REVIEW: Giselle, Ballet Cymru, Dance City
Welsh company's happy return
For an encounter with classical ballet this festive season, you must head for a venue whose performance programme generally leans towards contemporary dance.
That’s not a policy, as Dance City artistic director Anand Bhatt made clear on Thursday night as Ballet Cymru returned to Newcastle with its second annual December offering.
All forms of dance are equally valued, he said, including ballet which does indeed feature among its many classes even if its appearances on the performance schedule are rare.
That, in the region that gave the world Billy Elliot 25 years ago, isn’t unusual, which is why the relationship between Dance City and the company based in Newport, South Wales, seems important.
It’s a chance for all those youngsters who attend ballet classes on a Saturday to see where their pastime could take them.
They are mostly girls, despite that famous film, but not all.
One of Ballet Cymru’s dancers, noisily applauded on Thursday, is Jacob Hornsey, from Hexham, a graduate of the CAT (Centre for Advanced Training) scheme at Dance City which has been the springboard for many a career.
One thing about Dance City’s theatre is that you don’t feel remote from the action. You almost feel part of it, looking down rather than up at the dancers and attuned to the physicality of their performance, to every audible squeak and thump and almost every breath.
It makes the extraordinary strength and poise that underpins their art form, ostensibly so graceful and effortless, seem all the more impressive.
The ballet Giselle, by French composer and critic Adolphe Adam, premiered in Paris in 1841. It was enthusiastically received and has been performed many times around the world ever since.
The title character, danced winsomely here by Gwenllian Davies, is a peasant girl caught between two admirers, boyfriend Albrecht (Kamal Singh) and childhood friend Hilarian (James Knott).
In this telling of the tale the action begins in what we’re told is a Welsh village but the simple projected backdrop could be anywhere – the Tyne Valley, say, or Weardale.
Albrecht, for all his besotted devotion, is revealed as not quite all that he seems, a fight ensues and poor Giselle - somewhat mysteriously in this production - passes away, leaving the lads bereft.
In Act Two, following the interval, we enter darker and more interesting territory, the action transferring to a forest with a spookily sinister backdrop and a sudden spine-tingling edge to the music.
It gives us the Wilis, the spirits of broken-hearted women who, led by their queen, Myrtha (danced on Thursday by Jakob Myers), emerge at night to seek revenge on the men who have wronged them.
With their shadowy greasepaint and ominous moves, this is riveting stuff from the dancers, injecting a dash of seasonal Gothic to counter the twinkle and sparkle of Christmas.
And it’s reminiscent of silent movies, the way the dancers – in close proximity to their audience – express themselves facially as well as through the choreography. The drama’s heightened. You get sucked in.
Albrecht’s last moments with Giselle are particularly moving as her enduring love, even from beyond the grave, protects him from the worst that the Wilis can throw. Beautifully done.
Ballet Cymru came to Newcastle for the first time last year (with Romeo and Juliet) and will be back in 2026 – and while there are only three public performances, the dancers have been doing a lot of work in schools.
This is thanks to the Gillian Dickinson Trust which is enabling nearly 1,000 North East children to experience classical ballet this month.
Ballet Cymru’s Giselle can be seen on Friday (December 5) and Saturday (December 6), with both performances at 7.30pm. Tickets from the Dance City website.
Meanwhile, anyone interested in introducing children to ballet may care to take note of some dates in 2026: February 7 when Northern Ballet’s production of Little Red Riding Hood will be performed twice at Northern Stage; and May 30 and 31 when My First Ballet: Cinderella, suitable for ages 3+, will be performed five times by young English National Ballet dancers at the Theatre Royal.