Maina Gielgud Diary

Setting a Giselle (2)

Thursday 15th May

We got there, unimaginable as it seemed – five performances in Mulhouse have come and gone, and three casts performed – and today I am meeting with the company in Strasbourg for one placing and stage dress rehearsal in the beautiful Opera House.

I was here already yesterday to supervise the placing of the set on this much smaller stage. A joy in fact, since, although smaller, the atmosphere is that of a traditional theatre, and it just feels so right for Giselle. There was not much trouble placing the elements of the set either – all proportionately seem to fit into place. It will be different with the dancers today, as some (especially Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis with all her diagonals of grand jetes), will find it hard to reduce the scale..

But to go back...

Second to last week before the premiere
Lighting and wili costumes:

I spent all day in the theatre for most of those two weeks – from around 8.30 am till past 11pm – it would almost have been easier to bed down there too!

The mornings were spent with Pascal Merat and Jean-Marc Puissant, lighting – although since the set was not entirely ready, and the all important wili tutus had not arrived, this was prepared without seeing bodies or costumes on stage, (more usually in companies, since lighting does often have to be prepared without the dancers and their costumes, students or extras are hired to stand and move around while the lighting states are looked at. – otherwise one can get real surprises with lighting states that look wonderful on “empty” sets, suddenly with people on stage, one cannot see them, or they are a strange colour, or only the set looks good!), In fact as mentioned previously, Bertrand, the director helped as the one stand in –practice tutu in hand – and a whitewashed hand, which I had made up, since the eerie colour of the skin for 2nd act wili/ghosts is all important!

Actually on that Thursday morning, approximately half of the tutus did arrive – bodices without any decoration, made for one dancer - and skirts for another. Most needed alteration (dancers were grabbed to try on between class and rehearsals, or whenever any passed by), and all of them would have to be cut to the length agreed between Jean-Marc and I. As I had suspected for a few days, apart from Giselle’s which was white, and Myrtha’s one, slightly silvery grey underskirt and underbodice – all the rest of the tutus were those made with a greenish underbodice and light greenish underskirt – not just for the two lead wilis as we had asked, but for the entire corps as well…..

Maina Gielgud reahearsing Giselle
Photograph D. Soyer ©

All the ladies were needed, to put the costumes on in the lighting state we had guessed at, to see what the greenish tint looked like with a full cast. We lost a good 20 minutes in the process – since they could not be danced in - the length had not been cut, and they trailed onto their feet – but at least we knew – that the green underskirts had to go (which Jean-Marc started doing there and then – and next morning).

On Thursday evening the costumes were whisked away to Strasbourg for this and other rather major alterations (bodices that would not do up for instance!) . We hoped the other half which had not yet turned up, would arrive Friday – which they did, late morning. So there was no chance of the dancers wearing them so that they could get used to them (apart from Giselle’s and Myrtha’s, which the extremely nice and helpful dresser Brigitte, managed to get done there and then),– and so that we could see what they and the all important atmospheric lighting for 2nd act would look like…

Orchestra rehearsals

The previous Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings, there had been orchestral rehearsals, fortunately in a studio in the same premises as the theatre. So some of the dancers and I (dividing myself between these and the lighting) were able to go and listen. Since the conductor has not got much experience of conducting ballet, I was anxious for us to have an idea of tempi and general feeling he would generate, so that we could adapt to him as much as possible. It is often incredibly difficult for a conductor to understand the subtle differences in tempi which are meant, when we say “too slow” or “too fast”. The famous Thomas Beecham line came to mind a lot, which my great friend James Slater always used to quote: “how do you want it tonight – too fast or too slow?”! (Mark Pace tells me he always uses this story to get the good will of conductors – and it works!)

It was quite fascinating to watch and listen to these rehearsals. Cyril Diederich rehearsed the musicians really thoroughly, using only part of the orchestration at times, to make a section quite clear, before putting them together, and sometimes slowing down enormously to make sure it was sounding exactly as he wanted. This is not always done as thoroughly, especially with music that is considered quite easy to play. In fact I felt that the process Cyril used, was very similar to that of dancers’ rehearsals when they are thoroughly coached, with the corps too being worked on individually. I realized that Cyril was getting to know the score intimately in this way, and that this should be helpful - not knowing the names of steps in the ballet, the better he knew the music for the different scenes, the easier it would be to identify and discuss any problematic tempi.

