Giselle (June 18th and 19th, 2016)

The National Ballet of Canada's 

Giselle

June 18th (eve) and June 19th, 2016

Giselle was certainly not something I'd planned on seeing (my mother openly criticises the ballet at every chance she gets), but a ticket came with the summer intensive I was part of. Then we (meaning the summer intensive lot) found out that our ballet teacher wouldn't be dancing in the performance we were attending, so a number of us decided to get rush tickets for that performance as well. Despite my mother's critiques, I really enjoyed Giselle. Part of that was because I'd learned some of the choreography and could relate to how difficult it was, but also because it was a beautiful, classical, story-telling ballet, and that's what I love to watch. Because of seeing two shows with totally different casts less than 24 hours apart, I can write this review in my favourite way - comparisons! Yay!

Seat/Venue Review: I sat in M3 in the Orchestra on the 18th, and it was $140. Pretty good seat; really close to the action (I like being able to see everyone's faces), the only issue was if anyone above average hight sits in front of you, the stage gets cut in half. On the 19th, I sat in CC151 in the Orchestra, and it was a $95 rush ticket. Although farther back than I'd ideally like to be, the view was  central, entirely unobstructed and offered an excellent overall view of the stage. The Four Season's Centre is spacious, clean, has ample leg room, and free wifi! The ballet talks beforehand are also a great addition. The only problem is having just one bathroom for the orchestra; the backlog is terrible and happens at every single performance. They really should consider adding a second bathroom at the other end of the stalls. 

Casts: 18th Eve: McGee Maddox (Albrecht), Ben Rudisin (u/s Wilfred), Lorna Geddes (Giselle's Mother), Piotr Stanczyk (Hilarion), Svetlana Lunkina (Giselle), Jenna Savella, Tina Pereira, Laurynas Vejalis, Donald Thom (Giselle's Friends), Stephanie Hutchinson (Albrecht's Fiancee), Peter Ottman (Albrecht's Father), Heather Ogden (Queen of the Wilis), Jenna Savella and Tina Pereira (Lead Wilis). 

19th: Harrison James (Albrecht), Jack Bertinshaw (Wilfred), Rebekah Rimsay (Giselle's Mother), Jonathan Renna (Hilarion), Jurgita Dronina (Giselle), Selene Guerrero-Trujillo, Rui Huang, Christopher Gerty, Ethan Watts (Giselle's Friends), Alejandra Perez-Gomez (Albrecht's Fiancee), Peter Ottman (Albrecht's Father), Alexandra MacDonald (Queen of the Wilis), Jordana Daumec and Chelsea Meiss (Lead Wilis).

Giselle

Lunkina as Giselle

Svetlana Lunkina certainly gave the standout performance here. Her technique is absolutely flawless; each movement is absolutely solid, her feet are always beautifully pointed, and her flexibility accentuates her arabesques, rather than making them look grotesque (as some overly flexible dancers can do). She also has a soft, lyrical quality to her dancing, which makes her quite lovely to watch. Although her beautiful technique is important, it's Lunkina's acting that really brings the character to life. She interpreted each facet of Giselle's character in such a way that they combined together to create a single, multi-dimensional character. In sweet, innocent, vulnerable act 1 Giselle, you could see a few moments of bravery, compassion, intelligence, and hints of madness, making her descent into complete madness and eventual suicide much more believable. Because of the character Lunkina established in act 1,  act 2 Giselle's compassionate self-sacrifice to benefit Albrecht was heartrending and convincing. There was not a moment I doubted the sincerity of the character. Lunkina really gave everything she had to this performance and character, and it showed. Jurgita Dronina, on the other hand, was lacklustre by comparison. Though also a technically good dancer, I felt that she did not commit to the character or display any interesting qualities. She simply didn't go 'all in' the way that Lunkina did (for example, Dronina just touched Bathilde's skirt gently, rather than kneeling down and holding it to her face as Lunkina did, and Dronina's bout of madness seemed to be thrown off by the fact that she couldn't get her hair undone); it's little touches like that that differentiate between average and extraordinary. 

Albrecht

I was quite interested to see the newly-promoted Harrison James; I saw McGee Maddox shortly before his promotion and immediately thought he was principal material. It's always interesting to see whether you agree or not. In this case, I didn't find James particularly inspiring. Although technically a stronger dancer than Maddox, James's acting and general performance left something to be desired. He had no connection to his Giselle (Dronina), and seemed to be more focused on showing off to the audience rather than telling the story. Maddox, on the other hand, is a charismatic dancer with enormous stage presence, such that an un-pointed foot or a few inches short on a turn are noticeable, but do not detract from the overall performance. Like Lunkina, he gives his emotional all. It never feels like he's performing to an audience; rather, he is utterly involved in and committed to the story at hand. He lives in the moment. That's not to say he's not a great dancer; he certainly is. His jumps are so powerful, and even when Albrecht is entirely exhausted and near dead, Maddox never loses height or extension. But his emotional execution is the highlight; I nearly lost it when he was crying over Giselle's death. It was really heartbreaking. Maddox has always been a favourite of mine (ok, partially because he's adorable, but mostly because I love his performances - Tybalt is still a favourite), but he truly gave his everything to Albrecht. At the end of the day, I will always favour the emotional performance over the technically perfect, but empty one, and that is why I greatly preferred Maddox's performance over James'. 

Queen of the Wilis

I'd say Heather Ogden and Alexandra McDonald are on equal footing technically; I could not fault either of them (though anyone that can do that scary bourre across the stage plus have the stamina for the jumping solo doesn't deserve any criticism). I preferred Ogden only because her acting was better; she had this very regal, haunting stage presence and absolutely radiated fear and intimidation. Even from the audience, I felt scared and wary of Ogden's Queen. 

Hilarion

I'm definitely slightly biased here, but I think I would've preferred Jonathan Renna's Hilarion either way. Stanczyk was too angry, too bitter, and far too smug. I couldn't feel any sympathy for his character (and his character's eventual ugly demise) because of this. Even his tears at the end seemed false, and he seemed to prize Giselle as a beautiful catch rather than truly caring for her and her mother. Renna, on the other hand, presented a far more likeable Hilarion. He truly seemed to love Giselle and wants what's best for her; he doesn't reveal Albrecht to hurt her and 'win' her (as Stanczyk's Hilarion seems to), but to save her from further hurt. Renna's devastation at Giselle's death was so genuine and palpable, and because Renna established this very likeable, sympathetic character, it was quite hard to watch him get murdered by evil ghost women. Speaking of the death, Stanczyk kind of awkwardly bellyflopped into the lake, while Renna seemed pushed by a supernatural force (evil ghost ladies strike again!) and maintained his pose until he fell out of sight. Much more effective, in my opinion.

Other Notes

Lunkina and James in Giselle

The corps of Wilis was stronger on the 19th; the 18th was full of dropped legs, out of time chugs, and sloppy arms. Speaking from experience, the corps part of act 2 is extremely challenging (especially trying to control those veils), so I suspect by the evening performance on the 18th the corps were simply exhausted. The act 1 soloists on the 18th were no doubt better rehearsed; the act 1 soloists on the 19th were out of synch, off the music, and a bit of a mess. The act 2 soloists on both nights were equal; the only thing I can say is that none of them brought any particular personality to their roles.

All in all, I really enjoyed Giselle. I always love a classical narrative ballet, and the choreography and storytelling of this production of Giselle was beautiful and wonderfully communicated. It's a ballet I'd happily see again (sorry, Mum!).