ENB Mary Skeaping Giselle January 2024

[Fonty]

2 hours ago, alison said:

 

From my experience of having viewed Act II both from above and from something rather nearer stage level, I'd say that that certainly applies to viewing from above, but I suspect those down in the stalls may have found it more of a problem.  

 

@alison I was upstairs, and could barely see Hilarion at any time when he was on stage in Act 2.  I could see his legs, but not his face.  I have never had the best eyesight in the world, but my niece, in her 30s, has 20/20 vision and she was struggling.  It could be whether people are in the front or to the side, perhaps?  

 

 

Edited January 14 by Fonty

[Lizbie1]

Just now, Fonty said:

 

@alison I was upstairs, and could barely see Hilarion at any time when he was on stage.  I could see his legs, but not his face.  I have never had the best eyesight in the world, but my niece, in her 30s, has 20/20 vision and she was struggling.  It could be whether people are in the front or to the side, perhaps?  

 

 

 

I was quite far to the side and could see OK from the balcony, if that makes any difference.

[OnePigeon]

43 minutes ago, Sim said:

She had such a lovely connection with Frola, who was one of the most affecting Albrechts I have seen for many a year.  He made me melt, on so many levels

Just rub some salt in the wounds there @Sim for those of us who booked to see him on Friday! 😭 No disrespect to Arrieta who was great and whose performance I really enjoyed.  I’m glad to hear he was as wonderful as we expected, hopefully we’ll get to see him one day.

[Fonty]

2 minutes ago, OnePigeon said:

Just rub some salt in the wounds there @Sim for those of us who booked to see him on Friday! 😭 No disrespect to Arrieta who was great and whose performance I really enjoyed.  I’m glad to hear he was as wonderful as we expected, hopefully we’ll get to see him one day.

 

Yes, Arrieta was good, but my judgement was coloured by the fact that he wasn't the man I was expecting to see.  They are very different characters.

[Roberta]

34 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I really love this production of Giselle but I wouldn’t put other productions down because of it. I think Ballet should have a wide umbrella. 
I suppose  I’m a bit of a “both and” person rather than an  “either or” one. 

 

I love the Peter Wright RB production also but it's certainly in the melodrama (the hair, the sword) & crowd pleaser (the entrechat six, the lifts, the pas de six) category. I'm simply also thankful for the gentle Romanticism & history of Mary Skeaping's version, and long may it continue as it is (only better lit). 

 

Also Ratmansky. 

 

And then there is the Ulanova / Fadeyechev  Bolshoi Giselle, which is on YouTube still I think, and everyone should watch it.  It never fades. It still makes me cry.  I cried in the cinema so many years ago. 

 

 

[Dawnstar]

2 hours ago, alison said:

A pas de six, by diffusing the dancing, also doesn't create the confusion of a "secondary" leading couple who just come on, dance and then vanish for no apparent reason.  The Skeaping version deals with this better than most, as they are more integrated into the plot, being part of an entertainment put on for the visiting aristocracy.

 

I think it also helps Giselle & Albrecht having an extra pdd in Act I. Otherwise it can feel like the peasant pair get more setpiece dancing than the leads do.

 

2 hours ago, alison said:

The fact that production design, until relatively recently, will have been based on the assumption that dancers are fair-skinned won't have helped.

 

I read this comment in the extended interval today so was viewing Act II with that in mind. I can't say I thought the two darker-skinned dancers in today's cast, Precious Adams as one of the wilis & Thiago Pereira, were any more disadvantaged by the dimmer lighting than the rest of the company. In fact it took me some time to even spot Pereira was one of the forresters as with the large hats they wear I find it difficult to identify any of them.

 

2 hours ago, Roberta said:

Also it used to be the case that dancers in white acts painted themselves in something called 'wet white'. I'm really showing my age here! 

 

I know about this from it being mentioned in at least one of Lorna Hill's Wells books so I wouldn't say knowledge of it is necessarily a mark of age!

[Roberta]

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

I know about this from it being mentioned in at least one of Lorna Hill's Wells books so I wouldn't say knowledge of it is necessarily a mark of age!

 

Knowing Lorna Hill books I'd have thought WAS a mark of age! Do people still read them (apart from people like us?)  