Stage rehearsals

In the afternoons and evenings up until Friday, we had full calls on stage, each time with a little more lighting, and one or two more elements of the set on stage – or less, as some had to be taken back to Strasbourg for revising, repainting or whatever. The tree behind the house finally arrived, and looked magnificent, although Giselle’s friends had to find a reasonable way to make an entrance from behind it.. The leaves and flowers which were meant to overgrow Hilarion’s cottage were still not forthcoming, but painters were starting to work on getting the tables, stools and benches less like something from Ikea! We were also starting to discover what would or would not be appearing, and what compromises we would need to look at in terms of scenery/props. In relation to costumes, this was not going to be clear until – the day of the premiere!

Though all this, Jean-Marc was terrific. He took all on board like the real pro that he is, and I never heard him lose his temper – he just dealt hands on with things as they appeared or didn’t. Manufacturing necklaces, headdresses, decorations for costumes, adjusting props, and discussing hairstyles and wigs always calmly and to the point. He dealt with me in the same way (!) – I am very particular about the way the stage and dancers look – and have rather definite ideas about what I don’t like, which I am very honest about, but this could lead to offended designers! It really was great having this experience and working together on this production. We had some good laughs as well as some good moans! And it was amazing to see his concept leap from model to stage, some parts looked even better in reality, while others which looked important on the model or costume designs, were less important on stage. Personally I never trust a model – each theatre is different, and highlights other aspects of a concept.

On Friday afternoon and evening we had the first rehearsals with orchestra and dancers together on stage, in the afternoon with the first cast, the evening with the second. Cyril, the conductor asked me to sit behind him, so that I could give him feedback in case of problems. I did this in the afternoon, which was quite successful – but in the evening, as we had quite a few of the costumes of first act, and more lighting states had been put in the computer, I really needed to look at these from more distance. However he asked me to give him feedback by going through the score for an hour before the evening rehearsal, and in fact the first act went smoothly after that, but in the second there were still important parts which were hard for him to understand. At the end of the evening rehearsal the principals and I tried to explain what was needed. It was hard, as he was adamant that the dancers should not follow him – he would follow the Giselles as they piqueed their arabesques! Later I discovered that the reason one lift was always “out” was that he was expecting the pique on one accent, and the dancers on another… With conductors who are used to working with dancers on classical ballets, it is the norm for the dancers to follow the music, with the most helpful conductors (ah Jack Lanchbery…!) – watching out for perhaps three or four key moments in an act when the dancers could need extra help. But in that case, the most seasoned conductor, will have been conducting the accompanist at rehearsals for at least the last week or two in the studio, and with each cast, so that it is a real partnering situation between the conductor and the dancers. Interestingly a number of Russian conductors use the technique of the music following the dancers, with, to our ears/eyes, rather mixed results – often radical changes of tempi which can rather slaughter the musical intention. I think conductors not used to dance tend to dislike it because they (wrongly) believe that it is indispensable to do this. So they either do so unwillingly, thinking they are helpful, or go to the other extreme altogether, and conduct with their head in the score, which can have equally disastrous results!

Jean-Marc and I had fun before act 1 rehearsals, placing props, and small elements of scenery , especially for the first act. It was nice, and helpful, that no-one stopped us (in fact sometimes we were even helped) moving benches, tables, stools, “wine” barrels and flower beds around. In some theatres the union rules would not allow this in any circumstances, none but the designated stage staff would be allowed, making for a huge amount of wasted time. Eric the props master, was most helpful, and had by now worked out how to make a working marguerite, and he was on the road to finding a way to whisk the veil off Giselle after her 2nd act entrance, without it looking funny!

Ah veils – that was another story…:

Veils and sleeves and wings – and the black cloak for Albrecht and his act 2 grey tights

Way back in September, Bertrand and I had asked to have, ready to use during the studio rehearsal time, the veils for the wilis, and the long black cloak for Albrecht’s 2nd act entrance,.

Handling the cloak is an art in itself ( Serge Bereznoi, ballet master in Boston when I staged Giselle there, was a past master of making the cloak truly look like a second skin, and way of conveying Albrecht’s remorse through the shape of the silhouette when he first walks into the forest). Each cloak has different proportions, and of course the dancers interpreting the role are not all the same height. It is difficult too to take it off in a way which looks natural, after having found Giselle’s tomb, , and to leave it where it will not get in the way of the dancing, and also look (accidentally on purpose) good in the set, while being convenient for Albrecht to pick up for his final moments after Giselle has gone back into her tomb.

