Jurgita Dronina’s appointment as artistic director of Lithuanian National Ballet brings her career as a prima ballerina to a premature but necessary conclusion. Her decision to say farewell to the stage with three consecutive evening performances as Giselle was so last-minute that the printed programme named other dancers in the role. The cast was virtually unchanged for all three shows.
Dronina’s dancing career has come full circle since her first major role in this theatre, some 20 years’ ago, was as Giselle. The long-standing importance of this ballet to Lithuania might be deduced by the eminent dance historian, Cyril Beaumont, declaring his admiration for Boris Romanov’s production for the National Ballet of Lithuania, which he saw at London’s Alhambra Theatre in February 1935. The significance to Dronina might be judged by the fact that, last November, she also bade farewell to the National Ballet of Canada – her home for ten years – by dancing Giselle.
I saw all three performances in Vilnius and can happily report that this marvellous ballerina has ended her dancing career on a high, at the pinnacle of her artistry. Each performance was outstanding, but the emotional adrenaline of this final farewell elevated it to an unprecedented level of indelible delight.
It seems superfluous to report that she conquered the technical challenges with a commanding élan, not least by exemplifying the beautiful, elongated arabesques that are unique to Romantic ballet. This exceptionality came gift-wrapped in the always believable expressiveness of Giselle’s journey: from the enchanting village girl not quite able to trust her exciting new paramour’s declaration of love; through the painful turmoil of discovering his deceit; to her unselfish forgiveness as the serene new spirit emerging from beyond her grave, marked in this production by a monumental headstone. Dronina’s dancing was routinely interrupted by applause and cries from the audience in a clear sign of affection for the country’s most prized cultural asset (in 2021, the government declared her to be the most influential person in Lithuanian Arts and Culture).
This production was created in 2020 by Spanish choreographer, Lola de Ávila. While it retains most of the familiar ethereal magic in Act 2, there are many revisions to the corporeal reality of Giselle’s village in the opening act. There is, for example, no warning of the Wilis in Berthe’s mime, which uses the foreboding music to express fears about her daughter’s health; and there is no hint of a hunting purpose for the strolling aristocrats.
As Albrecht, Francesco Gabriele Frola gave tremendous support as the most attentive partner enlivened by exhilarating virtuosity, not least in an astonishing display of 36 (I actually counted 37) entrechats six in his Act 2 coda. He increases elevation through the propulsion of his arms so that instead of tiring, his jumps get higher towards the end. In each of the three shows, this exceptional skill brought forth huge cries of admiration from the audience. Unfortunately, those looking forward to seeing Frola’s performance in the Mary Skeaping Giselle shortly to be performed by English National Ballet are unlikely to see this extreme virtuosity since that choreography is much closer to the original.
Hilarion is often played as the lovelorn forester whose courtship of Giselle has been usurped by the duplicitous Albrecht, such that one feels the wrong man is saved from the Wilis. Not here, however, where Hilarion is a brutish and obnoxious character who is enraged when the flowers he leaves for Giselle are used for the “he loves me, he loves me not” sequence and then dismissively thrown away by Albrecht. This excellent portrayal of Hilarion by Ignas Armalis made more sense to the story than is often the case.
The whole company stepped up a gear for this final show, seamlessly overcoming the enforced loss of two Wilis (a diminution that I doubt any in the audience will have noted, but which must have required some urgent recalibration amongst the corps). Nora Straukaité was an imperious Myrtha, the Wilis' Queen (on the second evening, the only cast change was when Karolina Matačinaité proved an effective replacement). Urté Bareišyte was the protective mother, Berthe, and Rūta Lataité the gracious Batilde (Albrecht’s betrothed), wearing a glorious red dress that was certainly neither suited to a hunt or a long stroll in the forest! Marine Pontarlier and Lorenzo Epifani danced the novel choreography of the peasant pas de deux with great charm: Epifani’s variation had more than a shade of Bournonville style.
This emotional evening belonged entirely to Dronina who delivered a suitably arresting performance that will stay long in the memory. There is no doubt that she could continue to dance at the highest level for many years yet but she is trading that future for one of leading her homeland’s ballet company and – by this reckoning – she finds it in excellent form.
Graham's trip was funded by the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre
