By Lisa Macuja-Elizalde

The following is based on various articles the prima ballerina has written over the years about Giselle, both the ballet and the role, including a newspaper column in 1991 and her director’s notes on the years Ballet Manila has performed it, particularly as part of her Swan Song Series in 2012 when she danced her final Giselle.                                                           

Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Boy lies to girl but she finds out. Girl dies of a broken heart. Girl reappears as a ghost to save boy from death. This is not the plot of a Tagalog movie. In a nutshell, it is the whole story of the two-act ballet Giselle.

The first act opens on a setting with two small houses on either side of the stage. The one on the left is Giselle’s, which she shares with her mother. The one on the right is Count Albrecht’s, who disguises himself as a peasant in order to be with Giselle. Fully aware that he is engaged to another girl, Albrecht leads Giselle on to believe that they will be married (the cad!). At the end of the act, Giselle discovers the truth and loses her mind, before falling dead at Albrecht’s feet.

The second act is set in the graveyard with Giselle’s fresh grave at the left of the stage. Giselle is to become a Wili, the ghost of a woman who dies before she is wed. Wilis lead all men who are caught in the graveyard after dark to dance until they die from exhaustion. Albrecht comes to ask Giselle for forgiveness and is condemned to die by Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis. Giselle dances with her love, giving him strength to last until morning, thus saving him from death.

Anyone who has fallen in love will definitely find Giselle irresistible. The beautiful haunting music of Adolphe Adam, combined with the timeless choreography of Coralli, Perrot and Petipa have become one of the most romantic and popular classical ballets of all time. It is, I believe, every ballerina’s dream to dance the role of Giselle, not just once, but over and over again.

Giselle is one of the most dramatic ballets that a ballerina can be privileged enough to dance in, and also one of the most exhausting roles. It’s a story of love so strong that it causes a girl to go mad and dies of a broken heart. It also causes her to rise from the grave and save the same man who wronged her.

It is one of the most poignant roles I’ve ever danced. It demands the utmost energy and acting ability because even when Giselle is dancing strenuously difficult parts, the ballerina must make it look like she’s a spirit floating lightly on air.

Two weeks before my birthday in 1985, the Kirov Ballet informed me that I would be dancing the Peasant Pas de Deux in Giselle on October 3 – exactly the day I would turn 21. My partner was Sergey Vikharev. This part is known to be such a killer that many ballerinas try very hard to avoid dancing it. It’s really tough on the lungs and feet. The first time I performed it onstage, I could no longer feel my feet by the time I got to the second variation. Of course, I kept my smile and my composure throughout the ordeal and not even the corps noticed I was half-paralyzed at the end.

The first time I danced the full-length Giselle was in 1986 as a soloist with the Kirov. My partner was Ravil Bagautdinov. I remember being so nervous that I couldn’t pluck and separate the petals in the first scene because my hands just wouldn’t stop shaking. I’ve danced the role so many times in my career since that I’ve lost count.

Giselle was destined to be truly memorable for me, because when I came home to Manila in 1986, my first ballet teacher – Mrs. Felicitas Radaic – organized a homecoming concert at the Manila Metropolitan Theater, where I danced Act 2 of Giselle with premiere danseur Nonoy Froilan as Albrecht, and a very promising young man named Osias Barroso as Hilarion. They were to become two of my most gallant partners, as well as lifelong friends.

I find it quite amusing that upon recalling the tragic story of Giselle, I remember so many humorous experiences I have gathered since I first danced the role at the Kirov Theater. I can now laugh at the time I was seated on Giselle’s bench backstage, tying the knots on the ribbons of my pointe shoes when the other girls seated on the bench stood up, causing the whole thing to collapse underneath me. There was a loud clatter and Giselle was in a heap of tulle on the floor!

This was not the only time I fell in Giselle. In an actual performance in Manila, I landed on my bum while dancing the first act’s solo variation. I was so shocked and angry at myself, my mad scene that night was extra emotional, I found myself actually crying onstage.

Several times during the first scene where Giselle picks the petals of a daisy in the famous “he loves me, he loves me not” sequence, I would either lose all sensation in my fingers and not be able to tear the paper petals at all, or with a powerful yank suddenly pull the whole flower from its stem or several petals all at one time!

If I ever had to choose my own favorite part in the whole ballet, it would definitely be the mad scene. Although given my own personality, I would most probably break off with Albrecht – maybe slap him for a dramatic scene – and then simply go on with my life if I ever found out he was lying to me all the while. I do love the idea of going mad and dying of a broken heart.

When all the conditions are right, you actually feel the pain of betrayal as Albrecht kisses his betrothed’s hand. Everything else is a whirl as the music carries you on to dance till you die. I always feel a purging of emotions while doing this scene. It leaves me exhausted, and yet, unnaturally buoyant – just right for Act 2.

As the curtain goes down on the first act, you find you are still shaking from the emotion you have just put into the performance. Each time I would get up from the floor, trying to stand on my shaky legs, I always realize that it is indeed very possible to die from a broken heart.