Ballet and Giselle

Giselle is considered one of the great Romantic ballets. Romantic era was late 18th and early 19th centuries. The period mainly does not follow rational movements but rather Romantic ideas in art influence the ballets. Ballets in Romantic period focus on the conflict between man and nature where as others try to bring difference to ballets from other nations. Ballerinas stand in the forefront compared to male dancers. Giselle is one of the most popular ballerinas of the period and separate identity of the scenarist from the choreographers is distinguishing feature of Giselle as being a Romantic ballet.

Both the classical version of Giselle and contemporary has the same story but different interpretations, as I will analyze them in this paper. Giselle is a peasant girl who is betrayed by love. At the beginning nobleman Albrecht introduces himself as a farmer to Giselle and she falls in love with him. However she is unaware that Albrecht is the Duke. They flirt and she completely falls in love. Another guy Hilarion who is also in love with her warns her but she cant realize anything because of her love. They dance a duet and her feelings become more powerful. Also her mother warns her that she is sensitive.

After realizing Duke has a fiance she goes mad with a broken heart. Giselle takes Albrecht's sword and her death is a result of her weak heart. She becomes a ghost and the second act is called ‘white act,’ which takes place in the mental institution. The ballet deals with the powerful sources of nature. There are full of emotions and at the end love wins betrayal and death. There are similar and distinguishing features between contemporary Giselle by Matz Ele and classic Giselle. Classical ballet is combination of all ballet dances. Ballet has slow and fluid motion.

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There are unique motions, precise and graceful movements. Their dance style is long reminding jazz music. However, contemporary ballet is more modern. The movements are rapid, energetic and dynamic. There are sharp and expressive gestures. Giselle shows her feelings very clearly and doesn’t hide them. Her body movements reflect her happiness, anger and love obviously. For instance, in the classical one Giselle is not dancing as close as in the contemporary one. They are more formal and their dance is more elegant. In the contemporary one Giselle and Albrecht dance very close and they touch each other.

In one part even Giselle hugs her love as a woman. These clear expressions are not shown in the classical Giselle. Giselle is more like an adult. She doesn’t bend down when she is sad or she doesn’t jump on Albrecht like a child. She reflects the classical period’s formal characteristics. There aren’t close relationships like touching her love and jumping on him. The music is discriminative between two versions of Giselle. Compared to classical one in contemporary ballet music is very modern. Ballerinas dance figures are compatible with the music as well.

Classical dancer Giselle dances at more extreme tempos and perform more technical feats. However, in contemporary Giselle doesn’t wear ballerina shoes and she dances barefoot. Her feats move more naturally. Also her hand gestures alter. She doesn’t bow her elbows and hands in classical dance. She dances in an order without extreme gestures. In the contemporary one she does man gestures, which is different than her friends as well. Her personality differs since she behaves like a boy and a child. Also the horns are altering in both versions. The applause is not with full energy in the contemporary one.

So even though they are the same plotted ballets they represent a different period’s characteristics with the music and ballets expressions. Is Giselle an ideal beauty or is she more realistic? This dilemma is more obvious in the contemporary one because there isn’t beauty, especially in the second act. Giselle is devastated after learning Albrecht has a fiance. They wear all white and there isn’t excellence. She looses her consciousness. There comes the same music with the first act where she was dancing with joy. She is completely defeated to her destiny.

Her happiness falls with the disappointment, which can be seen, from the change in music, costumes and dance in both classical and contemporary one. The coerdeau ballets have geometrical shapes in both but their movements differ. In classical one there is more elegance compared to the compared to the contemporary one. In addition Giselle as being a romantic ballet do not follow rationality. Both versions have altering points when the music, movements, costumes and relationship between man and woman are compared however; they have the same plot with different interpretation.

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