Akram Khan's much talked about 'reimagining' of the 19th century classic 'Giselle' for English National Ballet.
'Giselle' is often considered to be the first great Romantic Ballet, it premiered in Paris in 1841, the tale of a peasant girl betrayed in love by Albrecht (a nobleman disguised as a humble villager called 'Loys'), who dies of a broken heart/commits suicide depending on the production ( for me, in a 19th century setting, the latter makes more sense as to why she's buried in a woodland glide - unconsecrated ground - and is doomed to roam the earth as a Wili; a restless and vengeful spirit, but I digress and that's probably a subject matter for another day).
In Khan's 21st century production the rustic peasants of the first act are migrant workers from the textile industry, the aristocracy represented by factory owners and landlords, tragedy ensues.
This innovative production of 'Giselle' will be showing at cinemas across the UK from April 25th, a full list of venues can be found at:
https://www.ballet.org.uk/cinema/akram-khan-giselle/
A couple of interesting companion pieces, a clip from the Tamara Rojo's documentary 'Giselle: Belle of the Ballet' ( unfortunately the full documentary is currently unavailable on the BBC i-player):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04xwcnt
And the 1987 film 'Dancers' directed by Herbert Ross; the scenario being that an American Ballet company arrive in Italy to film their production of 'Giselle', but that offstage narratives start to mirror those onstage. You can see where this is going.
Is it a tad cheesy? Yes, but's it's practically impossible to make a dance movie without a slice of Camembert, or in this case Ricotta.
Is the cinematography and dancing gorgeous? Yes, and it features a star studded cast, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Julie Kent, Alessandra Ferri, Leslie Browne and Lynn Seymour, to name just a few.
As far as I am aware this was never released on DVD, very occasionally a VHS version will pop up on e-Bay, but it is availably digitally to rent or buy:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dancers-Mikhail-Baryshnikov/dp/B01A8ZUM6S/ref=sr_1_1?s=instant-video&ie=UTF8&qid=1527866629&sr=1-1&keywords=Dancers+Mikhail+Baryshnikov
https://itunes.apple.com/GB/movie/id362062140
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