[Jamesrhblack]

I booked this Giselle for the production rather than any particular dancers, having seen the Skeaping version nearly forty years ago when I knew much less than the little I know of the historical background of the ballet, and then again in 2017 when I was so flummoxed by an unexpectedly disappointing performance from a highly regarded dancer that my memory is of that rather than anything else.

 

Having seen the current RB Peter Wright production many times, it wasn’t until I saw Ratmansky’s production as danced by United Ukrainian Ballet that I realised that there were other possibly preferable solutions to the challenges posed. It may be that I enjoyed that as a production even more than today, but I was very pleased to have an opportunity properly to appreciate this classic production from an excellent, if leg-restricted, seat in the front centre of the Upper CIrcle.

 

As with Ratmansky, it was good to hear the fuller version of the score, which is what I grew up on as my father had the Bonynge Monte-Carlo LP’s. Others better informed than I will be able to comment more appropriately but two details particularly caught my eye.

 

In Act 1, as Giselle sought reassurance from Albrecht (or rather Loys) in front of Bathilde, rather than meeting her eye his gaze was locked on Hilarion who had penetrated his disguise. At that moment, Giselle “knew.” This tiny anticipation of the truth, precipitating her breakdown, was really striking.

 

The other was in Act 2 when Giselle lures an exhausted Albrecht back to the dance. Is somebody able to explain for me the intent? It read to me as Giselle saying, “Remember, I love to dance,” her inner Wili surfacing, but it could equally have meant, “Remember, I love you. Now dance,” which isn’t quite the same thing.

 

I thought Fernanda Oliveira exquisite, although I remarked to my companion at the interval that she seemed very fragile. I’m not sure whether that was her characterisation or a symptom of the indisposition that took her out of her first performance and out of the Second Act today. The gentleness, but also the coquetry were there, and her Giselle visibly grew in confidence in her relationship with Loys, making her betrayal very poignant.

 

Again, might somebody who knows better advise as to whether her modification of the hopping sequence in the Act 1 Solo is Skeaping or a very effective alteration necessitated by her weakened health (I’m also sure that Laura Morera took this sequence on the other side and foot).

 

Kudos to Erina Takahashi for saving the show with a new partner, minimal notice and no doubt whilst in anticipated recovery mode after dancing last night. Her technique seems more obviously steely and brilliant than Oliveira’s making for some thrilling moments of height and flight, yet beautifully softened in the Pas de deux. I wish that over the years I had come to know more of both these evidently very accomplished ballerinas.

 

I didn’t get a lot of sense of emotional involvement from Francesco Gabriele Frola, nor did I think he strung his Act 2 solo into a sequence rather than individual moments (I’m not sure how better to express this), but those moments were certainly impressive.

 

The extended version of Myrtha’s entrance, so akin to the 19th Century Recitative-Aria-Link-Cabaletta is thrilling to behold. I didn’t find Alison McWhinney as baleful or menacing as memory still tells me Monica Mason was, but she sure can jump and her stamina was impressive too. In terms of lighting, I thought a couple of moments were the darker side of atmospheric, but Myrtha leaping through the ranks of the Foresters was terrific.
 

Unqualified praise for the ladies of the Corp de Ballet in Act 2, never betraying any sense of the exhaustion they must surely be feeling at the end of the week (again, can somebody explain to me the significance of the heads facing over the shoulder and out during the travelling arabesques in opposition rather than looking down) and just about for the orchestra too, apart from a couple of horn fluffs, under Daniel Parkinson’s fluent baton, without any of the over slow tempi that seem to plague The Royal Ballet’s musical response.

 

I really enjoyed it very much and hope it won’t be too long before this beautiful production returns.

Edited January 14 by Jamesrhblack

[Lizbie1]

10 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

and then again in 2017 when I was so flummoxed by an unexpectedly disappointing performance from a highly regarded dancer that my memory is of that rather than anything else.

 

I doubt that we're talking about the same dancer but you've reminded me that I was meaning to be brave about this after I'd seen the production again.

