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The Phantoms Of The Ballet: The Wilis

October 31, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

“Giselle in the Forest” — Short Dance Film by The Australian Ballet with Modern Music

by Rachel Hellwig

You know the story— Boys meets girl. Boy courts girl. Girl falls in love. Girl discovers she’s been two-timed. Girl goes mad. Girl dies. Girl becomes ghost. Boy visits girl’s grave. Boy is captured by vengeful ghosts. Girl’s ghost saves boy.

The story is, of course, Giselle and the ghosts are the Wilis. In fact, Giselle‘s original title was Giselle ou les Wilis, “Giselle, or The Wilis”. Though a product of the Romantic Era and its fascination with the supernatural, this ballet from 1841 has nonetheless endured and attained classic status. Interestingly, pop culture’s current interest in vampires, zombies etc. echos the tastes of the period in which Giselle was created.

So, let’s take a look at the Wilis, a most elegant member of the undead…

Folkloric Inspiration

"swKCB032015_-903" by KCBalletMedia. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic.
“swKCB032015_-903” by KCBalletMedia. Licensed under CC Attribution 2.0 Generic.

The Wilis have their roots in European legend. Théophile Gautier, author of Giselle’s libretto, took his source material for the Wilis from a passage in Heinrich Heine’s On Germany:

“There is a tradition of nocturnal dancing known in Slav countries under the name of Wili. The Wilis are affianced maidens who have died before their wedding-day; those poor young creatures cannot rest peacefully in their graves. In their hearts which have ceased to throb, in their dead feet, there still remains that passion for dancing which they could not satisfy during life; and at midnight they rise up and gather in bands on the highway and woe betide the young man who meets them, for he must dance until he drops dead.

Attired in their bridal dresses, with garlands of flowers on their heads, and shining rings on their fingers, the Wilis dance in the moonlight like the Elves.”

Theatrical Development

Ballet of the Nuns at the Paris Opéra (1832). Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Image.
Ballet of the Nuns at the Paris Opéra. Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Image.

The Wilis’ theatrical ancestors are found in the Ballet of Nuns from the opera Robert le Diable (1831) by Giacomo Meyerbeer and in the full-length ballet La Sylphide (1832). In the Ballet of the Nuns, ghosts of nuns rise from their abbey graves and dance in the moonlight. In La Sylphide, spirit-like beings known as sylphs dance in the forest at night. The visuals of these ballets with their white-clad women dancing in eerily-lit scenes set the stage for arrival of the Wilis nearly a decade later. Both the Ballet of the Nuns and La Sylphide originally starred Marie Taglioni, the ballet star credited with helping create the “tutu and toe-shoes” vision of the Romantic Era dancer. Anna Kisselgoff relates:

“’Robert le Diable’ raised the curtain on Romantic ballet. Naturally, there were many previous phases contributing to the Romantic esthetic in dance. But the preoccupation with the supernatural that characterized so much of 19th-century ballet could be traced to the success of the ”ballet of the nuns” in Meyerbeer’s first production at the Paris Opera.

”Robert Le Diable” led directly to the creation, in 1832, of ”La Sylphide,” the first complete Romantic ballet. The libretto for ”La Sylphide” was written by Adolphe Nourrit, the tenor who had the title role in ”Robert le Diable” and his sylph was of course, Marie Taglioni. Filippo Taglioni, her father and who is usually credited with the dances in the Meyerbeer opera, choreographed ”La Sylphide.” And another member of the same team, Pierre Ciceri, the stage and lighting designer responsible for the gasp-producing effects in ”Robert le Diable,” introduced the same ghostly gas lighting into ”La Sylphide.”

Otherworldly Attire

Carlotta Grisi as Giselle in Act II (1841). Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Image.
Carlotta Grisi as Giselle in Act II (1841). Wikimedia Commons Public Domain Image.

The long white tutus of the Wilis are based on the costume trend that Taglioni introduced for the more benign creatures of La Sylphide. The University of Utah’s ballet history page explains:

“The Romantic tutu is first seen in La Sylphide and was designed by Eugène Lami (1800-1890) […] By complementing Taglioni’s ethereal style of dancing the tutu triggered a new image in the mind of the public; that of the Romantic ballerina, transmuted into a creature soaring amidst a mist of muslin.[…] Like the pointe shoe, the Romantic tutu actively assisted the ballerina with the interpretation of her role, adding a buoyancy and unreal suspension to her fleeting steps and a softness to her landings.55″

Are They a Dream?

Of course, a possible interpretation of the Wilis is that they are a figment of Albrecht’s tortured thoughts. Anna Kisselgoff writes, “Whether he actually sees her ghost or imagines it in Act II is the kind of question 19th-century Romantic ballets such as this one have always left unanswered.”

What do you think? What’s your interpretation?

Giselle and Albrecht Say Goodbye at the End of Act II

Filed Under: 4dancers Tagged With: Anna Kisselgoff, Ballet, Ballet History, Ballet of Nuns, Dance History, Ghosts, giselle, Heinrich Heine, la sylphide, Marie Taglioni, Robert le Diable, Romantic Era, Théophile Gautier, Wilis

10 Question With…Marina Surgan

September 26, 2011 by 4dancers

Marina Surgan

Today on 10 Questions With… we talked with Marina Surgan….

1. Can you tell readers a bit about how you got into music?

Getting into music was very easy and natural for me. Everybody in my family played an instrument and to keep the family tradition my mother sent me to a piano teacher when I was seven years old. It was a “must” in my family to have a subscription to Philharmonic concerts, to the Opera, and to Ballet Theatre. When I was nine years old I was accepted to the very famous music school for gifted children named after Professor Stolyarsky in Odessa, and I continued my education in Moscow’s Pedagogical Institute (former USSR) as a Soloist, Concertmaster and Piano Teacher. I was also composing music.

2. How did you get involved with the dance world?

When I was  seven I  thought that the minute I put on some pointe shoes I’d be able to spin and run across the stage as easy as those magical ballerinas. One day I persuaded my mom to buy me a pair of pointe shoes. I couldn’t wait to get home and try them on, but when I put them on the excruciating pain at once destroyed all my dreams of becoming a ballerina. I decided that it was better for me to stick with piano, as it wasn’t that painful.

When we emigrated to Toronto I met a former dancer from the Igor Moiseyev Dance Company who was looking for an accompanist. She asked me if I could play by ear – folk music. This is where I gave thanks to God for the gift of perfect pitch and improvisation. This is how I got involved with the dance world.

3. You have composed music for the Cecchetti Grade Examinations – what was that like?

It was in 1980, Carol Chadwick who was Vice Principal of ballet at Canada’s National Ballet School at that time asked me if I could compose new music for the Cecchetti Grade Examinations. I didn’t know grades music so I told her that I needed a studio with a student and teacher who could demonstrate each exercise for me – so that I could improvise on the spot and everything would be videotaped.

I should proudly say that I did quite a good job and didn’t have to edit any of my compositions. I just had to score all the music that was recorded by videotape and it was subsequently published by the Canadian Branch of the Cecchetti Society in 1983.

4. You have also held workshops for accompanists- what are those like? [Read more…]

Filed Under: 10 Questions With..., Music & Dance Tagged With: ballet accompanist, ballet pianist, Betty Oliphant, canada's national ballet school, Cecchetti Grade Examinations, giselle, la sylphide, Marina Surgan, Moiseyev Dance Company, pianist, swan lake

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