✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Dance

United Ukrainian Ballet, Giselle Review ★★★★★

13 Sep 22 – 17 Sep 22, 19:30 Mats on 15, 17 at 14:30 Dur.: 2 hours inc one interval

Exiled Ukrainian ballet dancers serve up an emotional and creditable Giselle at the London Coliseum in aid of their war-torn country

By Teresa Guerreiro on 14/9/2022

1 CW reader is interested
Christine Shevchenko as Giselle, Oleksii Tiutiunnyk as Albrecht. United Ukrainian Ballet, Giselle.  Photo: Mark Senior
Christine Shevchenko as Giselle, Oleksii Tiutiunnyk as Albrecht. United Ukrainian Ballet, Giselle. Photo: Mark Senior
United Ukrainian Ballet, Giselle Review 3 United Ukrainian Ballet, Giselle Review Teresa Guerreiro
There is much to admire in this Giselle performed by the United Ukrainian Ballet, which is made up of ballet dancers exiled as a result of Russia’s invasion of their country – first and foremost the dancers’ sheer grit and their determination to use their art to make the case for their country.


Now based in The Hague under the directorship of the Dutch former prima ballerina Igone de Jongh, the 50-strong United Ukrainian Ballet’s first production is Giselle, staged by choreographer du jour Alexei Ratmansky, who grew up in Ukraine.


Despite some significant deviations, Ratmansky’s Giselle remains faithful to the essentials of this 19th century uber-Romantic work: set to Adolphe Adams’s atmospheric score, played live by the Orchestra of the English National Opera conducted by Victor Oliynik, it tells the story of the peasant girl Giselle and her love for the feckless aristocrat Albrecht (here returned to the original French Albert), his deception leading to her death.


In Act II, set in the forest at night, the wilis, spirits of maidens who died before their wedding day, force any man who ventures into their realm to dance to death; a repentant Albert is only saved by the the intervention of Giselle's forgiving spirit.



Ukrainian National Ballet, Giselle, Act II. Photo: Mark Senior
On opening night Giselle was danced by Christine Shevchenko, guesting from American Ballet Theatre where she’s a principal. Whereas in most of the versions we’re used to Giselle is a frail girl with a weak heart, Shevchenko’s Giselle is boisterous, flirty, full of joie de vivre, giving no sign of physical frailty.


This has two effects: it makes her mad scene and death all the more shocking, but also makes one wonder why her mother, Berthe (Olena Mykhailova), is so against her propensity to dance at every possibly opportunity.


Albert was danced by the dashing Oleksii Tiutiunnyk, tall, long legged and very elegant with a good jump, if often dodgy landings. Tiutiunniyk’s Albert shows no sign of the usual cad; he really loves Giselle, his remorse at her death powerful and genuine.


Throughout Act I, the mime is clear and effective: particularly spine-chilling is Berthe’s enactment of the legend of the wilis.


Ratmansky brought to Act I a series of new dances, crowding the stage with the spirited, well-drilled ensemble



Ukrainian National Ballet, Giselle Act I. Photo: Mark Senior
Act II opens with a group of young men drinking in the forest. Hilarion, the game keeper whose unrequited love for Giselle proves the catalyst for the tragedy (Sergei Kliachin rather overacting in the brutish fashion of the villains of Soviet ballet of old) warns them they’re in mortal danger, but knowing that inexplicably stays on in the forest, and is eventually made to dance to his death.


The ensemble were a little less steady in this most demanding of white Acts; Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, was danced with a measure of authority by Elizaveta Gogidze (who’ll dance Giselle later in the run).


Wheres Albrecht normally makes his entrance to place flowers at Giselle’s grave alone, wrapped in a voluminous black cape and carrying a bunch of white lilies – Nureyev made so much of that slow diagonal walk! – in this production Albert staggers on supported by a courtier. I don’t think that works at all.


And the decision to end not by having Giselle inexorably returning to her grave, but rather being tenderly deposited by Albert on a mossy rock seems a little odd.


Regardless of these quibbles, Ukrainian National Ballet’s Giselle is a remarkable effort by a company which six months ago didn’t even exist.


Sandwiched between solemn renditions of two national anthems – God Save the King and the Ukrainian national anthem – this performance of Giselle makes for an emotion-laden evening.


Giselle continues at the London Coliseum until Saturday, 17th September. All proceeds go to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

by Teresa Guerreiro

What United Ukrainian Ballet, Giselle Review
Where London Coliseum, St Martin's Lane, , London , WC2N 4ES | MAP
Nearest tube Charing Cross (underground)
When 13 Sep 22 – 17 Sep 22, 19:30 Mats on 15, 17 at 14:30 Dur.: 2 hours inc one interval
Price £10-£200 (+booking fee)
Website Click here to book



Most popular

Best London Exhibition to see now
Top exhibitions on now in London
Things to do in London this weekend: 9–11 June
Things to do in London this weekend: 9–11 June
Irene Maiorino and Alba Rohrwacher in My Brilliant Friend season 4, HBO/Sky Atlantic (Photo: HBO)
My Brilliant Friend, season 4, Sky Atlantic: first-look photo, release date, plot, cast
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).

We recommend nearby

  • Coco Ichibanya

    The first European branch of Japan's biggest curry house chain dishes out Japanese curries with adventurous toppings and plenty of options to customise your meal.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Henrietta Hotel and Restaurant

    Michelin-starred chef Ollie Dabbous has teamed up with luxury hospitality specialists The Experimental Group to open a modern British bistro within a boutique Covent Garden hotel.

    Read more...
    Book Map
  • Frenchie

    Restaurant and wine bar Frenchie has been credited with redesigning the Parisian way of eating. Its simple, generous yet precise dishes are heavily influenced by chef cum owner Gregory Marchand's classical training in Nantes.

    Read more...
    Book Map
1

United Ukrainian Ballet

Giselle

London Coliseum

Alexai Ratmansky

Igone de Jongh

Adolphe Adam

Christine Shevchenko

Oleksii Tiutiunnyk

Sergei Kliachin

Olena Mykhailova

Elizaveta Gogidze

You might like

  • Rudolf Nureyev. Photo: Lelli e Masotti

    Nureyev Legend and Legacy Gala Review ★★★★★

  • Natalia Osipova and Ryoichi Hirano in Mayerling, The Royal Ballet © 2018 ROH. Photo: Helen Maybanks

    The Royal Ballet 2022/23 season

  • Rambert, Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby. Photo: Johan Persson

    Review: Rambert, Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×