In fact for the rehearsal period, only a short old dummy cloak was forthcoming – and after repeated requests were ignored, a stunning mega sized black velvet cloak with purple lining, was found from a previous production. Far too voluminous and heavy for this staging, even to be really useful for rehearsals, it did serve us a little, as it gave some ideas on how to manage a larger one.

A day or so before stage rehearsals started, at a fitting, a cloak of sorts did turn up – not nearly wide enough – … telephone calls to Strasbourg – not enough material had been bought – it would not be possible to get any more that matched, and there was no money for it anyway. In panic, waking up at 4am, I tried to see whether I could order from Whaleys over the Internet, and would it arrive in time? Bertrand, bless him, insisted, and two days before the premiere, appeared a correct sized cloak, into which had been added some more material, not exactly the same, but I admit, one could not see this from the front.

But finally of course we found ourselves in the situation we had tried to avoid – taking up valuable stage time on the last day with the three Albrechts trying to work out how to manage and lay it near the tomb….

The tights for Albrecht appeared for the Friday’s orchestral rehearsal – in a thick shiny lycra – very mauve… New ones would be found and dyed we were told… I felt it better to err on the not being too trusting side: I rang up the one ballet shop in Mulhouse – no dull men’s tights in grey or even in white (to dye). I went anyway – and discovered some large size woman’s allover tights in dull white – maybe they would be the right size (they were!) – and bought some grey dye just in case. In the event, some did turn up for the final dress rehearsal, too thick, but an OK colour and wearable. Still better ready for all eventualities..

Getting the veils was another saga. Stage rehearsals started, and still despite multiple pleas and promises that material had been ordered, none were forthcoming. A real problem, as in my version, the corps and lead wilis dance with them for the beginning of the first dance. They are not easy to handle as one cannot see very well through them making it difficult to stay in line, while keeping them on straight requires the strategic placing of a single pin (for very quick taking off). A certain technique is required also for keeping one’s arms inside the tulle also! One morning, I decided to try my luck at TOTO’s material shop near my Hotel – perhaps they would have a little white tulle of the necessary fineness, with which the wilis could take turns practicing in the light. It was my lucky day, they had some, so I bought about 8 wilis worth, and took them to the theatre. Luckily they only needed the corners to be rounded up, and the dimensions were right – ouf! A few were tried, and amid groans and complaints that they were unmanageable (par for the course, this always happens the first few times with any company), I decided to go back to TOTO’s in the afternoon and see whether I could get the lot. After I had mucked up by getting the shop to cut the wrong way, and ended up with some far too narrow strips – I had to go back to the shop yet again, and oh miracle, there was just exactly enough - and not one centimetre more! So that problem was solved – and just as well, as the ones ordered by the wardrobe arrived a day before the dress rehearsal – and the material was not as good!

Other challenges were sleeves and wings. Jean-Marc had designed some pretty sleeves, and wings for the wilis. None were forthcoming till some tubular forms in rather stiff material arrived. We tried various possibilities for the sleeves, none any good. I decided that we needed to show something like what we wanted and look at it on stage – so with the material which had been mistakenly cut (definitely my fault this one), too narrow for the veils, I cut out a bit (neither seamstress nor housewife in any way am I, I hasten to add!), put an elastic round it, and asked the Giselle of that night to put it on, so we could see whether the shape and material might work in the light. It worked rather well )and I was very proud of myself), and lo and behold was used as a model, and all the wilis got their sleeves on the first night!

There was no more time to make wings, so Jean-Marc was offered a previous version of La Sylphide’s sylphs’ wings. They would have to do, and ended up looking fine after he had managed to get the wardrobe to discard the butterfly look by some cutting and reshaping.

Continue reading "Setting a Giselle (2)"

Staging Giselle - 1

Bruce asked me some time ago if I would write a kind of diary of my odd itinerant free lance career for you. I hesitated until now, but realizing that I have such great opportunities at present to live through so many different experiences, which are truly fascinating – and thought I would have a shot at putting down some of it – and see if you find it of interest too!

