Two such dancers are Francesca Velicu and Rentaro Nakaaki, who thrive as Giselle and Albrecht. For Velicu, her first performances with ENB were back in 2016 in this very production when she was an Artist of the company. She has since risen up to Soloist and won an Olivier Award for her performance in Pina Bauch\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/em> along the way. Her trajectory continues to head in only one direction, alongside Nakaaki who is also now a Soloist. More of them later.<\/p>\n Khan\u2019s take sees Giselle as a migrant factory worker, one of many Outcasts, dispossessed by the closure of the factory by wealthy Landlords so now function only as entertainment. They are enclosed by an imposing, dense wall, indented with handprints speaking of their desire to escape. It\u2019s dark and claustrophobic and speaks of a bleak history.<\/p>\n The ensemble moments are breathtaking; the rattle of the barefeet across the stage, jumping and hopping to the booming beat of Lamagna\u2019s entrancing score. Fans of the traditional take will likely feel unsettled at first but the storytelling, especially in Act I remains clear, as Nakaaki\u2019s Albrecht attempts to hide at the arrival of Bathilde (Isabelle Brouwers), his intended, and the arrivals of the Landlords (the costume for the Landlady remains iconic and worth the ticket price alone).<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard not to warm to the central pairing, who share a connection from the moment she places her hand to his face. Lamanga\u2019s score lilts romantically, with obvious influence from Adolphe Adam\u2019s original music.\u00a0 The dreamy, weightless pas de deux is somehow also heavy with a sense of foreboding. Nakaaki and Velicu are a strong partnership who anticipate each other well. Nakaaki is stoic and strong for his lover, Velicu\u2019s Giselle, although nimble and agile, has a beautiful serenity when they share the stage.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important too, to acknowledge the relentless pace of this first act. Khan could have indulged more in the ensemble scenes, their patterns and formations, dancing rings around the two lovers is majestic. The energy of Hilarion (Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Lorca Mench\u00f3n) and his fellow outcasts, the kathak rhythms of the movements, it all flows so impressively. Even ballet purists couldn\u2019t fail to be lured in by the pure drama of it.<\/p>\n Act II sees a change of pace and a tone that is more directly dark in its tone. The memorable image of wild-haired Wilis\u2019, filling the stage, the rumble of their pointe shoes and their command of those canes is effective and theatrical, enhanced further by Mark Henderson\u2019s eerie lighting.<\/p>\n Alice Bellini\u2019s ferocious Myrthe is a deeply imposing figure, she is another emerging star who has no problems commanding the stage here. Although the storytelling is less keenly felt here, the moment when Giselle chooses to leave Albrecht and go with Myrthe is quietly devastating.<\/p>\n A tighter, better paced two hours of theatre you will not find. Moreover, the artists match every bit of the creativity on offer here with their performances. They are sensitive and intelligent, danced with a heartfelt purity but also technically assured in Khan\u2019s relentlessly physical choreography. These are not nervy debuts of emerging stars but confident showings that speak of ENBs promising future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vikki Jane VILE Akram Khan\u2019s Giselle is only eight years old, the production premiering at Sadler\u2019s Wells in 2016, but has quickly become an unmistakable linchpin of English National Ballet\u2019s repertoire.\u00a0\u00a0Having received much critical acclaim, it’s a rare creation that benefits from repeat viewing; the hypnotic movement vocabulary, Tim Yip\u2019s unique designs and Vincenzo Lamagna\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":58824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58823"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58832,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58823\/revisions\/58832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danceforyou-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/PRESS_Erina-Takahashi-as-Giselle-in-Akram-Khans-Giselle-\u00a9-Camilla-Greenwell-4-Kopie.jpg\")
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