Ambra Vallo on Giselle [Archive]

This interview was originally published in 2008

As soon as Ambra Vallo begins talking about performing Giselle, it becomes apparent that this is going to be one of the easiest interviews ever conducted. Combining an acute understanding of the character with an evident passion for the role, she talks at length about the challenges of the ballet.

‘What it is about, Giselle, is the challenge, in the difference between the first and second act,’ says Naples-born Ambra, a Principal with Birmingham Royal Ballet since 2001. ‘In the first act Giselle is a young girl, and she is full of life. She is joyful but naïve, and when she falls in love with Albrecht it is the first time she has felt love, I think. This is why she goes so completely nuts at the end of the act, when she finds out that Albrecht must marry another girl, Bathilde.

‘The first act then ends on a very dramatic note with her death, and in the second act she becomes this kind of detached spirit, so the quality of the dancing changes completely, it’s almost like two completely different people.

‘In Act II everything she does is almost glazed, as she’s not quite real. You need to be so light, so controlled. Technically we do the most difficult things in the second act ever. In the first act you are on stage all the time as well so you’re really, really tired by this point but of course you can’t wobble, everything needs to be so controlled and so graceful!’

Ambra Vallo and Joseph Caley; photo: Bill Cooper

As well as the contrast in choreography, Ambra enjoys the challenge of the emotional investment. ‘I find that with Romeo and Juliet the dramatic peak is the end actually with their death,’ she explains, ‘so all of your emotions can explode and there, you’re finished, it’s the end of the ballet. But what I find really difficult with Giselle, especially when I get really into it with the madness scene at the end of Act I, is that you’re only half way through the show!

‘You are completely drained, but you just need to go straight off for a quick change and to put the white make-up on, change the hair, and get back to the stage for the second act. Having been all dramatic and intense and… [Gasps, wide-eyed], like that, you need to go really calm and serene, and all in 15 minutes! It’s almost like another ballet by the time you arrive for the second act.’

When Giselle’s spirit returns in Act II, she has forgiven Albrecht for not telling her about Bathilde. Ambra explains: ‘She’s actually protecting him because she sees that he is really sorry. While he was betrothed to another I think that he really loved her, and while he was not forced, as part of an aristocratic family he would have been set up to marry this other woman.’

2008 marks the fourth time that Ambra will be dancing the piece with Birmingham Royal Ballet, having also performed it around the world with other companies. She names Giselle as one of her two favourite ballets (the other being the aforementioned Romeo and Juliet), and relishes the opportunity to once again tell a story that deals with such a range of emotions.

Describing dancers as a cross between athletes and actors, she says: ‘I think when you are acting a lot of your personality comes out. That is how you can see two or three people doing the same role, and even if choreographically we need to do the exact same thing, I think it will come across so differently because it will be Ambra playing Giselle, or Nao playing Giselle or Elisha playing Giselle, each doing the character in our own way.

‘People feel love in a different way,’ she considers, ‘they suffer in a different way, even in life, each one of us would actually experience the emotions that are of course in the life of everybody, we all go through death or love or hatred, all of these strong feelings, but we all react very differently to them. So when you go on stage, and are replicating these emotions, drawing upon your own experiences, it will be different from the next performer.

It is important that the emotions you put forward are based on real things, because you have to believe in the story in order for the audience to believe in it.’

Birmingham Royal Ballet performs Giselle at Birmingham Hippodrome, 19-22 June 2013.

Click here for details of this performance, as well as shows in Dublin and Belfast.

Cinderella – Into Touch!

On Sunday we held our final performance of David Bintley’s outstanding production of Cinderella. What you might not know is that for our visually impaired patrons the performance was audio described and that pre-show a touch tour took place.

Firstly, the group, lead by Jonathan Nash, from Sightlines, who provide audio descriptions for Birmingham Hippodrome performances, were treated to a tour of the stage by our brilliant Deputy Stage Manager, Eliska Robenn. The group were able to get their hands on props from the ballet including cakes from the ball, Cinderella’s pumpkin and the step-mother’s wig. On stage was part of the kitchen set with its assorted pots and pans, the coach and a huge pile of discarded shoes from the Prince’s would-be princesses. It was fantastic for everyone to get a real sense of the scale of the sets and also to feel the amazing detail in the props.

