Educational Media Reviews Online

Giselle, one of the most coveted roles due to its technical and artistic demands, has been danced by all the greatest prima ballerinas. This performance, featuring Petipa’s original choreography, bids fair to equal or perhaps even surpasses the best of the previous recordings. As anyone who has followed her career knows, ever since Alina Cojocaru emerged as a principal from the corps de ballet at Covent Garden ten years ago, she has enraptured audiences. In this performance, paired with her off-stage partner Johan Kobborg as Count Albrecht, the electricity between them is palpable. The result is simply breathtaking. Her portrayal of the vulnerable, delicate maiden who finds love for the first time and blossoms in its glow until the heartbreak of her beloved’s betrayal drives her mad and whose weak heart fails amid the frenzy of her despair is perfection. Johan Kobborg as a nobleman disguised as a peasant in order to sow his wild oats matches her step for step. The setting is the grape harvest in the medieval Rhineland, a time and place of belief in ghosts, fairies, and other supernatural beings. The staging and costumes in the first act are warm: browns, rusts and reds. The second act, in contrast, is cold, icy, with blues and white. Giselle’s grave is marked with a cross. As a maiden who died before marriage Giselle is destined to emerge from the grave as a wili, a ghostly creature who appears in the forest nightly between midnight and four a.m. Wilis induce unsuspecting men who wander by to dance until they drop dead. Marianela Nunez, as Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, is coldly commanding. Albrecht redeems himself in his grief. Giselle is forgiving and protects him from the other wilis until the approaching dawn breaks the spell and he is saved. All the soloists are outstanding. Occasionally the corps de ballet is not precisely in unison but this is a minor point. The technical qualities are superb. The music under the baton of Boris Gruzin is lyrical and lovely. Essential for college libraries supporting dance programs. Highly recommended for all college libraries as well as for high school and public libraries where there is demand.