Giselle
Nikolaj Hübbe/Sorella Englund
The Royal Danish Ballet
September 13 -14 2008
New York City Ballet
in Copenhagen
September 2008
For his first production in Copenhagen, Nikolaj Hübbe chose Giselle in
a version by himself and the two former Royal Danish ballerinas Sorella
Englund and Anna Lærkesen and dedicated the production to the present
prima ballerina, Silja Schandorff, who danced the first night. Even
though Schandorff was on THE top of her game, had I only viewed the first
night I would have written that the production was beautiful, but
rather bland and no patch on Hübbe's rightly celebrated production of La Sylphide. I
might even have concluded that Hübbe did not have the in depth
knowledge of the secrets of Giselle. But at the second performance with
Gudrun Bojesen and Mads Blangstrup, the production came miraculously to
life and showed details and interpretations almost surpassing La
Sylphide.