Giselle

Friday 6 November - I've been dying to see the ballet, probably because all the Christmas decorations make me think of the Nutcracker, but as that is not playing we went to see Giselle at the Hippodrome. Performed by the English National Ballet it is considered one of the greatest tragic romances in ballet. Giselle is a young country girl with a poor heart, her mother fears that dancing will kill her. She falls in love with an aristocrat who has disguised himself as a local farmer. When his true identity is revealed and the fact that he is engaged giselle dances herself to death. In the second act giselle joins the Willi, the spirits of virgins who have died for love. The Willi capture young men lost in the forrest and force them to dance to death. Giselle saves her aristocratic lover from the Willi queen when he goes to mourn at her grave. It was an amazing performance (overlooking the cringe-worthy fall of the queen of the Willi in one of her solo dances) with a lot of synchronized dancing of the Willi (about 20 ballerinas). The music was lovely and the costumes were also impressive, a very enjoyable evening.