Today and next Friday 20 and Saturday 21 May, the Teatro Real in Madrid will offer four performances of the classical ballet Giselle (photo © Alba Muriel), performed by the Compañía Nacional de Danza, in the choreographic version of its director, Joaquín de Luz, inspired by Spanish romanticism and the poetry of Bécquer.
Without abandoning the elements that have made this work one of the peaks of classical ballet, Joaquín de Luz’s conception also includes the bolero school and Spanish traditions, and constructs a more human, more tangible Giselle, supported by Borja Ortiz de Gondra’s dramaturgy, which gives it greater plot content, without distorting the essence of the romantic story that we all know.
The narration takes place in a village in the Sierra del Moncayo, imagined by the set designer Ana Garay, together with the beautiful costumes of the designer Rosa García Andújar and the lighting of Pedro Chamizo. Together they transport the audience to a place where bucolic peasants, young lovers and handsome gallants, accompany them to the night forest where the wilis, the spirits of girls who died before marriage, live, while the voices of the wind whisper the verses of the Spanish poet.
The performances will include the presence of the Ukrainian dancer Katja Khaniukova, First Soloist of the English National Ballet, as a special guest at the performances on the 20th and 21st (at 21.00), in which she will play the main character alongside Joaquín de Luz and Alessandro Riga, respectively.
