Giselle Student Guide - Milwaukee


MARCH 2015
MILWAUKEE BALLET COMPANY
G I S E L L E : AU D I E N C E G U I D E
Photo: Rick Brodzeller
Michael Pink's Giselle moves the
ballet forward 100 years from the
Luz San Miguel
Photo: Timothy O'Donnell
& Rachel Malehorn
The idea for Giselle originated with
French poet and novelist
Théophile Gautier, who took an
interest in German poet Heinrich
Heine’s retelling of a Slavic legend
concerning the Wilis, ghostly
spirits of girls who died
before their wedding day.
Gautier imagined a version where a
girl betrayed by her beloved dies of a
broken heart but returns as a spirit
to save him from retribution by the
CARLOTA GRISI, GISELLE, 1841
Romantic period to be set in
war-torn Europe of the 1940s.
vengeful Wilis. Her merciful act saves
her from becoming a Wili herself.
Gautier took his idea to the Paris
Opéra, where a new Italian dancer,
Carlotta Grisi, had recently been
so well received that the
management wanted to feature her
in a ballet as soon as possible.
Adolphe Adam was quickly
recruited to compose the music,
having written for the Paris Opéra
before. Work on the score and its
ANNA PAVLOVA, GISELLE, 1931
choreography - by Jean Coralli and
Jules Perrot - began at once; Giselle
made its debut two months later.
The world premiere of Giselle, one of
the oldest continually performed
ballets, occurred at the Theatre de
l’Academie Royale de Musique in
Paris on June 28, 1841, danced by
Carlotta Grisi as Giselle and Lucien
Petipa as Albrecht. Giselle was a great
artistic and commercial success.
NATALIA OSIPOVA, GISELLE, 2014
L OV E A N D H AT E ,
L I F E A N D D E AT H ,
BETRAYAL AND
FORG IV E NE SS .
The classic story of Giselle is as
relevant now as it was in the 1840s.
Michael Pink’s Giselle references the
Jewish ghettos the Nazis created
during World War II.
Art is often used to raise questions
about human experience, history, and
significant moral issues and this
B ANKSY
A new mural in Gaza by the anonymous
artist Banksy features a kitten seeming
to play with a ball of tangled metal rods
as if it were yarn. The playful kitty is a
jarring contrast to the destruction that
surrounds him, but that's Banksy's point.
On his website, Banksy says, "A local
man came up and said 'Please - what
does this mean?' I explained I wanted to
highlight the destruction in Gaza by
posting photos on my website - but on
the internet people only look at
pictures of kittens."
production certainly aims to do all of
these things.
Setting a story with such universal
themes into a time where we can
clearly see ‘good and evil’ makes much
BRAZIL
WO R L D CU P
sense. In another telling, Giselle could
Murals like this one popped up in
be set in the Middle East, it could be
Brazil during the World Cup 2014
set in our own Civil War.
depicting the conflict between the
There is art that
incredible amount of spending and
high poverty rates in Rio de Janeiro.
happens because of
something horrible that
has occurred and there
is art that happens in
the midst of the horror.
Both are at play in
michael Pink's version
of Giselle.
CHARLIE HEBDO
The New Yorker's cover illustration
for its January 19 issue on the
terrorist attack on French satirical
magazine Charlie Hebdo showed a
pencil pointing upward — in this
The beauty of the historical version is
case, in the shape of the Eiffel Tower.
woven through the embroidered fabric
It has become an important symbol
of this new version of Giselle – a tale
of the protests following the
of a girl who wants what all of us do –
Charlie Hebdo attack. It's meant to
love, health, safety.
tell the world that artists and
writers will not be silenced by any
violent threats to free speech.
"My father told me that whatever happens, we must remain human,
so that we do not die like cattle. And I think that the will to create
was an expression of the will to live, and survive, as human beings."
Helga Weissova-Hoskova, Terezin survivor.
