Dancing the title role in Giselle with the Royal Ballet, Natalia Osipova shows us that the most traditional works can be reimagined in radical and startling ways. Osipova trained with the Bolshoi before departing for a career which, if itinerant – she is a principal of the Mikhailovsky Ballet and American Ballet Theatre as well as the Royal – is conducted on her own terms. At the Bolshoi she had to dance roles chosen for her; today she dances what she wants. A technical phenomenon, she has also proved herself a charismatic dance-actress.
Giselle is not an obvious role for Osipova. With her lithe physique and gamine features she is a very physical presence, anything but the ethereal spirit-being of the ballet's second act. But through a combination of theatrical imagination and sheer willpower, the 27-year-old Muscovite has made the part her own. From the first, we are aware that this Giselle is not only physically fragile, forced to stop and catch her breath at unexpected moments, but psychologically vulnerable. We see this in her hectic and at times childish body language, and in the needy sideways glances that she darts at Albrecht (Carlos Acosta).
As her seducer, Acosta is ruthlessly suave. This is not the first time, clearly, that he's helped himself to a naive village girl. Giselle's tenuous hold on reality makes his deception all the more unforgivable. She is protected by Thomas Whitehead's painfully enamoured Hilarion and by her mother, Berthe (Deirdre Chapman), a fierce, fatalistic guardian of her daughter's innocence. That they care for Giselle more deeply than Albrecht does is made acutely clear, as is their helplessness in the face of the power that he represents.
The ensemble playing in Act 1 is detailed and believable, and the dancing of the corps infused with quiet romanticism. Individual cameos stand out: Valentino Zucchetti leads the pas de six with charm and style, Christopher Saunders is a bluff, peppery Duke of Courland, and Christina Arestis is his splendidly disdainful daughter Bathilde. Johannes Stepanek is particularly telling as Wilfred, Albrecht's squire, who conspires in his master's philandering while at the same time suggesting, with every glance and gesture, that he considers it not only ill-advised but morally reprehensible. And when Giselle finally unravels, it's ghastly. Osipova doesn't give us poignancy, just raw, barely comprehending agony. As she looks from face to frozen face, an entire social order stands condemned.
In Act 2 she's no drifting spirit but a forceful presence torn between her lingering love for Albrecht and the dictates of the vengeful sisterhood. Awakened by Myrtha (Hikaru Kobayashi), her movements are manic, and whenever the dark side overtakes her she flies around the stage with an unhinged, automaton velocity. Osipova's jump has always been awesome; here it's extraordinary, a steel-sprung ascent that never disturbs the soft array of her upper body and arms. With Albrecht, she seems to recover sad fragments of her earthly self; this is a battle not for his soul, but for hers.
If Osipova's performance is flawed, it's because she takes insufficient account of those around her, and makes little concession to Royal Ballet style. She's astounding, and her Giselle is profoundly moving, but she's not yet a company dancer. Perhaps, given that she was raised in the Bolshoi shark tank, this is unsurprising. With time, and exposure to the Royal's ensemble ethos, things may change.
