Giselle

I saw Giselle on Monday at the New Theatre (built in the 1800s) in Oxford. I'd never seen Giselle before, so I read the Wikipedia article first, and I'm glad I did or I feel like I would have had no idea what was going on. Are ballet plots supposed to be deduced from the dancing? Once I've read a summary I can usually understand why the dancing represents what I've read, but I don't think I could have figured out the plot simply from the dancing, except in Nutcracker, which pretty much lacks a plot.

Anyway, Giselle was very good, but the first act was not what I was expecting. In the first act, nearly all of the characters are peasants/normal people, and they dance more like normal people than like ballerinas. In the second act, most of the people are dead, and their ballet-style dancing fits the otherworldly aspect.

I guess the most disappointing part for me was that the whole story centers around Giselle's love for Albrecht, and I found it really hard to imagine falling for a guy wearing baby blue tights. Despite this, I enjoyed the ballet, and I'm looking forward to going to Sleeping Beauty on Wednesday.