DISCUSSION
POINTS
It is difficult to speak about “life” in
remonstrance of – and often in
the ghettos of Nazi-Occupied
hiding from – the SS, which ran the
Europe. The lack of basic means of
camp. Among the inhabitants, was
survival ultimately resulted in
Hans Krása, the composer of
What do you think of
hundreds of deaths a day in the
Brundibar, a children’s opera that
Michael Pink's decision to
larger ghettos.
would eventually be performed 55
set the story in this time
The Terezín ghetto near Prague was
times in the ghetto. – the cast of
period? Discuss the following
children perpetually changing, as
or ask yourself these questions:
they were transported to Auschwitz
• How did Albrecht disguise
himself? Were you surprised
home to a remarkable array of
renowned Czech musicians,
composers and theatrical artists,
writing and performing as they and
their fellow Jewish inmates awaited
an unknown fate in Auschwitz.
Terezín is a complex story of
and replaced onstage by others.
With time, the concerts, cabarets,
plays, schooling and adult lectures
came to be tolerated by the Nazis,
as a means of pacification; then,
when you found out who he
really was?
• After finding out who Batilde
is and how she treated
dichotomies, a ghetto camp of
around 1943, even encouraged.
which survivors have curiously
‘There were four phases in the
happy – as well as nightmarish and
cultural life of Terezín,’ said Helga
painful memories; Terezín was a
Weissová-Hošková, a survivor of
place of resilience and art in
Terezín. ‘First, that of great creative
defiance of death, and does not fit
resistance; second, that of the Nazi
into any simplistic narrative of the
toleration of the cultural life; third,
Third Reich or Holocaust. …In
the manipulation of our art by the
November 1941, Terezín’s cultural
Nazis; and finally, when it was all
life sprang from the irrepressibility
over, the mass killing of almost
and the Wilis aren’t just
of talent imprisoned there, in
everyone involved.’”
women, what do you think of
everyone in the community,
do you think the betrayal was
worse?
• What do you think about
Michael putting live musicians
onstage?
• In Act II, the movement
becomes very contemporary
that choice?
• Did you like the combination
of classical and contemporary
choreography as a means to
tell this story?
• Do you feel this is more than
a love story between Giselle
and Albrecht?
Photo: Rick Brodzeller
• Did this way of telling the
story work for you?
The original Giselle
In the original telling of this most
Photo Rick Brodze
ller
renowned romantic ballet, we meet
FAMOUS FOR...
THIS BALLET IS KNOWN FOR
MANY THINGS – THE WELLKNOWN HE-LOVES-ME-HELOVES-ME-NOT MOMENT, THE
PEASANT DANCES, THE MAD
SCENE IN WHICH GISELLE
LITERALLY LETS HER HAIR
DOWN AS SHE GOES CRAZY, THE
WHITE, FLOWING, ROMANTIC
TUTUS WORN BY THE WILIS
CORPS AND THE GORGEOUS
VARIATIONS AND DANCING
THEY DO THROUGHOUT ACT II.
Giselle in Rhineland. She is beautiful
but frail, with a heart condition that
causes her mother a lot of worry. A
nobleman named Albrecht has
disguised himself as a common
huntsman and falls in love with Giselle.
Hilarion, a gamekeeper, is also in love
with her and he is furious that this
stranger has waltzed in and wooed his
love. During a break in the hunting
party, Bathilde comes in to the village
and is taken with Giselle’s sweetness
and courtesy. Albrecht rushes away –
AL B R EC HT
this is the woman he is betrothed to
and he doesn’t want Giselle to find out.
ALBRECHT IS SENTENCED TO
DEATH BY THE WILIS AND HE IS
FORCED TO DANCE UNTIL
SUNRISE TO ATONE FOR HIS
BETRAYAL OF GISELLE. LUCIEN
PETIPA ORIGINATED THE ROLE
OF ALBRECHT. FAMOUS
DANCERS TO PERFORM THIS
ROLE INCLUDE VASLAV NIJINSKY,
RUDOLF NUREYEV AND MIKHAIL
BARYSHNIKOV.
Meanwhile, Hilarion has uncovered the
ruse and he presents his evidence, a
sword that only a nobleman would
possess, to Giselle. Her weak heart
cannot survive this betrayal. She is
beside herself with sadness and she
goes mad, then dies, tragically in
Albrecht’s arms.
