrations rather than someone viewing a group of professionally trained dancers, performing French dancing steps to perfection, whilst pretending to be mere peasants. Besides a more realistic corps, Guillem proved to be a master of the dramatic, as she properly choreographed the correct amount of flirting between Giselle and Albrecht, without becoming sugary sweet. Perhaps it was Massimo Muru's acting, or the chemistry of their partnership that evening, but somehow the two dancers portrayed an incredibly believable love that made the story seem more of the present than of the past. The tiniest touches inbetween a few flighty steps, a look, a glance, or a caress made all the difference in creating a separate persona which was the love between Giselle and Albrecht. Muru's acting capabilities served him well when, after being discovered as royalty, he attempted to sweet-talk matters with his fiancee. His desperation was brutally apparent, and Serena Colombi as Bathilde mocked Albrecht's mistake beautifully. Unfortunately, Laura Costa as Berthe, did not match up dramatically to her fellow performers. Perhaps simply miscast, Costa portrayed nothing more believable than a few weak arms held out to her daughter during Giselle's mad scene. She was not strong enough in her pleadings for Giselle to stop dancing, nor could she maintain that steady, hard, driving presence of order, power, and love, that mothers possess. She did have one redeeming quality however, that being her violent thrust of Albrecht after he dove for Giselle's corpse. If only she had acted with such passion in earlier scenes. <P>Guillem's dancing has not suffered over the years. The last time I saw her perform was in Nureyev's "Cinderella" with Paris Opera. Her fluidity melts one, her passion for dancing and Albrecht excites one, and her precision and extensions amaze one. The arabesque of her ballonees were really that of a penchee, and her second position she holds at practically 180 degrees, without thinking twice about it. Her smile remained captivating throughout, and her mad scene was fantastic yet indefinable. I could not categorize it, or say that it was like so and so's but...etc., it was Sylvie's pure and simple. I find myself without words to do justice to that aspect of the performance.<P>I only have a few issues with the costumes and lighting in the second act. It was an obvious intention to present the Wilis in individual wedding gowns in order to emphasize the individual cases and sufferings of each girl. Rather than a collective mass of ghosts with one star, there were twenty-four women, each betrayed in a different way. I have no problems with this idea, however, the actual designs of the dresses I found most distracting. They ranged in design from Dior's New Look of the 1950's to the tacky '80's, and then there was an attempt of inclusive ethnicity with a half-sari gown baring the midriff. Perhaps I would not have minded the variety if they had in some way related to one another, or if they were simply more slight variations of a classic, unoffensive design. It definitely took away from the mystery and eeriness of these spirits of the night. The ballerina's pointe shoes needed to be banged some more on the concrete outside of the theater, for they were too loud for Wilis, and unfortunately the soles of Guillem's shoes were distractingly squeaky during the classic promenade in first arabesque. The lighting I also found rather harsh, making some of the tackier gowns glare in its direct light. The noisy sets continued with the rather obnoxious fog machines, as they were anything but silent.<P>The dancing maintained a satisfying consistency within the dancers of the corps. I did not find myself nitpicking over faulty technique and sloppy corps dancing. The Wilis remained beautifully uniform and even in their dance, as automatic as it should be. <BR>Andrea Volpintesta's Hilarion was not disappointing in the least. His dancing was fluid yet athletic, and his death, clutching his heart mid-air in a jump, was over-the-top dramatic, yet breathtakingly beautiful.<P>Perhaps my favorite part of the entire ballet was Albrecht's entrance into the 2nd act. I saw the cape, and was wondering if Musso would be able to carry it the way Nureyev always did. That however, was not applicable, for upon entering Musso merely stepped regretfully. If ever there was a physical embodiment of remorse, it occurred Friday night on that stage through Musso's portrayal of Albrecht. After reaching mid-way downstage-left, Musso held his head in his hands, and the cape simply fell to the floor, obviously echoing what his body would have wanted to do at the time, and what he would do later: collapse. Musso's dancing, no longer hampered by "the wall" of the first act, took over the stage, especially with his cabrioles,which not only flew, but showcased his extensions. His tours were exceptional, as he landed ALL of the fifths that I witnessed. I have never seen such precision in the landings of jumps, and Musso must be commended for this.<P>Guillem's Giselle seemed to love him even more after her death, although her believable acting was something of a cost to her ghostliness. She was not as spirit-like as most Giselle's, but after death she seemed to have matured from a girl to a woman, if that is possible. Her hair remains in the long braid she wore during the first act, a constant reminder of her young and happy peasant days. After the bells ring to announce the Wilis' retreat, she moves in a series of achingly bittersweet bourrees towards and away from Albrecht, while he eventually crumples to the ground after one final stroke of her cheek. <P>All in all, I was completely sold on Guillem's new take on Giselle. It doesn't hurt that she is a fantastic dancer, whose knack for the dramatic, both in her own character and in others successfully pulls off her production. The polished dancing of both the corps and the stars is something I have seen lacking in my recent viewing of American companies, and was refreshing to see. <P>I shall now read the reviews of others, and see if I can find comapny in my recently found satisfaction!
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