 

This all comes with the caveat that I only saw her once in Giselle and it was in this ENB 2017 run. I don't know how representative this is of her Giselle in general, or in this production or in the later part of her career, but I didn't love Cojocaru in the role.

 

I should make clear that this had nothing to do with technique but was down to characterisation. One thing in particular sticks with me: while the peasant pas de deux was going on Cojocaru made a circuit of the onlookers, to show them her new necklace. I thought this wasn't just bad stage manners - quite distracting for the audience - but would have been bad manners in Giselle the character. For me it tipped Giselle over into the wrong kind of childish (over-indulged and perhaps simple-minded) and coloured the whole thing for me.

 

I'm bringing it up on this thread because people have mentioned her above as an exemplary Giselle and I'd like to know if seeing her earlier would have shown me something else - those who've seen her throughout her career might have an interesting perspective. Also, I like to see minority opinions aired so I shouldn't just leave it to others to be brave.

 

I should probably delete my account now!

[Fonty]

@Lizbie1 Got to be honest and admit I wasn't a huge fan of Cojocaru in Giselle either, nor did I like her as much as other dancers in several roles while at the RB.  So there might be two of us deleting our accounts.....

[Jamesrhblack]

And Lizbie1 and Fonty, your are very prescient and that may now be three of us needing to delete our accounts…

Edited January 14 by Jamesrhblack

[LinMM]

Please don’t you three. 
I liked Cojocaru but what is that current expression :  

“ Recollections may vary!” 

Edited January 14 by LinMM

[Mary]

 

That's an interesting view.

 

If we can't post and discuss minority/unusual/even unpopular views we might as well close down the forum and go home!

 

 

 

 

 

[Fonty]

41 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

The other was in Act 2 when Giselle lures an exhausted Albrecht back to the dance. Is somebody able to explain for me the intent? It read to me as Giselle saying, “Remember, I love to dance,” her inner Wili surfacing, but it could equally have meant, “Remember, I love you. Now dance,” which isn’t quite the same thing.

I

 

I've always read it as the latter, as in  "you are being compelled to dance, but remember I am here to support you and help when you falter....."

[Tango Dancer]

3 minutes ago, LinMM said:

Please don’t you three. 
I liked Cojocaru but what is that current expression :  

“ Recollections may vary!” 

 

Absolutely, we don't all like the same dancers and some dancers suit some works better than others, and every dancer can have an off day.  It's fine not to like someone even if they're well loved on the forum. 

 

 

[Fonty]

4 minutes ago, LinMM said:

I liked Cojocaru but what is that current expression :  

“ Recollections may vary!” 

 

She was a dancer who was adored by so many, and I did like her, just not in everything.  

[Jamesrhblack]

4 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

I've always read it as the latter, as in  "you are being compelled to dance, but remember I am here to support you and help when you falter....."

Thanks 🙂

[LinMM]

Yes Fonty that’s how I read it as well. 
Giselle appears to slow down his dancing so not at such a manic pace. 
She is there as a support. 

[Emeralds]

57 minutes ago, Jamesrhblack said:

 

The other was in Act 2 when Giselle lures an exhausted Albrecht back to the dance. Is somebody able to explain for me the intent? It read to me as Giselle saying, “Remember, I love to dance,” her inner Wili surfacing, but it could equally have meant, “Remember, I love you. Now dance,” which isn’t quite the same thing.

 

 

Again, might somebody who knows better advise as to whether her modification of the hopping sequence in the Act 1 Solo is Skeaping or a very effective alteration necessitated by her weakened health (I’m also sure that Laura Morera took this sequence on the other side and foot).

 

Hi @Jamesrhblack with regard to the first question about Giselle urging/cajoling him to get up and dance, I've been told by coaches and other stagers that the reason is that if he stays collapsed on the ground, Myrtha and the wilis can move in onto him and kill him. While he is on his feet and moving, she can shield him from Myrtha's power. (Sounds very Twilight film series/books but I guess all stories copy each other eventually!) Oh, I do remember another repetiteur saying (maybe in their own production), that Myrtha can't reach Albrecht and harm him or influence him while Giselle is there, but she still has power to force Giselle to obey her (that's why Giselle has to leave the cross to dance instead of just standing there all night...and not just because that would be a dull Act 2 if she did that!). So in that section she is forcing Giselle to urge/entice Albrecht to get up and dance so that she can kill him indirectly. I guess both interpretations work!

