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A timely take on one of the world’s most famous ballets, Giselle.
A timely take on one of the world’s most famous ballets, Giselle.
A timely take on one of the world’s most famous ballets, Giselle.
Giselle of Loneliness premiered at The Joyce Theater in Chelsea on June 10, 2021, as a livestream, and was supported by Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Mount Tremper Arts, Gibney Dance, The Joyce, and the Ballez Matronage.
Giselle of Loneliness is an audition, in which the audience acts as judge, jury, and executioner, as they rate unlikely audtionees vying for the iconic titular role of the frail ideal of white femininity in ballet, Giselle.
Through an online portal, the audience rates each dancer as they perform an audition solo “mad scene” comprised of Giselle’s most difficult choreography from the ballet, affected by their own histories with the form.
This performance for queer and gender non-conforming, non-binary, and trans dancers is inspired by the 1841 classical, tragic, romantic story-ballet Giselle, and dives full force into its themes of despair, madness and betrayal, as well as forgiveness, and personal and cultural transformation.
This take on one of the world’s most popular ballets reveals our experience as dancers betrayed by ballet itself, and asks, “what parts of ourselves do we have to give up, or kill off, in order to belong? And for how long will audiences participate in that demand?
Can’t we allow ballet to transform?
Can’t we imagine a better reality, and an inclusive future?”
Link to Joyce page: https://www.joyce.org/ballez
