By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter
Universal Ballet Company (UBC) presents five performances of the romantic ballet ``Giselle'' with four different dancers playing the lead role of Giselle and Albrecht at Universal Arts Center, eastern Seoul, March 20-23.
First presented in 1841 in Paris, France, ``Giselle'' portrays the tragic love story of a maiden named Giselle. Based on Theophile Gautier's story, Adolphe Adam wrote the music, while Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot originally choreographed the dance. Oleg Vinogradov, the artistic director of UBC, choreographed the ballet. UBC first performed ``Giselle'' in 1985 and their 2005 performance at Seoul Arts Center was sold out.
In the first act, Giselle, a young, innocent village girl, falls in love on the spot with Albrecht, a nobleman disguised as a peasant. However, when Giselle finds out his true identity and his fiancee Bathilde, she is heartbroken, goes mad and dies.
In the second act, Giselle becomes a wili, a ghost of maiden who was betrayed by her lover. The wilis lure people to dance forever until they die. Giselle, with her undying love, spares Albrecht's life disobeying Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis. Albrecht realizes how much Giselle loved him, but she cannot come back to him anymore.
There are four couples dancing the roles of Giselle and Albrecht. The principal dancers of UBC, Hwang Hye-min and Ohm Jae-young, will appear during the first and last performances on Thursday and Sunday. The couple already played the maiden and nobleman in 2003 and 2005. They have been invited to the World Ballet Star Gala in Hungary and the World Ballet Festival in Ukraine, both in 2005.
Veteran dancers Lim Hye-kyung and Lee Won-kuk will dance the Saturday evening performance slot. Lim is a mother of a six-year-old girl and Lee is the oldest active ballerina in Korea.
Meanwhile, Kang Ye-na and Lee Hyon-jun will show the youthful charm of ``Giselle'' on Friday. Kang has many ``first'' titles. She was the first Korean dancer to join The Kirov Mariinsky Ballet of Russia and American Ballet Theater. Kang's cousin, Lee is a promising ballerina of UBC who won the Dong-a Dance Competition in 2006 and was promoted to a principal dancer of the company in just a year.
Ahn Ji-eun, who played ``Swan Lake'' and ``Romeo and Juliet,'' faces a challenge in the role of Giselle with experienced partner Hwang Jae-won for the Saturday matinee performance. Ahn is ambitiously practicing how to express the love and madness of Giselle.
Thirty minutes before each performance, Julia H. Moon, the general director of UBC and former ballerina who also played Giselle, will explain the ballet mime, or the symbolic gestures, used in ``Giselle'' to help new ballet fans better understand the performance.
Also, on March 8, Lim Hye-kyung, one of the Giselles, will screen her favorite ``Giselle'' performance and teach ballet mime. There will be an open rehearsal on March 15, revealing the practice room of dancers to the public. Call (02) 2204-1035 for details.
The performance is at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday; 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday; and 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Tickets cost from 10,000 won to 60,000 won. Reservation is available at ticket.interpark.com (1544-1555) or www.ticketlink.co.kr (1588-7890). Package tickets for both UBC's ``Giselle'' and Korea National Ballet's ``Romeo and Juliet'' are available for 30 percent of the discounted price.
Universal Arts Center, the home of UBC, is located near Achasan Station on Subway Line 5. Visit www.ubcballet.com or call (02) 2204-1041.