 

The solo is actually a later addition and not found in Coralli and Perrot's production at the premiere (see Mary Skeaping's fascinating notes compiled by @Irmgardin the reasonably priced £6 programme  😀) and is probably choreographed by Petipa to music by Minkus.

 

To me the hops on pointe have always seemed a bit out of place in a Romantic era ballet like Giselle, although in Petipa's time hops on pointe  would have existed. Ratmansky took them out in his reconstruction for United Ukrainian Ballet and used a more historically informed series of linked turns and sequences, which I like more. The hops on pointe also don't really fit in with Giselle's weak heart in most productions as you'd have train pretty hard to do them. So, I suppose the context is that they are probably not out of place since the solo dates over 40 years after the premiere (but I prefer the modified versions). Khaniukova on Friday night did a modified version, Takahashi on Saturday night did the hops on pointe. 

Edited January 14 by Emeralds

[alison]

13 hours ago, zxDaveM said:

 

LOL

Giselle leaps up onto the stage from the audience, and all that

 

Looking oddly like Courtney Cox? 😀

[Jamesrhblack]

12 minutes ago, Emeralds said:

Hi @Jamesrhblack with regard to the first question about Giselle urging/cajoling him to get up and dance, I've been told by coaches and other stagers that the reason is that if he stays collapsed on the ground, Myrtha and the wilis can move in onto him and kill him. While he is on his feet and moving, she can shield him from Myrtha's power. (Sounds very Twilight film series/books but I guess all stories copy each other eventually!) Oh, I do remember another repetiteur saying (maybe in their own production), that Myrtha can't reach Albrecht and harm him or influence him while Giselle is there, but she still has power to force Giselle to obey her (that's why Giselle has to leave the cross to dance instead of just standing there all night...and not just because that would be a dull Act 2 if she did that!). So in that section she is forcing Giselle to urge/entice Albrecht to get up and dance so that she can kill him indirectly. I guess both interpretations work!

 

The solo is actually a later addition and not found in Coralli and Perrot's production at the premiere (see Mary Skeaping's fascinating notes compiled by @Irmgardin the reasonably priced £6 programme  😀) and is probably choreographed by Petipa to music by Minkus.

 

To me the hops on pointe have always seemed a bit out of place in a Romantic era ballet like Giselle, although in Petipa's time hops on pointe  would have existed. Ratmansky took them out in his reconstruction for United Ukrainian Ballet and used a more historically informed series of linked turns and sequences, which I like more. The hops on pointe also don't really fit in with Giselle's weak heart in most productions as you'd have train pretty hard to do them. So, I suppose the context is that they are probably not out of place since the solo dates over 40 years after the premiere (but I prefer the modified versions). Khaniukova on Friday night did a modified version, Takahashi on Saturday night did the hops on pointe. 

 

Many thanks. Yes, I forgot to add that the programme for this production is excellent and well worth £6.00 (and made jolly good reading on the train home AFTER I’d put down my thoughts)…

 

[alison]

2 hours ago, Pas de Quatre said:

When I was performing as a professional ballet dancer it was normal for management to tell dancers that if they sunbathed during the summer and got a tan then they would have to use white makeup on exposed arms, shoulders for Giselle, Swan Lake etc. Water soluble pan cake did the trick.

 

Yes, I remember seeing a similar memo on enb's noticeboard once, in relation I think to swan lake.

[Buru]

Thank you for the very interesting and lively discussion and a few insights into this production. I saw Giselle probably at least 30 times over the years but this was my first time at ENO. A few points mentioned on the nature of the production do make sense and I did notice some resemblance in terms of the approach with the Ratmansky production. My preferences are on the side of “crowd-pleasing” versions but I was lucky to see the greatest Giselles of the last couple of decades including Cojocaru, Osipova and Vishneva at their prime. However Giselle is one of those near perfect ballets which rarely disappoints. 
My only true regret of today was the replacement of Giselle for E Takahashi in Act II. Neither I nor my guests who saw Giselle for the first time enjoyed her interpretation or dancing, sorry to be so direct about it. Very unfortunate that Oliveira was unable to finish the performance. I thought their connection with Albrecht in Act 1 had its special moments and was keen to see the development. 
Was surprised to see that it was Frolo’s debut in this role. His dance was quite impressive at times and I enjoyed seeing his Albrecht quite a bit on stage, more than in some

other productions where the first act involves more dancing by corps de ballet and Giselle’s friends. 

