and see her after her bout in mental institutions was over

Me too! She was incredible. I wish there was footage of her in the 2nd act.❤❤❤❤❤

Yes! Agree 1000%.

yes, he is so gentle and empathetic with her - and she so fragile and sweet

i wish there were more 'closed captions' too. you are very lucky to have seen Galina Ulanova - old theatre goers at Covent Garden used to tell of her 1956 appearance there

they only care about giving.

Why wóuldnt they be?

?

lucky you seeing Ulanova!

i did too Maria! over and over. i bought the VHS tape and had it converted to an M4 file - makes it so accessible.

mein absolutes Vergnügen!

lucky you - what cast did you see?

i feel very much the same as you

isn't it :)

my absolute pleasue - i bought this as a VHS tape and had it converted to an MP4 video file - quite a process!!

pleasure, i had this as a VHS tape and decided it should be widely available so i digitalized it. i agree about Fracci being the best Giselle - i saw her in the ballet at La Scala and was totally captivated! Natalia Osipova today is amazing in the role, don't you think?

i sometimes dream i am about to go on stage ... and i can't remember the steps! :)

thanks for that about the the famous act one variation - appreciated

it's a wonderful compilation of first hand accounts!

hi Linda. i did the same. and lost the video i moving to live in London and then in Paris. i bought a VHS tape of this documentary and had it converted into a mp4 video file - love having it out there and accessible :)

my pleasure. yes, so many wonderful documentaries are inaccessible - i bought this as a VHS tape and had it converted to an MP4 video file - quite a process!!

pleasure Rita

pleasure! it's a remarkable doco in that so many great Ballets Russes dancers appear and talk to camera.

i think you'll probably watch it more than once - i did and more than twice :)

I remember that one American Ballet Magazine many years ago had article that in Russia original Adam music for Giselle was recomposed by Minkus. About 35% in total is by Minkus and that was illustrated with many piano scores. Probably Spessivtzeva solo variation is from that Minkus bag. A. Markova said when Sergejev arrived to the west he claimed that every ballerina has personal choise to finish that solo. There is two possibilities. A. Markova and C. Fraci danced "Svessivtzeva diagonal". Today this diagonal is not possible to see on stage.

LOL - sorry yo have disrupted your household routine! :) but this is food for the mind! enjoy it - glad to have put it out there.

Louise, it is my favourite documentary about the ballet - seeing Karsavina and Spessivtseva talk about aspects of the ballet is totally fascinating. i was very happy to have had it converted from a VHS tape which i bought to a video file to be able to share. :)

my absolute pleasure Laura :) a wonderful documentary

Oh, yes !

pleasure Dan :)

pleasure! :) a great doco with marvelous archival footage!

pleasure - it was quite a journey getting it here - i bought an old VHS tape and, using an equally old VHS player and software had the tape converted to digital form. and then the upload here. but it was worth it!

Oh, My! All that work is really appreciated!

thanks! but curiously i enjoyed it as i felt i could now access footage on VHS tapes - i developed some (small!) skills at doing it. finding the initial VHS tape was the hardest thing!

I linked your video to a friend. She said she hadn't seen it in years and was happy to see it again. She had been looking for it for a long time and couldn't find it either.

I know I've said this already, but this is an amazing piece of history, especially the interview with olga spessivtseva and that glimpse of Alicia Alonso. I hope it has been preserved by the appropriate historical organizations.

hi Kathy - i can't see your comment 'i hate that' - sorry, as i like to respond to all comments :)

my pleasure :)

@@JohnRaymondHall ?

@@kathymyers7279 hi Kathy - i think i've gotten my wires crossed! sorry

pleasure - it was no easy task as i had to convert a VHS tape to an mp4 video format - i but it was worth it :)

we're all the better for it being uploaded here

i think you're right - so amazing to see Karsavina and Spessivtzeva interviewed!

i've been lucky to have seen some wonderful Giselles: Maximova (in Paris on a Bolshoi tour), Makarova, and Fracci (in Milan with Nureyev)

I'll allow myself a bit of chat. In all the Giselles I have seen Albrecht is dressed as a gentleman, not a peasant albeit not an aristocrat, that we know of. It takes Hilarion to reveal this. This makes more sense of the story to me: a philanderer who comes to realise he really loves Giselle. According to the video the mother's moment of fear comes due to her concern about Giselle's health. Not true at all for me. During that moment the music changes completely and clearly evokes the realm of the Wilis. The mother is surely afraid of what might happen to her daughter if abandonded by an upper class gent, someone beyond her class.. Maybe the peasants know about the reign of the Wilis