In Act II, we find Hilarion mourning at
Giselle’s grave. He is frightened at the
Davit Hovhannisyan
Photo: Timothy O'Donnell &
Rachel Malehorn
appearance of the Wilis, a ghostly
group of women, trapped in between
this world and the next by their
heartbreak and unrequited love. Led
by Myrtha, these spirits seek revenge
on any man who crosses into their
dominion – causing death by forcing
them to dance until their last breath.
Giselle is initiated into this afterworld
and when confronted with a
heartbroken Albrecht at her
tombstone, she forgives him and pleads
with the Wilis to do the same. Her
love is greater than their curse and
Albrecht spared, as is Giselle. She can
finally rest in peace.
LIVE MUSIC
ETHNIC MUSIC, DANCE AND
COSTUME WERE A LARGE PART
OF ROMANTIC BALLET.
MICHAEL PINK INCORPORATES
THESE TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS
LIVE ON STAGE WITH A PIANO, A
VIOLIN, TRUMPET, CLARINET &
PICCOLO.
ADOLPHE ADAM'S ORIGINAL
SCORE, ARRANGED BY GAVIN
SUTHERLAND, IS PLAYED BY
MILWAUKEE BALLET ORCHESTRA.
The Romantic Era of Ballet: The development of
pointe work and the rise of the ballerina...
Giselle was originally choreographed
some of her fans once cooked up
during the Romantic Era of ballet in
her pointe shoes and ate them!
the early 1800s. Romanticism in
Once, she even got stopped by a
ballet is still how we tend to think
bandit who wanted to rob her – but
of it today when we conjure up an
when he saw who she was, he just
image of a ballerina – fantastical
asked for a dance and then let her
stories of folk legends, fairies
go. It was during the Romantic Era
dancing in the woods wearing long,
that pointe shoes and dancing en
soft net tutus – like something out
pointe was developed. Prior to this,
of a dream. This is the first time
girls wore a leather shoe with a
CHRISTOPHER
GABLE
(1 9 4 0- 1 99 8 )
girls had shoes that allowed them to small heel. These new ballet shoes
dance on the tips of their toes. At
were called pointe shoes because
that time, dancing was a dangerous
they allow the girls to literally stand
job. The girls could be suspended in on the very tips, or the points, of
WHEN BALLET WAS
INVENTED, GIRLS WEREN'T
EVEN ALLOWED TO
PARTICIPATE! IT WAS FOR
BOYS ONLY!
their toes. These shoes were
invented to make the dancers look
taller, lighter and almost like they
were flying and with them the
dancing got more complicated,
challenging and intricate. Some
the air by wires that made them
people think there are blocks of
look like they were flying across the
wood or metal inside the shoes to
stage, they had to disappear in and
give the dancers something to stand
out of trap doors and their
on – but there isn’t. Actually, the
costumes could easily catch fire on
dancers spend years practicing rising
the candlelights that lit up the
up to the tips of their toes and as
theatre. Dancers like Marie Taglioni
their muscles and bones get
in Michel Fokine’s La Sylphide made
stronger, pretty soon they can jump
it look so beautiful the hazards
and land on their toes, turn on their
were forgotten. For the audiences
toes and do things that seem nearly
it was otherworldly, ethereal and
impossible to us mere mortals (i.e.
incredibly magical. Marie’s father
non-dancers!) A ballet like Giselle is
Filippo wanted her to be a star and
still so impressive now, but try to
he worked her so hard that some
imagine yourself in a theatre in the
days, after six hours of practice, she
early 1800s, watching Carlota Grisi
would faint from exhaustion. She
flitting across the stage on tiptoe –
could dance on her toes in a way
it would have seemed like she really
that looked like magic and people
was a dancing Wili – ghostly, delicate
loved her so much it was said that
and from another world.
Giselle is filled with strong
emotional memories for
Michael Pink. It was originally
created with his dear, departed
friend and colleague,
Christopher Gable, in
1997. Christopher was an
English ballet star who made an
unusually successful transition
to film and theater. He began
his ballet career in the late
1950s and by the early 60s was
well on his way to becoming
one of the most gifted dancers
of his generation. He was made
a Commander of the British
Empire in 1996.
IN ASHTON'S THE TWO
PIGEONS