[Dawnstar]

Unfortunately my curtain call photos have come out even worse than last time from a technical point of view so I'm posting the following very much as a momento of a probably one-off performance rather than because they're any good from a photographic point of view.

 

 

 

I literally did not get a single in focus photos of Alison McWhinney so this is the least bad one!

 

 

 

 

I know everyone's legs are out of focus but I love the sense of lightness & movement from Takahashi.

 

 

 

And if anyone thinks the above are bad, then this is the sort of thing I've been deleting!

 

[LinMM]

All mine were like your last one Dawnstar when taken with my phone so no longer bother with curtain calls from the Balcony!!! 

[Emeralds]

13 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Unfortunately my curtain call photos have come out even worse than last time from a technical point of view so I'm posting the following very much as a momento of a probably one-off performance rather than because they're any good from a photographic point of view.

 

 

 

I literally did not get a single in focus photos of Alison McWhinney so this is the least bad one!

 

 

 

 

I know everyone's legs are out of focus but I love the sense of lightness & movement from Takahashi.

 

 

 

And if anyone thinks the above are bad, then this is the sort of thing I've been deleting!

 

Dawnstar, please don't ever worry or dither about the quality of your pictures....I'm still stuck on how to post them correctly because of the file size! I'm appointing you official ENB photographer of the forum with orher members as guest photographers since you're so diligent with regular photos from each production. I like the blurry qualities as it looks like the wilis are floating in and out. And the movement captures the "save the day" mode that Takahashi and Frola adopted to make certain that "the show must go on!" They can't have had much time to practise the lifts and pas de deux etc. Considering it was Frola's debut in a production he's never danced! They both deserve a champagne or whatever stiff drink of their choice, lol....or maybe it's a hot stew! (And a nice bucket of ice each).. Wow. Such super troupers. Bravi! Thank you for capturing the moment with such great photos, Dawnstar. 

Edited January 14 by Emeralds

[Sim]

@Dawnstar I love the last photo because it gives the Wilis the ghostly aspect that they embody!  

[Roberta]

23 minutes ago, Dawnstar said:

Unfortunately my curtain call photos have come out even worse than last time from a technical point of view so I'm posting the following very much as a momento of a probably one-off performance rather than because they're any good from a photographic point of view.

 

 

Actually they are gorgeous!  Thank you. They convey the other world nature of the final act! 

[Dawnstar]

Thanks @Emeralds, @Sim & @Roberta While I know some professional photographers deliberately take blurred photos of dancers, mine are always very much accidental! It does I suppose kind of work in an arty way, but it's useless for actually seeing who any of the dancers are! Also the forum is used to Rob S's perfect curtain call photos so I know mine must always look even worse by comparison.

[Emeralds]

I also love the first photo- Erina, the heroine of the hour! Great picture, Dawnstar.

[FionaM]

49 minutes ago, Buru said:

Was surprised to see that it was Frola’s debut in this role. I 

i believe it was his debut with ENB in this role.  According to his Instagram he has performed Albrecht at National Ballet of Canada.  Lovely photos too https://www.instagram.com/p/C12F_yYItWp/?igsh=NTA1ZXJ2YjEydnFy 

[Emeralds]

1 minute ago, Dawnstar said:

Thanks @Emeralds, @Sim & @Roberta While I know some professional photographers deliberately take blurred photos of dancers, mine are always very much accidental! It does I suppose kind of work in an arty way, but it's useless for actually seeing who any of the dancers are! Also the forum is used to Rob S's perfect curtain call photos so I know mine must always look even worse by comparison.

Not worse at all....they convey the Romamtic Era spirit of Giselle  (and the dark lighting of Act 2 this year.....lol). The ROH spotlights enhance photo taking, and I notice a lot of the RB dancers have perfected their held poses to help fans taking pictures too. Can't compare with ENB and other companies not used to the red run hoopla. I find ENB photos harder to take too.

