Giselle: The Movie (DVD)

Giselle is acclaimed director Toa Fraser's interpretation of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's production of Giselle. The classic story of love, erotism and death has been reinterpreted by Fraser to include both the on stage performance of the ballet and an offstage romance-interwoven with the ballet-that tells of two itinerant dancers, separated by time, distance and their abiding love for each other. Toa Fraser (No. 2, Dean Spanley) has worked with Ethan Stiefel and Johan Kobborg's staging and choreography to pare back the traditional elaborations and restore psychological directness to the relationships. These are perfectly expressed by a peerless set of dancers, principally Gillian Murphy as Giselle and Qi Huan as Albrecht.