Alexei Ratmansky really has two careers. One is as a leading ballet choreographer of his time, whose works are in demand by companies all over the world. He was recently hired as Resident Choreographer of New York City Ballet. Another is as ballet historian. Ratmansky has gone back to primary source notations for reconstructions of some of the most beloved ballet classics: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, Harlequinade. Yesterday, I saw another one of his reconstructions, Giselle. He reconstructed Giselle by studying the Sergeyev notations of Petipa’s version, as well as the notes of Henri Justament.
Ratmansky originally set the Giselle reconstruction on the Bolshoi Ballet in 2019. But then things happened and the Bolshoi will no longer be performing his version. Enter the United Ukrainian Ballet. It’s a pickup company of dancers that have been displaced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This company is now based in the Netherlands, but has performed Ratmansky’s version of Giselle in London. This week they toured to the United States at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. I caught two performances, the 4th February matinee and evening performances.
First things first. Choreographically, this Giselle does not differ in an extreme way from the countless productions of Giselle around the world. The choreography for the title character in particular will be extremely familiar to balletomanes. Giselle still hops across the stage in her Act 1 variation. In Act 2 she still gets initiated by the Wilis with a series of fast turns in arabesque. She still entices Albert (Albrecht) to dance with her till his death by raising her leg in developpé.
There are differences in choreography for Albert, who no longer does a series of either brisés or entrechat-sixes when commanded to dance to his death by Myrtha. The peasant pas de deux has some very different-looking variations, especially for the male. Did you know that originally the male peasant does a double tour in one direction, followed immediately by a double tour in the opposite direction? Neither did I. Ratmansky has also restored a fugue for the Wilis. Myrtha and Giselle also 'fly' across the stage on a suspended cable, a neat stage trick that returned.
But mostly, the differences are in acting, mime and accent. The mime is much more extended: Berthe’s mime about the Wilis goes on for much longer and with greater detail. There are also surprising omissions compared to the traditional Giselle. The story is actually simpler. For instance, the class warfare that is implicit in many Giselles is not really there. Albrecht does not sweep onstage in his cape and sword and order Wilfred around. Bathilde is sweet and solicitous of Giselle, and gives her the necklace with what seems like genuine warmth.
Other differences: Albert does not secretly remove a daisy petal so Giselle’s 'he loves me, he loves me not' game can end with 'he loves me'. Giselle also does not have a visibly weak heart, the moment when she collapses from dancing too happily with her friends is gone. Giselle also does not stab herself in the Mad Scene. I’m not sure what I think about these changes although they’re interesting to see, but the usual Giselle’s details do make the story sharper. Sometimes performance traditions aren’t historically informed, but that doesn’t mean they should be jettisoned completely.
The two casts I saw were vastly different and speak to Ratmansky’s willingness to allow different interpretations. In the afternoon, Iryna Zhalovska was a very traditional Giselle, delicate, sweet, with tendril arms, sloping shoulders and downcast eyes. She was so winning that you could forgive the fact that she was not technically very strong. The allegro footwork of the role like the hops on pointe, the Wili initiation turns and the backwards entrechats were sketched in rather than fully articulated. But when she slowly unfurled her leg in developpé, she looked exactly like a Carlotta Grisi lithograph.
In the evening, Elizaveta Gogidze was a vivacious, hearty girl. Her technique was rock-solid, everything Zhalovska struggled with, Gogidze excelled in. At the same time, the vaporous delicacy that came so easily to Zhalovska was not a part of Gogidze’s toolbox. I thought she’d make a terrific Myrtha and then found out that she did, in fact, dance Myrtha opening night. The great thing about Giselle is how it allows many different ballerinas to excel.
The part of Albert is thinner in Ratmansky’s version and there’s little of the aristocratic caddishness here. Denis Nedak in the matinee performance was very stolid with a rather leaden way of chugging through the steps. In the evening, Olekseii Kniazkov was more impetuous, energetic, ardent and the steps took on new vitality.
The other soloists were fine, although the two peasant pas de deux pairs I saw at times struggled with the difficult, filigree footwork. Katerina Derechnya (afternoon Myrtha) has actually been dancing with the Washington Ballet for years. She was one of those classic Myrthas with the jet-black hair, stern expression and an unyielding torso. The corps was impressively together and coordinated for a company that’s so new.
At the end of the performance, the dancers carried Ukrainian flags and sang the Ukrainian national anthem. It was a bracing, politically charged moment. The audience understood the larger purpose for these performances. However, art must also speak for itself. The dancers of the United Ukrainian Ballet succeeded on those terms as well. Hopefully Giselle is just the beginning for this company.