General background

I have been pursuing a free-lance existence now since 1999. Lots of guest teaching, coaching, and staging works, as well as getting back on the boards last season in Maurice Bejart’s reworking of L’Heure Exquise in Lausanne and on tour. Martyn Fleming, who partnered me, and I are waiting to hear confirmation of dates for a Paris season next year, which should be exciting if I can still manage to do barre every day until then – I stopped altogether about twenty five years ago, apart from the showing one does when teaching and coaching… so it was quite hefty to go back to class which I did from the day after Mr Bejart told me of the prospect, and for nine months before we started rehearsal. Good to get back into the habit – although funny, as I had always promised myself that I would not get into that old ballet dancer syndrome of “having” to keep doing barre – and here I am…..!

Ballet du Rhin – and Giselle

At the moment I am staging Giselle in Mulhouse for the Ballet du Rhin. This is the company directed by Bertrand d’At, previously dancer and ballet master with Bejart’s Ballet of the XXth Century, then director shortly for Cullberg Ballet, and for several years now, most successfully leading this company. He choreographs himself, but also brings a most varied repertoire to this company, from his own reworking of Swan Lake to works by Lucinda Childs, a number of French contemporary choreographers, Glen Tetly, Balanchine, Forsythe and Bejart.

The company has almost enough dancers for Giselle, but has been augmented with character artists who were previously dancers with this company, for the roles of Berthe, Bathilde and the Hunt couples. Also a few extra dancers have been engaged as wilis, peasants and friends.

I know most of the dancers well, as Bertrand invited me to guest teach and coach several times, and also to stage the Rose Adage from The Sleeping Beauty, and Maurice Bejart’s Bhakti lll in 1999.

We open Giselle on 2nd May, which will be presented together with a work by Bertrand to Schumann’s Diechterliebe – for all the men of the company, as apart from principals, the men do not have much dancing to do in Giselle – and he has excellent men who must be shown off too!

It is a most exciting adventure. Hardly any of the dancers have ever performed in a Giselle – have just finished rehearsals in the studio, and go on stage for the first time tomorrow.

Contrary to my previous productions of Giselle for The Australian Ballet and Boston Ballet respectively, which were both presented in Peter Farmer’s beautiful and traditional set and costume design this time, we are launched into a different design and designer. When Bertrand d’At expressed the wish to have a unique production for his company, I immediately thought of Jean-Marc Puissant, whose design skills I had hoped to use before, soon after he was introduced to me by Christopher Wheeldon. He is a most imaginative designer, and this will be his first shot at a full-length classic. Some of you may know him from his previous life! Most unusually for a stage designer, he was a dancer, trained in France, who danced with Stuttgart Ballet, and BRB for a number of years, before reinventing his life by going to the famous Motley Sisters design School (a link of sorts between us – since it was my uncle who discovered the Sisters, back in the thirties I believe!).

Our conductor, Cyril Diederich, although well known here, has conducted little for dance, and never Giselle.

Our lighting designer, Pascal Merat too, has impeccable credentials, having worked on several of Peter Brook’s projects, but he too comes new to Giselle.

So you can see why working together with this team would be most exciting, but also a little scary!

On the other hand, I have a wonderful group of Gisellomanes (!), with Bertrand’s resident staff, Claude Agrafiel and Didier Merle, and most importantly, guest teacher and so much more, Peter Appel (for so many years much loved and appreciated ballet master for Heinz Spoerli’s companies). They all have much experience of traditional and not quite so traditional productions of Giselle.

So – this mix of real knowledge and respect for the tradition, and the truly new outlook towards Giselle of those unfamiliar with it, is most interesting.

Maina Gielgud
Photograph by Martin Mydtskov Ronne

Sunday 27th April

We have just finished a week (well actually four days) of stage rehearsals – starting each day at 8.30am with lighting plus orchestra by themselves in a studio in the theatre, and going through the afternoon and evening with dancers, and on Thursday and Friday the first orchestra calls on stage together with the dancers.

We are in France, and I could hardly miss realizing this – an experience I have not had previously in staging works… (I started my dance career in France, so should not be surprised really – although the 35 hour week certainly came in more recently! As dancers at Roland Petit, my first company, we were paid half salary for rehearsals, no classes were supplied, so we paid and went to outside classes each day before rehearsals started – in the carpeted Alhambra Theatre in Paris..)

