What about Giselle?

If you google Giselle you will find hundreds of pictures of the Victoria Secret Model by the same name, along with articles about a possible pregnancy. If you add "ballet" to the end of your search, youll find a mournful spirit, scorned by her lover, and fighting not to succumb to both her desires for him and her desires for revenge.

Giselle was a beautiful peasant girl who fell in love with a noble in disquise (Lord Albrecht). She discovered that he was already betrothed to another noble, Lady Bathilde. When Giselle found out she killed herself with Albrecht's sword (or died from a broken heart, depending on the version being performed). She becomes a spirit, summoned by Wilis (Wilis are spirits of young women who were robbed of their wedding take, taking their revenge out on men by dancing with them to death). The Wilis want Giselle to be one of them and try to kill Albrecht. Giselle forgives him of his sins, and protects him with her love, saving Albrecht and also herself from becoming a Wilis.

"Swan Lake" is my favorite ballet but Giselle is my favorite Romantic character. (By the way, the joke I was making in the last post about big Rs and little rs; Romantic refers to the style and time period, romantic refers to courting and love what you would normally think of when using the term). What I find so interesting about her as a female figure, is that she has a complete oppertunity for revenge, but she chooses not to take advantage of it. Despite the great pain that Albrecht has caused her, her love for him is greater than her desire for revenge. Because of that she does not become an evil spirit and finds some salvation. This very attribute that I admire about Giselle is something that she is criticized for by critics. Giselle often takes heat from gender studies writers because of 1) Like most romantic ballet it is a typical display of heterogeneous love 2) Giselle acts as a selfless woman instead of a empowered woman, making her an unacceptable role model.
Being Selfless is a valuable virtue, even if it often leaves a person heart broke. Giselle isn't selfless because shes a woman. Her defense of Albrecht is not a womanly act. Giselle's motivation is her heart, and her love for Albrecht. She is the opposite of Medea, who chooses to kill her own children so she can have some sort of control over Jason. The cost of Power is greater than the cost of love.

What I want to capture about Giselle is her struggle between her love for Albrecht, and the pressure from the Wilis for her take revenge. Like many Romantic Ballets, Giselle is a supernatural woman, adding sexual appeal to the males in audience because she is something dangerous. Why is that relevant? It makes it difficult for me to alter her as I translate her character into my woodburnings. For the other characters, I am altering their state into something surreal. But Giselle is already there as a spirit, making my visual decisions more difficult. But I have a few ideas in mind =D. I have some sketches as well, but they are large scale and dont photograph well. I try to get them up as soon as I can figure out how what is the best way to photograph them. But until then, since we are a visual culture lets have some visual stimulus
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Dont you think the dandelion seeds look like dancers? Their fibers look like tutus and the tips look like pointe shows. I think the light whimsical natures of them is spirit-like and a good match for Giselle. Though the spirit Giselle is not exactly light hearted.
Hopefully I can figure out how to get my sketches photographed since they are way too big to scan, so you can see more of what I am talking about!

Images found using google image search.

See you Friday!

-Ry.E