Review: GISELLE at Ottawa's National Arts Centre

Giselle may be dubbed "the ballerina's Hamlet" because of the complexity of the title role, but Tirion Law effortlessly tackles the challenges and uses them to showcase her talent as principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada.

Giselle is a classical romantic ballet from the mid-nineteenth century, with themes of love, loss, grief, forgiveness, vengeance, and redemption. Set in medieval Germany, Giselle (Tirion Law), a farm girl, falls madly in love with Albrecht (Naoya Ebe), a villager who has been staying across the road. Unbeknownst to Giselle, Albrecht is actually a nobleman who is already engaged to be married. Hilarion (Larkin Miller, in an excellent debut), a hunter who has long loved Giselle, is suspicious of Albrecht. His attempts to sway Giselle's attentions are rebuffed, until Albrecht's identity is publicly exposed.

A pas de six in the first act, reinstated from the original choreography by Wright, put the dancers' ability on full display. Giselle's choreography uses intricate footwork and synchronized movements from the corps de ballet, who were absolutely spectacular, garnering applause - and even cheers - from the audience in appreciation of the difficult step sequences. 

Giselle skillfully employs the use of mime to drive the plot forward and here the company excelled, particularly Arielle Miralles, who was enchanting in the role of Bathilde. 

Sumptuous set design (Desmond Heeley) effectively sets the tone of each act; a light rural background for the first half accentuates the contrast in the second act. The staging for the second act, combined with the lighting design (Gil Wechsler) provides a damp and earthy ambiance, with shadows and mist contributing to the haunting effect. The wonderful score, by Adolphe Adam, arranged by Joseph Horovitz, and performed by the NAC Orchestra led by Julian Pellicano, is the perfect accompaniment to the piece.

Giselle's storyline requires solid acting skills alongside dancing ability to evoke the emotional shifts of its characters. Law fully embodies the role, commanding the audience's attention with her energy and subtle mannerisms that capture Giselle's essence. In the first act, Giselle is youthful, spritely, and happily carefree. The choreography (Sir Peter Wright after the choreography of Jean Coralli and Marius Petipa) conveys this emotion with joyous, expressive movements full of airiness. After Albrecht's deception is exposed, Law's portrayal of Giselle's heartbreak and her descent into despair are palpable, speaking to Law's talent as both an actor and a dancer.

As amazing as Law and Ebe are, in the second act, the corps de ballet's Wilis and their leader, Myrtha (Jeannine Haller, in a stellar debut), threaten to overshadow them, with powerful yet ghostly movements conveying a sense of danger, alongside their collective hurt and anger at the fate that has befallen them. It is hard not to feel at least a little pity for these vengeful spirits trapped between the living and the dead.

In the final scene, to save her love, Giselle desperately hangs on until morning light to ensure Albrecht's safety and, in so doing, frees herself from the grasp of the Wilis. The staging of Giselle's passage into the next realm was hauntingly beautiful.

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