@giselle Masters the Dance Between Ballet and the Digital World
Romance has always been thought of as a dance. @giselle works to preserve the classic traditions of ballet with the ever-evolving jive of social media and online dating, to create the ultimate experience of dance and love in 2020.
Performance of @giselle. Photo Credit: David Cooper
On January 14, a new imagining of the beloved ballet classic Giselle, was screened at The Bruno Walter Auditorium in Lincoln Center, New York City. Created by Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, @giselle updates the 1800’s tragic romance for modern audiences, as dating apps, selfies and emojis reinterpret love, sex and relationships in the 21st century. With the talented cast of ABT's Catherine Hurlin in the title role and Betsy McBride as Bathilde, Pennsylvania Ballet's Sterling Baca as Hilarion, and National Ballet of Canada's Harrison James as Albrecht, @giselle dazzles in both its bold intention and skilful execution.
What makes @giselle so unique is the use of motion-captured digital projections and other visual effects utilised to reflect and critique the digital world we live in. On stage, what is physically a solo dance, morphs into a digital duet, as the projections overlie and pair dancers in body and spirit. This reflects the solitary nature of online dating; the dater alone swipes through the plethora of potential lovers, who exist merely as digital representations rather than living, feeling persons.
@giselle in action. Photo Credit: David Cooper
As Joshua Beamish stated as he introduced the show: “I want the original work to exist within our production as its own ghost - a ghost from another time.” Indeed, Giselle herself embodies this ghost, as her suicide is live streamed; everyone is watching but no one is there to stop her incorporeal transformation. In the second act Giselle dances on as a mere projection, a wisp of a memory, a ghostly hologram for Instagram. Incredibly, using only a single projector, the audience watches this intentionally uncomfortable yet oddly complementary duet; the elegance of ballet paired with the glibness of social media; a dual visual experience of reading between the lines of both dance and online dating.
Catherine Herlin and Joshua Beamish.
After the screening Hurlin, McBride, and Baca joined Beamish on stage to share the creative process. As Hurlin notes dancing with a projector was challenging and distracting. Is this a metaphor for our phones and the digital life they submerge us in? Are we too distanced from the physical, distracted from reality?Additionally, as Baca comments, classical ballet incorporates much pantomime. Social media does too, with all its over emphasis and drama, its insistence on the curated image to over exaggerate reality. Life imitates art after all.
@giselle brings together many opposing forces into complementary harmony; digital and dance, tragedy and comedy, studio and stage, to create a unique and magical encounter. It is a modern ballet imbued with an important cultural commentary. A must see on both screen and stage. Commissioned by TO Live, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY premiered @giselle at the Vancouver Playhouse in September 2019.
PHOTOS BY SEAN ZANNI/PMC and DAVID COOPER
