REACTION PAPER ON GISELLE

On the 21st of September, 2014, we witnessed a ballet performance,

Giselle. Re-staged by Nonoy Froilan, the Philippines premier danseur,
this was presented in the Cultural Center of the Philippines. The ballet
is about a peasant girl named Giselle who dies of a broken heart after
discovering her lover is betrothed to another. The Wilis, a group of
supernatural women who dance men to death, summon Giselle from
her grave. They target her lover for death, but Giselle's love frees him
from their grasp.
The ballet started off with a setting of an autumnal day that seems to
be during the Middle Ages. This was nicely portrayed with the
characters costumes, the style of the house, and the backdrop. The
lighting was also appropriately shown making the mood, setting, and
the atmosphere properly expressed so the feels that was wanted to be
depicted by the stage director was easily grasped by the audience.
Lighting indeed is a very important element in this ballet performance
like every other performing art for it gives accentuation on the
movements of the performers. I could say that the use of lighting was
carried out well. As far as the dancing was concerned, personally, I
think the movements were done and executed well. Considering there
were various ballet movements and dances like the pli, saut, bris,
to name a few and the beautmont, which impressed me the most. As
for the music, I found it beautiful and very pleasing to the ears. It went
well with the story and the supposed movements of the characters.
The elements involved in the ballet were put together so well. They
complemented each other resulting in a wonderful outcome of an
amazing ballet.
In general, I enjoyed and loved the ballet. The ballet performance and
itself thought me that ballet is about discipline in its strictest form, and
one slight mistake would ruin the entire show. This made me
appreciate ballet even more.