GISELLE

Presented by the Boston Ballet

At the Wang Center

Through Oct. 11

Boston Ballet opens its 35th season with Giselle, one of the most passionate, most sorrowful and most beautiful of the Romantic Era ballets. This ballet of innocent young love and cruel betrayal was created by the Parisian poet Gautier in 1841. He was inspired by a story written by German poet Heinrich Heine describing the legend of the wilis--betrothed maidens who died before their wedding day because their hearts had been broken. Exacting revenge for their unrequited love, the spirits of these young maidens would rise from their graves at midnight and force any man they met to dance to his death.

Gisellepremiered in Paris on June 28th, 1841 and at the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia in 1842. Boston Ballet's current production, staged by artistic director Anna-Marie Holmes, maintains Russian tradition by exactly reproducing the highly acclaimed production ofGisellestaged by Leonid Lavrosky and the Bolshoi Ballet in 1944.

This ballet is a dynamic combination of acting, technique and artistry requiring the ballerina to be both technically strong and artistically mature in order to individualize and portray what is one of the most difficult and most legendary scenes in ballet--Giselle's mad scene at the end of the first act.

The ballet is in two acts and portrays the sorrowful love story of a young peasant girl, Giselle. The first act takes place in a rural village where it is harvest season. A frail young Giselle falls in love with a flirtatious Albrecht who is, unknown to her, a count disguising himself as a peasant. Albrecht quickly wins her heart and swears his love for her in a joyful scene which ends with Giselle pulling off the petals of a flower in a game of "He loves me, he loves me not."

The jealous peasant Hilarion, who also loves Giselle, reveals the true identity of Albrecht along with the fact that he is already betrothed to a princess. This cruel betrayal destroys Giselle and she goes mad, finally dying of a broken heart.

The second act takes place in a wooded graveyard where, at the stroke of midnight, the wilis are called up from their graves by Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. The hapless Hilarion is trapped by the wilis as he comes to mourn at Giselle's grave and is forced to dance to his death. A remorseful and grieving Albrecht sees Giselle's spirit in the graveyard and, after a sorrowful and loving pas de deux,he too becomes trapped by the wilis.

However, Giselle comes to his defense, as she truly loved him and he did truly love her. She helps Albrecht as he is forced to dance throughout the night, until finally the dawn breaks and the wilis drift back into their graves. Albrecht is saved through the strength and purity of Giselle's love, and Giselle's spirit is able to finally rest in peace, freed from the restlessness of the wilis through Albrecht's tender and remorseful love.

The opening cast paired Pollyana Ribeiro as Giselle and Patrick Armand as Albrecht. It was Ribeiro's first time as Giselle and while technically strong, she lacked the artistic refinement and softness that the role requires. She looked too young and cute for the frail and tender Giselle, and while she was technically adept--the balances held and the turns and jumps refined and light--it was unfulfilling.

Ribeiro's mad scene seemed too calculated and hesitant, as if she never really let herself go and never let her emotions overcome her. It was only in the final moments of the scene as she dashed blindly from the arms of her mother and slipped through Albrecht's arms crumpling to the floor that her expression of utter hopelessness and loss brought shivers down my spine. It was just too little, too late.

Her second act was quite beautiful, but again it lacked softness. It might have been opening night jitters, but Ribeiro seemed to concentrate on the steps too much and, while they were perfectly executed, she almost forgot to emote. However, Ribeiro has incredible potential. Her beautifully strong technique needs to be balanced by artistic maturity that will come with every new opportunity and performance.

Patrick Armand was a dashing, flirtatious and thoroughly sexy Count Albrecht. Whether gently tapping on Giselle's door or gazing down while she counted flower petals, his boyish smile would win any woman's heart as it certainly won Giselle's. Throughout the first act, Armand's acting matched both his artistry and technique. His jumps were light, his extensions high and his turns ending in perfect balances. His remorse and anguish at Giselle's death were incredibly real and almost tangible--his acting overshadowed everyone else onstage. He and Ribeiro have been consistently paired together for over a season now, and in this production Armand's maturity and experience definitely helped Ribeiro through both acts. In the second act, whether he was on his knees begging Myrtha to be able to stop dancing or sliding out of six pirouettes onto the floor in exhaustion, Armand's artistry was captivating.