Tags
Ballet, Culture, Giselle, Marianna Tcherkassy, PBT, Russia, Terrence S. Orr
As a dance minor it is critical to learning how to write a dance review. Much like the public health arena it is important to learn how to write reports and findings from various observations. One of the requirements in my dance classes is to attend a performance and write-up a review that critiques various aspects of the performance. This week I wanted to share an example of my recent write-up on a Russian ballet performance entitled ‘Giselle’. Hope you enjoy!
I attended the ballet performance Giselle performed by the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre at the Benedum Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA. This was my first time attending a ballet performance in a while. My expectations going into the performance was high, because of exciting reviews from my ballet teacher. I was anxious to see the show yet I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. As I was reading the program I then realized that what I was about to experience was an ancient story of love, tragedy, and forgiveness. Some of the background research I did on the PBT performance was a true eye opener. Marianna Tcherkassy—ballet mistress for the performance as well as PBT and ABT’s coveted Giselle’s of all-time. In one of the videos on the PBT website it goes behind the scenes of the performance. The story of love is brought to life by the real-life married couples; artistic director Terrence S. Orr and ballet mistress Marianna Tcherkassy as well as principle dancers Alexandra Kochis (Giselle) and Christopher Budzynski (Count Albrecht).
One of the first things I noticed was the exquisite background. It looked multi-dimensional and I almost thought that there were actual houses alongside the stage. The forest looked very real and I was immediately drawn into the story. In terms of the lighting, it was very bright and gave a realistic feel. Sometimes I feel as though people can take the scenery and costume designs for granted. They are both essential parts that connect the realism of the story. If the environment isn’t positively connected to the story then you won’t believe it—which can make sitting through two hours of technical dance with no music extremely difficult.
In terms of the costumes there weren’t the traditional ballerina costumes. The dancers wore brown skirts that were very droopy. The style of the performance was focused around the era 19th century Romantic Movement in Europe. During the Harvest Festival scene, the king and queen come out in their dazzling costumes and add to the complete recreation of the time period. However, Act II took on a complete different atmosphere. The scene was no longer pleasantly lit but rather depressingly dark. It was as if one was traveling through a much darker side of the forest. The costuming of Myrtha and the Wilis had the same droopy skirts yet in a white color. I could understand why they would choose the color that is symbolically used in joyous occasions such as weddings, celebrations, and not death. It was as if they illuminated the stage with the combination of their movement and their white skirts they reminded me (in some strange way) of lighting bugs.
The choreography was something that I had never seen before in a ballet performance. The first difference was the pantomiming of the actors. Although there were no words being said an audience member could very well follow along with the gestures of the dancers as if it was some form of sign language. In order to be able to execute the role of Giselle properly the dancer had to be graceful, fragile, and vulnerable in all of her movement. However, the strength of the technicality call for nothing less than complete execution of every tendu, port de bras, and pirouette. One male dancer that stood out the most to me was Nicholas Coppula (the male Peasant Pas De Deux). He could turn for days and get such amazing speed and then quickly stop himself. I thought this was fascinating because of the practice and diligence it takes to be able to halt at such a rapid speed facing the audience when ending each time. All of the solo dancers brought life to the story. One of the things that set the Wilis apart from the Court dancers in Act I was that did a lot of cannons. This emphasized the significance of the uniform—almost robotic-like manners of the dead maidens—. There was one particular moment that was my favorite: all the Wilis lined up in about three or four line and leg and are horizontally outward and hopped on one foot. I think that movement stuck with me the most because the lines were going opposite of each other yet all did the same move at same time and pace. They truly embodied ballerina zombies.
Overall, the performance was one of the best I have seen so far. Not only was it engaging but it also had a lot of symbolism and meaning. This wasn’t a predictable performance and that’s what I liked about it. All the elements of the performance (lighting, costumes, actual dancer background histories, music, etc.) all came together to pull the audience into another world. This experience was one that I will never forget and I look forward to attending more of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s performances.