Giselle Fact Card

Giselle
Carlotta Grisi as Giselle (1841)
Choreographed by	Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot, Marius Petipa (revival)
Composed by	Adolphe Adam
Date of premiere	28 June 1841
Place of premiere	Paris, France
Original ballet company	Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique
Characters	Giselle Albrect Hilarion Bathilda Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis
Created for	Carlotta Grisi and Lucien Petipa
Genre	Romantic
Type	Classical ballet

Principal Dancers in History

First Presented 28th June 1841 at Paris Opera's Salle Le Peletier
Carlotte Grisi-Giselle
Lucien Petipa-Albrecht
Jean Coralli-Hilarion

First Presented in England 12th March 1842 at Her Majesty's Theatre, London
Carlotte Grisi & Jules Perrot in the principal roles

First Presented in St.Petersburg 30th December 1842 at the Bolshoi Theatre
Elena Andreyanova-Giselle

First Presented in Italy, Milan 17th January 1843 at Teatro Alla Scala
Choreographed by A.Cotesi

Ballet Premiered in the United States, Boston 1st January 1846 at the Howard Atheneum
Mary Ann Lee & George Washing Smith in the principal roles

'Passed down to the present day is a version staged by Marius Petipa for the imperial ballet. Petipa staged his definitive revival of 'Giselle' in 1884 for the ballerina, marie Gorshenkova, but made his final touches to the work for Anna Pavlova's debut in 1903. It is said that that kirov/mariinsky ballet still dance the ballet in Petipa's original design nearly unchanged. Petipa's final work on Giselle was notated in the stepanov method of choreographic notation around the turn of the 20th century, and is today held as part of the famous sergeyev collection in the Harvard University Library Theatre collection'. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giselle 

Sir Frederick Ashton's 'La Fille mal gardée', clog dance

'A glorious romantic comedy full of color and laughter, La Fille mal gardée is set in the countryside in eighteenth century France. The ballet tells the story of Lise, a young maiden who must choose between the handsome, penniless farmer Colas and the wealthy simpleton Alain whom her meddling mama wishes her to marry. In La Fille mal gardée, folk dance and classical ballet meet in a joyous celebration of love and life that is perfect for the entire family'.

The Main Elements of the Romantic Ballet Period and the Social Context

• Bell tutu so the ballerinas are only showing their ankles-this was so you could see their foot work and it was also fashion for the public in the era.

• Wings on their backs and floaty arms to enhance the idea of the supernatural-the public wanted to see it and this also connected to the plea for escapism from industrialisation.

 

• The point shoes create a weightlessness effect-this also creates a realistic love story.

• Males are only there because they are used for support-there is a decline in males onstage to offstage but there strength is needed for the lifts used in ballet dances.

• Sunset creating night scenes enhancing the supernatural theme-using gas lamps creating the moonlight effect.

• Ballerinas performing little steps-this was fashion because the culture said that no legs should be shown and also movement vocabulary shows that the moves are not developed.

Setting of Performance

• The invention of gas lighting within the theatre of the time to create night time scene.
• The use of wires and trap doors to create the style og the performance.
• Romantic ballet tutu (belle tutu). 

Romantic Ballet

Romantic ballet is a period in ballet. It is known as 'Romantic Ballet' because it sits within the period of romanticism. The era began in the 19th century with a performance by Marie Taglioni.

Dancers of the time: Marie Taglioni
                                Fanny Eissler
                                Clara Webster
                                Louise Farebrother

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/r/romantic-ballet/ 

The era didn't end, however, it declined slowly. Considered as the last work which was romantic was the performance of coppelia in 1870.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copp%C3%A9lia

Between man and nature, the supernatural and society was much conflict and this is what the ballets focused mainly on. Taking centre stage within productions was ballerina and styles gave way to the male dancer; males mainly choreographed productions and not dance in them so females would usually play the role of a male.

Marius petipa's 'Giselle'

First staged performance-1884
Company that performed the ballet- Ballet du Theatre de l'Academie Royale de Musique
Principle dancers of the first performance-Maria Gorshenkova as Giselle

Act One

• In the village in daytime

Giselle is a peasant girl who loves her neighbour, Loys-this is count Albrecht in disguise. Hillarian is a fellow peasant who loves Giselle with all his heart and he find out who Loys really is. During a party, the Royals arrive including Count Albrecht and he is meant to be marrying Bathilde. Hillarian then reveals who Loys really is to everybody at the party. This causes Giselle to go mad with grief and kills herself.

Act Two

• In a forest at night-time

It is midnight and Hillarian is at Giselle's grave-side and he meets the wilis. Giselle becomes a Wilis-the Wilis are the ghosts of people who have died before they got married, they seek revenge on all men and dance them to their death. Queen Myrtha is their leader. Count Albrecht turns up and brings white flowers to her grave and she appears to him. The wilis dance Hillarian to his death and they also try to kill Count Albrecht. Even though he lied to Giselle about who he was she still loves him so much so she pleads with Queen Myrtha to let him live. Dawn arrives and the wilis leave Count Albrecht to live.

http://www.theballetbag.com/2011/01/11/giselle/

Putting Giselle into Context
Changes of control of power in the world-Queen Myrtha is the wilis' leader, she is in control and has the power, however, Giselle stands her ground and succeeds in taking control of the decision not to kill Count Albrecht.
New Technologies such as the Gas Light-used in the night-time scene to convey that the scene is supposed to be a night. Gives a more effective staging.
Escapism from a Hard Life-Celebrating a good harvest, forgetting the hard times and focusing on the good time which they are having now. It has a romantic plot and people dance around including fairies which conveys this. People are watching and it forces you to forget and escape from the hard times and things.
Challenging Class Differences-When Count Albrecht loves Giselle even though she is a peasant girl and he is of a much higher class and then she makes a stand and saves his life-this shows she had more power and control than a girl of her class should.
Women can also be Powerful-The wilis dance the men to their deaths; they are soft, floaty, seductive, sexy however, deadly. They are getting revenge for not having a man.

• Love is conveyed in the ballet when Giselle saves Count Albrecht from being danced to death by the wilis because she is still so deeply in love with him.
• Trust is conveyed in the ballet when Giselle trusts Loys however, he then betrays her trust as he is not who she thinks he is. This trust is then regained when he appears at her grave-side.
• Death is conveyed in the ballet when the wilis dance the men to death including Hillarian.
• Class Society is conveyed in the ballet when Giselle is a peasant girl and she believes that Loys (Count Albrecht) is also her class.