35 hour weeks

So – yes, all departments work 35 hour weeks, and overtime is not paid; any hours worked have to be given back in kind, and within a limited period – a nightmare of scheduling. I am very lucky, as Mark Pace, a unique person and excellent dancer, who worked with The Australian Ballet in my early years there, is not only still dancing (the roles of Hilarion and Peasant Pas), but also doing the rehearsal scheduling – and he is an as avid long-term planner as I am, so we did each day’s dancer schedule for studio and stage back in September, when I started teaching and rehearsing the soloists. I didn’t realize how useful this was going to be until a couple of weeks ago, when it became clear that the coordination between departments of the Opera du Rhin, is to put it mildly, not …. Well, let’s just say it’s very French!

This starts out with the fact that the Opera du Rhin is based in Strasbourg – BUT the ballet company is based in Mulhouse with its studios there, and it gets funding from the city. This means that the ballet company has to premiere each programme at La Filature, an excellent theatre in the city, with a large and lovely stage, but almost 1/3 bigger than that of the Strasbourg Opera House, and at least twice the size of the theatre in Colmar, cities where each programme is subsequently presented. ..

The long and short of it (well one of them -) is that the 35 hours a week that technical crew, scenery painters, wardrobe staff, theatre staff, orchestra players, lighting crew and dancers work, are all different hours – even when they are supposed to be rehearsing at the same time – it actually can’t happen, or certainly not for the complete length of a stage call.

Costumes and their making

The workshops for both sets and costumes are at the Opera House in Strasbourg – which presents particular problems for costumes, since fittings for the dancers have to take place in Mulhouse, with some staff bringing over costumes as and when they need fitting. In early October, when the design presentation was made in Strasbourg, I was surprised to learn that there would only be one fitting per dancer. No date could be given either for fittings or for a costume parade, or even for when all costumes would be ready for stage rehearsals. It later transpired too that since Ballet du Rhin had not been performing classical ballet for some years, no-one in wardrobe was going to be able to make the romantic tutus for the second act. First we tried to buy some from another company's existing production, for Jean-Marc to use the base, and then design top skirt and decoration for the bodice. However none proved to be suitable, so these were farmed out to a place in Toulouse, who were apparently skilled at making these.

I insisted on a prototype, which was just as well (it was sent to me by courier to Houston, while I was there in late February), as it looked nothing like a ballet tutu, and far more like a wedding dress in the way it was made. However Jean-Marc and I had agreed to try one layer in the midst of the skirt, of a different tinge to the more usual all-white, and on the prototype we tried two, one a bronzy colour, the other a very light green. Houston Ballet administration must have been very surprised to see their incoming artistic associate wondering about in a half brown/half green wedding dress, with walking shoes and hair trailing (asking advice of their wardrobe staff on the making and material used too...). The dress then was couriered to Jean-Marc in London, and subsequently we agreed that we liked the colours, and as previously discussed, would use the bronzy for the 16 corps, the greenish for the 2 lead wilis, a light silvery grey for the Queen of the Wilis, and of course white for Giselle herself. This was ordered, but having been told that there would be NO fittings for these all important costumes, the dancers’ measurements would simply be sent, and only the lengths, organza (well maybe, we haven’t got there yet!) sleeves, wings and decorations could be added after delivery, Jean-Marc and I asked for one more prototype to be made and fitted on at least one of the dancers. This was done, reasonably satisfactorily (apart from bodice having been made shiny side out, when we had always specified that it should be matte outside), in late March.

A few days ago, someone who shall be nameless – admitted that only 18 costumes had been ordered, as it was not realized that the two lead wilis were needing costumes (since it is a small company, the Giselle casts who are not on are lead wilis on other nights….). Emergency ordering was done, and no delivery date could be given. I suddenly remembered that the prototype we had seen on a dancer had the green inlay skirt, and as she was one of the lead wilis, something told me that perhaps the ordering colours had also gone wrong, and sure enough on enquiry, we were told that all the corps and (eventual) lead wilis had been ordered in green……….!!!!) To be continued when costumes arrive…

