Giselle is an absolute classic, and it was not my intention to revise this masterpiece in a radical way. During my artistic life I have seen many different productions and have taken part in many of them. They differed from each other in small nuances, but the basis remained the same – unless, of course, we are not talking about a complete revision like the one that Mats Ek once carried out. But in order for the classics to live, attention is required to it. From time to time, the performance needs to be filled with new breath, and relationship between artists must be rebuilt. This is what I tried to do with Giselle. In the first act, I paid particular attention to the pantomime. It is necessary so that the audience understands what is at stake. I wanted pantomime to stop being a formality and become an important means of expression. In the second act, my main concern was the purity of the style: the position of the hands, the accuracy of the movements. I made sure that all the performers were fully involved in the performance. Only under this condition can we truly captivate the audience in the hall.
Author of the choreographic version Laurent Hilaire