[Dawnstar]

This is ramblings rather than a proper review. Warning: I am probably hopelessly biased towards Frola, as he's been one of my favourite dancers since I first saw him in Manon 5 seasons ago.

 

Well, after 2 attempts in under 48 hours to see Oliveira & Frola it three-quarters worked! I'm very glad I made a second attempt as I'd been looking forward to seeing Frola as Albrecht for months & he was worth the wait. I didn't get round to posting anything on here about Friday's cast but I felt that Arrieta, while he gave a decent performance, came over as rather too nice in most of Act I to be plausible as a two-timing cad. I thought Frola managed to find significantly more acting nuances indicating that he was playing with the situation & was not being entirely sincere with Giselle and then more emotional depth in Albrecht's unmasking & witnessing of Giselle's madness & death. His dancing was, as always, wonderful in my opinion. I'm very pleased that Giselle & Albrecht get the extra Act I pdd. I thought his Act II solo was glorious, I had tears in my eyes from the sheer quality of the jumps. I don't know if it was because I was seeing them from different angles but there was one jump during the solo that looked different & more spectacular than what Arrieta did. I don't know the name of the jump but when Albrecht comes downstage towards Myrtha and does three up-and-round jumps en route my far-right-edge of the stalls seat was at the perfect angle to see it. I wish Adam had written far more music for the dance to near-death as I didn't want Frola to stop!

 

It's not possible to fully judge today's Giselles with them doing only an act each. I thought Oliveira was very good in Act I and it was a great pity she was unable to show the rest of her portrayal. I suppose I'll never see her do a full Giselle now. I wouldn't have guessed she was ill from her performance, though admittedly as Giselle goes mad possibly playing a distraught character could hide potential signs of illness. I'm getting very confused by the Act I hops. It looked to me like Oliveira did more of them than Khaniukova did but neither did as many as I feel I've seen previously & I thought Cojocaru did more but then someone mentioned upthread that Ratmansky's production doesn't include then. Another good moment from my viewing angle was that as Albrecht has to take Bathilde's hand Giselle was framed between them before she ran to break them apart. I thought Takahashi did very well in Act II under the circumstances but unfortunately I found it difficult to feel as much emotional connection with her Giselle given we hadn't seen first her pleasure and then her suffering & death previously. Considering she & Frola had presumably not rehearsed together I thought they worked very well together in general. The only slight indication of lack of rehearsal that I spotted was shen he was kneeling down & she bourreed over to him and as she got there & reached for his shoulder the distance seemed to be a bit wrong & her hand bumped into his shoulder rather than the presumably intended feather-light touch. Maybe it's a good thing this production doesn't have the big balance lift though given the circumstances. As the veil was whisked off Giselle, I thought that it could have been rather amusing if the cast change hadn't been announced & they'd left it for the audience to find out at the unveiling! (Yes, I know unprofessional & would never happen.)

 

Getting to see McWhinney, who was my first Manon 5 years ago, was a bonus. I thought she was very good, especially considering it's her first role back from maternity leave, but I felt Suzuki on Friday was a bit better inherently suited to the role. I was glad I liked Dowden as Hilarion, as he was the only lead cast member who appeared in both his scheduled performances. (A thought that came into my mind during Hilarion's first appearance today: was the Medieval equivalent of Say It With Flowers, Say It With Pheasants?!)

 

When the casting was first announced my first choice cast was Oliveira/Frola & my second choice cast Khaniukova/Arrieta however the way their dates worked out I would have had to see the former pair first and then the latter pair. Based on last year's Swan Lake, where I saw Arrieta & then Frola and was very pleased to have seen them in that order on the save-the-best-til-last principle, I didn't want to do that, plus I was broke at the time casting was announced so I decided to just book for the one cast. Ironically all the cast issues ended up with me being able to see Arrieta & Frola in that order! And yes, again it was definitely the best last.

 

I don't know if more expert ballet-viewers will agree but in my opinion if you have to see Giselle from a restricted view seat then auditorium right is definitely the side to go for.