Set and its making

Jean-Marc and I had discussed ideas for the scenic design, and he came up with stunning images for both first and second acts. We discussed the model in great detail, and as always the question of space for the dancers, and the particular needs for clear straight lines for the wilis on the sides of the stage, giving plenty of space for the principals, and the diagonal for the corps which needs to lead first to Giselle’s grave for the scene when she first appears, and later to where Hilarion is thrown to his death. We had initially been told that the set should be made for the Mulhouse Filature stage, and this was done for the initial presentation in October. Later however, much later, in early February if my memory is correct, we were told that these would need to be rethought, and that the set would need to be of exactly the same dimensions and placed in Mulhouse at exactly the same spots as for the later performances in Strasbourg. With alterations being made on model, on photographs of model, with Jean-Marc sometimes taking Easyjet flights or equivalent to Strasbourg at one or two days' notice, emails flying between us all, technical director between Strasbourg and Mulhouse, Bertrand in Mulhouse, Jean-Marc sometimes in London, Salzbourg or elsewhere, me in Houston, London or Lausanne, trees mysteriously appeared and disappeared on the set, jumping from one side of the stage to the other for no apparent reason, and even from one act to the other…

Even after we were all in the same place – well let’s say hopping between Strasbourg and Mulhouse - after I arrived in mid March to rehearse the dancers and Jean-Marc came for two days here and there, and then full time since last week, each day had surprises. In fact last week, just before Easter, while Jean-Marc was still in London, I was told one evening after rehearsal finished that some part of the set – the houses for first act – would be on stage next morning, and would I go at 8.30am – of course. Later that night I was told that there would actually be nothing for me to see – I should go on the Thursday (before Good Friday) – I thought I would anyway. Just as well – I was begged to come next morning, Wednesday, as this would be the crucial placing of the houses, and the elements of the second act, tomb, (and some stunning mounds and cliffs which would have to be very strategically placed. Once in place, I was told, they would have to stay, as focusing would be done in relation….. Others told me that it was unnecessary, I only needed to go Thursday.. Again, of course I went – by this time it was too late for Jean-Marc to change his plans, he could only come Thursday as he had been asked to do a couple of days before… Fortunately this all important placing was done, and only minor detail had and could be changed when Jean-Marc arrived next day. Only the bare bones were there, no leaves or flowers on the houses of 1st act, mounds and crosses or decorations, and no date could be given as to when any given element would arrive. The wonderful backcloth looked stunning, well it would when lit – but had not been painted according to the design, so it took some stubbornness to make sure that this would be retouched, as would the floor. Great confabs as to whether these should/could be done at the theatre, or whether they would have to be bussed backed to Strasbourg…. And when? Of course retouching would take time – and take time away from producing the missing elements and decorating the rest. Plus if the floor was taken back to Strasbourg, the dancers could not rehearse on stage (no other floor, and dancers don’t work on wood any more), and the lighting could not be properly done either. No agreement reached on this till the following week.

Meanwhile houses in, a tomb in, and the theatre went dark for four days from Thursday evening through till Tuesday after Easter.

The lighting designer, Pascal arrived last Tuesday. A schedule of sorts had been produced between us. But of couse 8.30 means 9amish, and technical crew who move set have different hours and breaks, then lighting crew, and Strasbourg stage staff brought over have different ones from Mulhouse theatre ones….

Despite all these – ahem – small problems, I have to say that the absolute majority of staff are terrific, and could not be more helpful. No doubt this has something to do with Bertrand, the ballet director, who is often to be found standing in for Giselle, corps de ballet of wilis complete with practice tutus and veils that I have bought (since the promised ones have still as of 27th April, not arrived) , Albrecht or Hilarion, so that Pascal can look at the lighting on a body of sorts. This is truly lovely, as I find the same helfulness from almost all the staff that are present at any one time - being willing to do each other's jobs, like moving a house or tables or whatever, and even allowing us dance people to do so when those supposed to do so are not there. This is unheard of in some theatres, where if you touched a marguerite/daisy when the props man was not there, you would be practically thrown out of the theatre! I have also made friends with the props man in fact, Eric, who is in the process of discovering how to make the marguerite/daisy work for Giselle to pluck. His first tries with little spokes on the petals going into a green foam heart were not appreciated, as once plucked, the little metal spokes were picked up on the soles of the male dancers' ballet slippers…. He is getting to realize that the old-fashioned cutting of paper or material ones each day is the best system, if somewhat time consuming.

Like others, even some of the dancers who wondered why a contemporary if classically based company would be restaging “that old museum piece”, as rehearsals proceed he is getting lured into the world of Giselle.

Continue reading "Staging Giselle - 1"