‘Part of our DNA’
The Royal New Zealand Ballet revisits a classic.
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is embarking on a national season of Giselle, the classic work that has become a touchstone for the company across the decades. The six-centre tour is of the production created by former RNZB artistic director Ethan Stiefel and principal dancer, choreographer and director Johan Kobborg. It was first performed to packed houses in 2012 before touring China, the US, Britain and Italy. A film of the production by director Toa Fraser was released in 2013 and the RNZB toured it again in 2016.
“We have company members now that remember, as young students, seeing and being inspired by this production when the company toured in 2012,” says RNZB artistic director Patricia Barker. “Now, in 2021, they will take the stage in the roles that first galvanised them, inspiring the next generations of future stars. Giselle is a very special ballet indeed.”
Giselle debuted in Paris in 1841 and is the best-known work by French opera and ballet composer Adolphe Adam. Its story – by librettists Théophile Gautier and Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges – is set in the Rhineland of the Middle
Ages. There, during the grape harvest, Duke Albrecht disguises himself as a commoner to court Giselle, a beautiful peasant girl with a weak heart. When she learns of his deception and that he is betrothed to another, Giselle descends into madness and death. A second act of ghosts, revenge, redemption and forgiveness follows.
It’s a timeless piece with many iconic moments and one that has inspired generations of dancers.
“Classic ballets such as Giselle, Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty are the foundations of our industry,” says Barker.
“They are what we train so hard for. They’re the classic stories that can be told and seen and recreated again and again. They’re like great-grandma’s wedding ring being passed down through generations. They are a part of our DNA.”
Conducted by Hamish McKeich, Adam’s score will be performed live by Orchestra Wellington, the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, with a recorded version in other centres. l
Dates: Wellington, Opera House May 12-15; Palmerston North, Regent on Broadway, May 19; Napier, Municipal Theatre, May 22-23; Auckland, Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre, Aotea Centre, May 27-29; Christchurch, Isaac Theatre Royal, June 4-5; Dunedin, Regent Theatre, June 9.