Bolshoi Ballet brings new spirit to ‘Giselle’

Dating back to 1841, when it premiered in Paris, the ballet "Giselle" has been called one of the most challenging of all ballets to dance.

If any troupe can do it justice, though, it would be Russia's Bolshoi Ballet. And that's what area dance fans will be able to witness at 12:55 on Sunday when a Bolshoi Ballet production of "Giselle" will screen at the Regal Cinemas theater at Northtown Mall.

Choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky, the two-act ballet features Olga Smirnova as the peasant girl Giselle who is seduced by the nobleman Albrecht (Artemy Belyakov). The second act involves the spirits of women who have been betrayed by their lovers, their recruiting of Giselle and her efforts to save her erstwhile lover.

Writing about the November premiere of this Bolshoi productions of "Giselle," critic Marina Harss wrote of Ratmansky's attempts to update such a classic work.

"What has emerged from this process," Harss wrote, "is a 'Giselle' that is both familiar and new. Watching it on opening night and on the following evening, with different casts, was like seeing a faded painting regain its colors."

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