REVIEW: Nashville Ballet's 'Giselle'

Ah, at last it is fall! Heralded by the beautifully danced, autumn-hued Giselle from Nashville Ballet, we welcome the glorious new season.

Since its preeminence among the city's artistic entities became de facto, Nashville Ballet has consistently launched the real artistic season in Music City each year -- and with the return of Giselle to the company's program after a seven-year hiatus, the 2009-2010 season is off to a rousing start. One of the most beloved works from the classical repertoire, Giselle is a challenging undertaking for any company, but thanks to the vision of artistic director Paul Vasterling, Nashville Ballet's production is a visual feast, featuring stunning costumes, evocative lighting and gorgeous scenery.

Yet it rises to an even higher pinnacle of success when performed by the company's amazingly talented dancers. If Nashville is primarily known among arts aficionados worldwide as the birthplace of country music, it may well be Nashville Ballet that secures the city's place among the world's top-flight purveyors of the fine arts - quite frankly, that's just how impressive the company's efforts are. Whether it is performing a new and daring work of modern ballet, focusing on the creative efforts of contemporary choreographers, or the re-imagination of classic works, Nashville Ballet excels.

Performing the choreography first created by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot - now restaged by Sharyn Wood and Timothy Rinehart Yeager, Nashville Ballet's ballet masters - the company presents a classically styled Giselle that is brought stunningly into the 21^st century, creating a ballet that anyone can appreciate and, quite frankly, understand and thoroughly comprehend. Certainly, the ballet's artistic integrity remains intact, but Wood and Yeager's superb contemporary flourishes result in a ballet that is at once classical and modern in its overall effect and feel.

Accompanied by the superb musicians of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra (performing the score by Adolphe Adam under the baton of Paul Gambill, Nashville Ballet's music director), the dancers are given the artistic license to soar to ever higher heights and the audience is all too delighted to witness the beauty and spectacle of the production.

Giselle is one of the most sought-after and challenging roles in the classical repertoire, requiring a ballerina who can, essentially, do it all - and the exquisite Christine Rennie (who danced the role on opening night and will alternate with Sadie Bo Harris in subsequent performances) proves herself more than equal to the task. In Act One, she effectively captures Giselle's girlish innocence, perfectly portraying her love of the dance and her joie de vivre, while in Act Two Rennie shows her character's very other-worldliness in an ethereal performance.

Paired with the handsome Eddie Mikrut as Count Albrecht, Rennie is given ample support by his superb partnering, which effectively paints the romantic vision of the starcrossed pair that we've come to love and to expect. But Mikrut is so much more than just an effective partner to his Giselle, rather he is an exceptional dancer who is given the opportunity to display the range of his abilities. (The role of Albrecht is shared by Mikrut with Jon Upleger who partners with the aforementionEd Harris).

The depth of the Nashville Ballet roster is seen most vividly in the Act One "Peasant Pas de Deux" performed thrillingly by Mollie Sansone and Christopher Stuart, and in Act Two's "Dance of the Wilis," which is nothing short of astounding: the extraordinary performances of the company's women en pointe is dazzling. It's easy to see how the Wilis make such short work of Hilarion (Giselle's jilted suitor - danced by Christopher Butler - who is given his due by the female spirits who literally dance him to death), given the truly superior performances of the Wilis and their Queen, so wondrously danced by Kimberly Ratcliffe.

While Vasterling's artistic imprint on the performance is evident (he is given credit, along with Dawn Scannell, for "principals' coaching"), not the least of which is his trust in the vision of Wood and Yeager, they are given the physical trappings that make Giselle an artistic tour de force, particularly Scott Leathers' moody lighting design, Stephen Petipas' creative and colorful costume design and Oren Parker's sumptuously atmospheric scenic design.

With this extraordinary start to the season so richly etched in memory, can the remainder of the season possibly fall short? We think not. In fact, we cannot wait for what is still to come.

--Giselle. Music by Adolphe Adam. Choreography after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. Staging by Sharyn Wood and Timothy Rinehart Yeager. Principals' coaching by Dawn Scannell and Paul Vasterling. Set Design by Oren Parker. Costume Design by Stephen Petipas. Lighting Design by Scott Leathers. Presented by Nashville Ballet. At the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre. October 23-25. For details, visit the company's website at www.nashvilleballet.com.

photo of Christine Rennie and Eddie Mikrut by Heather Thorne