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.
