Giselle

Published Monday 30 June 2008 at 11:20 by Richard Edmonds

Nao Sakuma as Giselle and Matthew Lawrence as Count Albrecht lead an able company in a dazzling evening which combines technical certainty with an air of wistful melancholy - the essence of this most romantic of 19th century ballets. Theophile Gautier’s story is heightened at every turn by Adolphe Adam’s lovely music, played with due reverence and delicacy in the solo passages by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, conducted sensitively by Paul Murphy.

The choreographic structures of this most haunting of stories are dramatically shaped with precision by David Bintley and Galina Samsova and move us to the very heart of the ballet.

Autumnal shades deepen as the village dances fill the stage - excellent work here from Jenne Roberts and Aaron Robison in a setting complete with silky royal hunting salukis, falcons and a white horse carrying the duke’s daughter Bathilde.

As the sun sets over the mountains, a heartbroken Giselle stabs herself and here Sakuma showed us her wonderful capacity for high drama. Hilarion, played by the excellent James Grundy, and Albrecht are in shock and the sheer quality of the production at this moment is all it should be.

What had been a beautiful girl is now a dishevelled, half-mad, dying woman. Sakuma’s technique was remarkable both at this point and later when she arises in the moonlit forest as a ghost, joining other girls who died of broken hearts.

The second act has Victoria Marr’s commanding Myrtha as the Queen of the Wilis - that imperious forefinger demanding obedience from the men she danced to death is unforgettable. And here Lawrence proves his worth as a fine dancer.

But the moment when the company women float on point across the stage in the white veils of the dead touches the very heart of Gautier’s concept.

Ruined choirs in moonlight, huge Gothic arches soaring up into a dark nothingness and Sakuma, in full command of herself, drifting mournfully through this shadowy realm, tugs at our heartstrings.

This is truly a memorable evening, filled with beauty of line and a fitting sadness.