Giselle

Giselle is one of the oldest preserved ballets. It premiered in Paris in 1841. The music, libretto and much of the choreography have remained intact. Therefore, the ballet has preserved its uniqueness and has much to tell about the time when it was created. Well performed, a contemporary audience also responds to it and its content.

What has captivated me, even the first time I saw it many years ago, are the great and strong contrasts in Giselle. First between the realism of the first act, in the countryside in a peasant village, and the dreamlike romance of the second act in a nocturnal forest among menacing spirits. Then the contrast between castle and hut, and the meeting between individual and group. Prince Albrekt mixes with peasants and Giselle is treated differently because of her hypersensitivity. In the peasant village she does not participate in the work and in the forest among the vilis she is the only one who, even after death, is tormented and rejoices in love for the man whose betrayal has driven her to madness and death. She becomes the focal point where high and low, life and death, meet in a union that tears her to pieces, but creates a human being.

This is what attracted me to the original Giselle. My version is an attempt to reimagine the fairy tale.

Mats Ek before the premiere of Cullberg Ballet‘s production of Giselle, 1982.

Giselle is considered by many to be Cullberg Ballet’s most iconic work and has also been in the repertoire the longest and has been performed the most times. In 1986 SVT recorded Giselle with producer Måns Reutersvärd, costumes (after Marie-Louise De Geer Bergenstråhle) by Ulla Mamer and lighting by Börje Berglund.

• Giselle – Ana Laguna
• Albrecht – Luc Bouy
• Hilarion – Yvan Auzely
• Bathilde – Vanessa McIntosh
• Myrta – Lena Wennergren

Svansjön by Ana Laguna, Cullberg Ballet, Mats Ek Carmen by Ana Laguna, Cullberg Ballet, Mats Ek the Place by Ana Laguna, Mats Ek Sleeping Beauty by Cullberg Ballet, Mats Ek Överbord by Ana Laguna, Mats Ek Dialogues II by Ana Laguna, Mats Ek