Universal Ballet will bring to the stage the globally-beloved character of Giselle on June 13.

The Giselle to be spotlighted in this new choreography, however, will take on a whole different look from its original form. The transition has been done by choreographer Graeme Murphy from Australia.



The ballet “Graeme Murphy’s Giselle,” to premiere at the Seoul Arts Center, will make a drastic change in music, choreography, stage settings and costumes, while sticking to the original storyline.

“I’ve turned it upside down, leaving the storyline as it is,” said the Australian choreographer. “It’s safe to say that ‘Giselle’ is one of the classical ballets to which not many attempts to transform have been done yet. But this time, I’ve tried to give a completely different look to the piece, with a new music and dancing style.”

As in the original, Giselle in Murphy’s work, too, is a naïve village girl who falls in love with Albrecht. She doesn’t realize that Albrecht is a duke. However, Giselle soon finds out that he was pretending to just be a regular person and that he even has a fiancée. She becomes so inconsolable with her lover’s deception that she flies into a mad fit of grief, ending in death. After death, she becomes one of the Wilis, a group of supernatural ghosts.

What distinguishes Murphy’s Giselle from the original lies in her strong personality. She is described as a strong woman following her heart, breaking from the innocent, weak image.

The highlight in the original work is always the scene where the beautiful Wilis dance in a group. In the new show, a modern touch has been added to the group dance.

“I used aggressive factors in choreography to describe Giselle as an evil spirit who got betrayed by her loved one when she becomes a Wili. Evil can be seen as being beautiful and having something ambitious in it, at the same time. My Giselle has not only a gentle, soft side, but also strong-willed, free-swinging characteristics,” Murphy said.

Theater-goers at the upcoming show might be surprised to hear the music, if they’ve expecting the music from the original. Christopher Gordon has composed complete new songs for the Seoul show. “I had to come up with a new way of expression, I mean, a new language of dance, to fit the new music. I am sure the new music will keep the audience awake throughout the show,” Murphy said. More interestingly, some of the songs will be played on traditional Korean musical instruments.





“I was quite impressed by Murphy’s outstanding ability to reinterpret the classical work like this,” said General Director of Universal Ballet Julia Moon. “Our ballet company will keep working to expand its repertoire, with the goal of letting the world know how far Korea’s ballet has come.”

The show will continue until June 17.

By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: the Universal Ballet
jiae5853@korea.kr