© John Ross Cuba 'Giselle' reviews 'Giselle' reviews Valdes in reviews Carreno in reviews recent Ballet Nacional de Cuba reviews more Jane Simpson reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

It's the work, of course, of the company's creator, Alicia Alonso, herself one of the great Giselles of the twentieth century. I'd love to know how her production of the ballet has changed over the years: were its idiosyncrasies there from the start, or have changes crept in? Where did the folksy elements in the first act, like the overhead clapping, come from? Or the extraordinary gait of the Wilis, running in on half-pointe, leaning forward from the waist, chins up? Or some of the groupings of the corps de ballet in the second act, more Sylphides than Giselle to my eyes? Though it's built on a straightforward and satisfyingly convincing dramatic base, it flicks in and out of what in our terms is the 'traditional' choreography; the music, too, is differently paced - rather slow for most of the time, then suddenly accelerating at a point where we'd expect it to slow down. It certainly keeps you on your mental toes, and makes you look at it freshly.

The most obvious difference in the first act is the replacement of the usual 'peasant' pas de deux (or pas de six or whatever) by a more general dance for ten of the villagers. Dramatically this is more sensible, keeping all the interest on Giselle and Albrecht, but it does mean there's a loss of contrast in the choreography. Hilarion is played as a totally sympathetic character, so unsure of himself at the start that he can't even decide where to leave the flowers he's brought for Giselle, but finding more resolve later on for his confrontation with Albrecht. I liked the low-key playing of Bertha by Ivette Gonzalez, and also the Bathilde of Sadaise Arencibia, hitting just the right note of detached condescension. We're used to seeing these roles much more strongly characterised these days, but I think it's perfectly valid to keep them lightly sketched in, again putting the focus on the two leading dancers.

Act 2 has a lovely set, with a grove of trees at the back giving a real sense of distance to the first ghostly glimpses of the Wilis. Myrtha was soloist Liuva Horta: she has a soft, pleasing style but I didn't get any sense of what was driving her characterisation - she seemed neither vengeful nor particularly malevolent. Her Wili hordes, on the other hand, were vindictiveness personified, most of the time anyway - but suddenly they'd seem to remember all those nineteenth century lithographs and would turn into demure young ladies posed in charming groups. In either mode they were fabulously precisely drilled - not a finger out of place.
 

Of the two principals, it was easier to imagine what Joel Carreno was going to be like: we've seen enough Cuban exiles to expect a strong, easy technique and a lot of charm, and that's more or less exactly what we got. His Albrecht is very young, a boy rather than a young man, and at present it's a fairly standard interpretation without much depth or individuality, depending on the dancing to make its mark. Some of what he does is literally beautiful - the shape of his body as he pirouettes approaches a classical ideal - but I was a little surprised that he didn't make more of the virtuoso sequences of Act 2. Maybe he was aiming at a restraint in keeping with the period but it came over more as a shortfall. I think Viengsay Valdes might benefit from appearing with an older, more complex Albrecht, who could perhaps push her first act Giselle into a deeper level of feeling. As it was, I felt I was watching an exhibition of fine dancing but without being at all touched by it; and I really don't like to see Giselle's big solo given as a bravura display. I didn't see the company's earlier programme in which Valdes' amazing balances impressed so many people, but having heard about it I thought that here she succumbed to the 'I can and therefore I will' syndrome, interrupting the flow of the dance and distorting the phrasing with inappropriately long-held poses. In Act 2, though, she was another dancer - beautifully stylish, without the least exaggeration - a memorable performance of a high order.

The company is said to be desperately hard up, and it showed particularly in the rather basic scenery of Act 1: but they have a wealth of fine dancers and a production that ultimately holds its own by its simplicity and dramatic cogency. Now it would be good to see a return visit with a different repertoire to show us how it fits into the world of the twenty-first century.