Beyond words | 20 May 2009

Giselle; Triple Bill
The Royal Ballet

In my view, the debuts of Marianela Nuñez and Lauren Cuthbertson in Giselle have been the highlights of London’s current ballet season. I wish I had the writing abilities of Théophile Gautier, the man who first turned dance criticism into a respectable profession, to be able to convey the excitement I found at each performance. Alas, only a great romantic writer like Gautier could come up with one-word definitions that encapsulate the distinctive qualities of great artists — in his words, Marie Taglioni’s ethereal dancing was ‘Christian’, while Fanny Elssler’s more sensuous and earth-bound style was ‘pagan’. Besides, times change and flippant metaphors are often looked down on as synonymous with poor writing.

Nuñez, who opened the run of Giselle, opted for a vibrantly sanguine approach to the great Romantic role, regarded by many as ballet’s equivalent of Hamlet. Without ever going against the work’s stylistic demands, she bestowed on the entire performance an irresistible dramatic immediacy that transcended the constraints imposed by the 1841 ballet’s choreographic and theatrical conventions. Her mad scene, at the end of act one, was one of the most breathtaking examples of ‘modern’ convincing theatre artistry I have seen in almost 45 years. Such a superbly shaded dramatic reading did not come to the fore only in the mime scenes, but it also informed every single moment of her performance, complementing successfully her well known and much admired impeccable technical abilities. As the doomed, forgiving and rebellious ghost in the second act, she showed a seldom seen and highly captivating combination of romantic etherealness and the powerful desperation of a not-so-submissive woman fighting for what she longs for. I would not be surprised if her magnificent Giselle was soon to enter the annals of dance history.