Giselle - A Romantic Ballet

             Giselle is a romantic ballet that displays multiple aspects of young love: joy, deception, and sorrow. Giselle, a weak-hearted, innocent, village maiden, is sought after by Hilarion, a gamekeeper, and Count Albrecht whose affection for Giselle has led him to disguise himself as a village peasant. Despite the ballet's romantic style origins, it still possesses a number of classical elements and techniques. The scene is set so that Giselle's cottage is on the left side of the stage, and the forest hut on the right. Both Hilarion and Albrecht display their affection by standing outside of Giselle's cottage, tempted to call her out. At last, Giselle comes out and notices Albrecht, disguised as Loys.
             Albrecht strips himself of his royal garments and dresses as a peasant. Giselle and Albrecht parade around the stage performing the same moves together rather than having the male, Albrecht, support Giselle through her moves. The convention of repetition is present as they perform the same short, small skips with simple footwork which takes them from the back of the stage towards the front while holding each other's hands. Her innocence is displayed through the petite, light skips she performs which take her across the stage. Her moves are graceful, performing spins which allow her to smoothly glide from one end of the stage to the other. Midway through the first act, Giselle's peasant friends arrive. Giselle's mother comes out of the cottage to warn her against dancing. A hunting party which consisted of Duke of Corland and his daughter Bathilde, who was engaged to Albrecht. Both are wearing extravagant red garments which exemplifies their aristocracy and power over the casually dressed peasants. A grands pas de deux was performed by two peasants for the party. The dance incorporated a number of spins by the female as she was being supported by the male dancer. The male dancer's solo parts in the pas de deux involved a n...

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