Dance review: Giselle

The English National Ballet is back at Sadler’s Wells for a short run of its acclaimed re-working of that audience favourite, Giselle. With new choreography by Akram Khan, this version, which was first performed in 2016, eschews simpering peasants and demented village virgins in favour of displaced migrant factory workers and unfeeling landlords.

The themes of love, betrayal and forgiveness are still there, but this production updates the narrative, making Giselle a garment worker or “outcast” who loves Albrecht, a member of the wealthy class, and is carrying his child.

Audiences expecting Adolphe Adam’s familiar music are in for a shock: Vincenzo Lamagna has adapted many of the pretty tunes into something far darker, with what sounds like a factory siren punctuating the melodies and industrial noises blasting through the theatre. The result is a compelling and visceral score which adds to the drama of the piece.

The choreography too, is far from the style of Romantic ballet, but not too far that we cannot see a connection in the touching and passionate pas de deux between Giselle and Albrecht. Khan interweaves his powerful contemporary style with classical ballet to produce something extraordinarily powerful and moving.