Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and a company featuring exiled dancers deliver a moving production with an urgent tone
This production is little short of a miracle. The United Ukrainian Ballet – a crack company of dancers, some of whom have fled their homeland – ardently refresh a classic. Despite the wrenching context, it is immensely moving that everyone involved pours so much thought, heart and art into this revelatory project.
The Kyiv-raised choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is devoted to stripping decades of accretions from ballet classics. He revisited Giselle for the Bolshoi in 2019 and his researches bring the Romantic tragedy closer to its Parisian premiere of 1841. In particular, detailed notes left by a French dancer called Henri Justamant reframe the characters: the peasant Giselle is betrayed by Albert, a disguised nobleman, but helps him from beyond the grave. The detail is fresh, the performances delicate and true.
The conductor Viktor Oliynyk sets an urgent tone – brisk tempi let the story’s shadows arrive unawares. Christine Shevchenko, the American Ballet Theatre principal skips like a gazelle while Oleksii Tiutiunnyk’s Albert – light of foot, high of cheekbone – is all arcs and scissor jumps. This willowy pair might hope to remain airborne for ever, freed from cloddish responsibility. Meanwhile, the gamekeeper (Sergei Kliachin) who adores Giselle stomps about, keeping a suspicious eye on Albert. Is true love weighty or airy? Can you move through life without care?
At the Coliseum, London, until 17 September
More information:
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/14/united-ukrainian-ballet-giselle-review-coliseum-london