Monday, January 17, 2011

Giselle



I went to see Giselle at the Royal Opera House last week - Carlos Acosta and Tamara Rojo were dancing the leads. I am no ballet expert but I really like going to see the classic ballets, although this was my first time seeing Giselle. Lots of the reviews say that Acosta is past his best but he looked pretty amazing to me - he is nonchalant and effortless. The star though for me was the staging which was completely beautiful, especially the second act which is set in the forest at night and features the Wilis - a troop of ghostly girls all of whom died after being jilted at the altar. The Wilis costumes for this performance included little stubby wings which I thought at first looked a little strange but were very beautiful on mass. The whole thing was very Karen Kilimnik.