Review: Giselle with English National Ballet – a memorable performance

After the disappointments of English National Ballet‘s (ENB) new production of The Nutcracker, the company was firmly back on track at the London Coliseum on 15^th January with the latest revival of Mary Skeaping’s vintage production of Giselle. It was a relief to see the company on such good form.

First staged in 1971, Skeaping based ENB’s version of Giselle on research into the original 1841 ballet that she undertook at the Paris Opéra archives, as well as drawing on memories of the production in which she performed when a member of Anna Pavlova’s company during the 1920s. Skeaping restored a number of musical cuts, as well as several mime and dance scenes, and, if she did not have the advantage of consulting the Stepanov notation of the Imperial Russian version of Giselle preserved in the collection of Harvard University – as Alexei Ratmansky has done for his own fine reconstruction of the ballet – her production is remarkably true to the spirit of this great French work of the Romantic age.

It is a fine production, with a pretty set and costume designs by David Walker, and on opening night I thought the company gave a firm account of the work, dancing with sincerity and attention to detail, despite a few wobbles here and there in the corps de ballet. The performance, however, was made memorable by the interpretation of Giselle by lead principal Erina Takahashi, who is shortly to step down from dancing after appearing with ENB for nearly 30 years. Her last performance in London will be on 18^th January.

Takahashi brought to the stage the very essence of Giselle, rejecting flighty histrionics – especially during the famous “mad scene” – and offering instead a character full of warmth, humanity and gentleness, all of which was amplified by the seeming simplicity of her beautifully formed dancing. Her personality was sweet and loving, then shocked into disbelief and death after Giselle discovers her betrayal by Albrecht. Takahashi’s jumps skimmed the stage with extraordinary lightness, and her airy, ethereal adagio dancing, especially during the Act II pas de deux, allowed her to seem to float away from the strong arms of her chivalrous partner, Francesco Gabriele Frola. It was an exemplary performance from a ballerina at the height of her interpretive powers.

Frola, a danseur noble if ever there was one, provided his ballerina with perfect care, support and attention, and offered superb dancing of his own allied to a wonderfully romantic and intelligent interpretation of Albrecht. Superb, too, was Precious Adams as Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, her pristine pas de bourées and jumps seeming to possess an inexhaustible strength and command. Words of praise must also go to Ivana Bueno and Noam Durand for their charming and stylish account of the Act I “Peasant” pas de deux.

Since 1996, Erina Takahashi has worked under no fewer than five artistic directors at ENB, and during that time she has consistently demonstrated the enormous variety of styles her dancing can encompass. These range from Romantic works such as Giselle and La Sylphide to the classicism of Le Corsaire, The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake, the neo-classicism of George Balanchine’s Apollo and Serge Lifar’s Suite en blanc, the drama of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, The Rite of Spring and Song of the Earth and the diversity of living choreographers that include Michael Corder, David Dawson, William Forsythe, Christopher Hampson, Akram Khan and Mark Morris. This multi-faceted artist will be much missed from the ballet stage, but it’s good to know Takahashi remains with ENB as a valued répétiteur. I can’t think of anyone better in that role, and I wish her every future success.

Mary Skeaping’s Giselle with English National Ballet

Jonathan Gray Guest Author

Jonathan Gray was editor of Dancing Times from 2008 to 2022.

He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. He was on the Curatorial Staff of the Theatre Museum, London, from 1989 to 2005, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty.

Jonathan Gray has also contributed to the Financial Times and The Guardian, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005. He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.