I don't like it at all when the ballet ends with the presto finale, never used by the Royal. He should stand alone on the stage with soft music.. To me, after being through the mythical realm he is reborn and becomes a new human being, perhaps the first. A well-known ballet critic wrote that of course Albbrecht comes to his senses and goes back like a good boy to the world to which he belongs. I took the friend of a friend who was a Yuppie with his girl frined to see Giselle with Seymour. During the interval the girl said the ballet was lovely but what was Albrecht doing with a girl like that'

One thing I love about this ballet is that the betrayer does not come to a sticky end but is forgiven by the woman he has betrayed. Not the usual settling of moral scores as often happens in Cranko ballets.

i just made a long comment and it has disappeared - i am livid!

this is what i recall of my long comment that just got deleted: yes, you are the first, unless the time zone is playing into this. i saw Fracci and Nureyev dance the ballet at La Scala - she dropped real tears at the end of Act 1 - very moving - she created the Romantic ballerina without it being a dusty museum piece Albrecht comes in, in the RB version, as a prince and gives his courtly cape and his sword to his aide - though it’s more than a bit odd that the rest of his clothing could be mistaken by Giselle as peasant’s gear - a theatrical device i suspect. i like your noticing that the music tells of the Willis (was not this the first use of the leitmotif?) and that this suggest the real motivation of Giselle’s mother’s fear - i nice insight! you mention the critic who says “Albrecht comes to his senses and goes back like a good boy to the world to which he belongs” - this seems to misread the libretto, however fanciful one might think that libretto to be. interesting that your yuppie friend saw it that way too. it would be like reading the Crucifixion as an exercise in attention seeking! i saw Lyn and Nureyev in the ballet - she was wonderful dramatically but less than her best dance-wise - it was early to mid 70s

sadly not - and i'm surprised it's not on YT - hopefully someone will post it.

yes!

My darlings: Evdokimova and Hart!

yes, it's interesting to see new takes on the classics

@@JohnRaymondHall Oh please fingers off "Giselle". Writing this at 5.32 in the early morning.

that's very strange - the audio is fine here, have you tried another browser, Firefox or Google Chrome? i'll upload it to Vimeo and put the URL here. can you tell how that goes?

I use Google Chrome John Hall - but yes understand Vimeo as well. I have just checked my sound again as I have just watched the 4 episodes of Ballerina done by Natalia Makarova in the 90s, very recently uploaded to my delight as I have been watching out for it for a long time and it has sound but when I came back to dear Anton Dolin, I still have no sound.. So would appreciate an upload to Vimeo - thank you - I just love your channel John Hall - was watching Le Chant de Rossignol with the inimitable Dame Alicia Markova today - she certainly was Prima Ballerina Assoluta = just listening to her say that Stravinsky conducted for her and her costume was designed by Matisse, sends one's head spinning a bit don't you think? Thanks again :)

hi Kerry. i've uploaded 'A Portrait of Giselle' to Vimeo for you - vimeo.com/250447041 - please tell me if you have any problems with the sound and i'll see what else i can do. glad you enjoying what i'm uploading! :) cheers

Oh thank you John Hall (Nick) that is just so wonderfully kind of you. I shall look at the link very soon and keep fingers crossed that I have sound. Have tried the other link you put up several times more, just to make sure it wasn't my end but alas, still no sound is possible and yet I KZfaq all night long sometimes so know I have sound on my PC. Will let you know how I go kind man :) :)

sorry it took so long - my life was swallowed up in Xmas, as i guess is everyone else's. look forward to hearing if you can hear the sound! fingers crossed :)

I was wondering the same thing and if there were any videos of the performance.

Todas mas que brillantes , grandes Giselles indiscutibles , sin querer crear discordias y acogiéndome a la búsqueda , perfección , carisma , expresión , ejecución , u digamos Ángel en la escena La Gran Giselle fue ALICIA ALONSO una Gisrlle orgánica sin afectaciones en todo momento la campesina enferma , delicada , enamorada así se a traducido en una gran tradición para las audaces bailarinas CUBANAS de por generaciones , son las herederas de tan maravilloso ballet del Romanticismo hasta nuestros DIAS . TODAS GENIALES EXPRESIVAS BELLAS DIESTRAS FAMOSAS GLAMUROSAS JOYAS REINAS DIGNAS DUEÑAS DE LA GLORIA .................................. ( Gracias ) ..............................

i don't know why - she was thirty and at her prime when this doco was put together

This movie features the great Giselle’s of all time… there are many other great interpreters .

sadly I can find not French sub-titles