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From the stage Eliska took us to a dressing room to explore the costumes from the show. What always strikes people about Birmingham Royal Ballet’s costumes is the incredible amount of work that goes into each and every one. Everybody (including us Birmingham Royal Ballet staff!) were mightily impressed with the elaborate details, from the hand-stitched sequins on the Stars’ tutus to the intricate scales on the Lizard’s head. Various costumes were handed around whilst Jonathan and Eliska vividly explained the roles of the characters who wore each outfit. Needless to say, Cinderella’s tutu seemed to be the most popular!

We left Eliska to go about her preparations for the matinee performance and made our way to the foyer to meet three of our wonderful dancers, Ruth Brill, Brandon Lawrence and Alys Shee, who were all in full costume. This gave the group a chance to ask the dancers all sorts of questions about their roles in Cinderella, their costumes as well as more general questions about what it’s like being a dancer with Birmingham Royal Ballet.

There was only one way to finish the tour and that was of course with a mince pie and a cup of tea. It was great to see some new faces as well as some old friends on the tour, who all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The audio described performance was also a great success, with the dramatic and colourful descriptions making the action really come alive for those listening in.

Birmingham Royal Ballet’s next touch tour and audio described performance will be David Bintley’s Aladdin on Sunday 17 February, for more details click here or call Liz Leck, Education Manager on 0121 689 3064.

And finally, we’d like to wish you all a very happy Christmas and we’ll hopefully see you all in the new year for David Bintley’s Aladdin!

@willsouthworth

Round-up of recent links

Here’s a selection of online items that you may have missed in the last couple of weeks:

Cinderella opens on Wednesday! It’s unlikely that you’ll have missed this due to the amount of time we’ve spent talking about it, but just in case, you can book your seats by clicking here!

You can also see a brand-new rehearsal video featuring Maureya Lebowitz and Delia Mathews sharing a rehearsal for Cinderella here:

Videos of the seven Cinderellas The above video also features in a new piece on the Creating Cinderella blog, in which you can see clips of all seven dancers playing the lead during the 23 performances of Cinderella in Birmingham this season. We’ve also included notes detailing which roles you may have seen them in before!

The Evening of Music and Dance 2013 is now on sale Click here for details of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia’s January concert at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, with guest appearances by dancers from Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Matthew Lawrence leaving Click here to read more about the Company Principal’s departure for Queensland Ballet, and please join us in wishing all the best to Matthew and his wife (and fellow ex-Company dancer) Gaylene Cummerfield.

A selection of ten @BRB dancers on twitter! Click here for examples of what they’ve been tweeting, along with their addresses so you can follow them too. We’ll be posting a list of a further ten dancers on twitter shortly too!

New Cinderella trailer!

Our production of Cinderella returns to Birmingham Hippodrome next month, with tickets on sale now.

Here you can see the new trailer for the production:

We’re also continuing to update our blog, CreatingCinderella.com which charted the entire development of the new ballet back in 2010. This time around, we’re focussing on the story of bringing it back to the stage, as well as revealing previously-unseen backstage photos. Click here for example, for a look at designs for some of the costumes, which are currently receiving a comprehensive M.O.T. before the show opens on 21 November!

Click here to book now for Cinderella.

Grosse Fuge video preview

Our 2012-13 season opens at Birmingham Hippodrome next week with the triple bill Opposites Attract. The programme features Take Five, Lyric Pieces and Grosse Fuge, which the Express described as ‘Deliriously sexy.’ See it for yourself in the clip below, and click here to find out more about these shows, and our subsequent touring performances in London.

Behind-the-scenes galleries on Facebook

Head over to the Birmingham Royal Ballet Facebook page at www.brb.org.uk/facebook and you’ll see a host of photographs showing you what the ballets in the current season look like from the wings!

Swan Lake, The Dream and David Bintley’s new ballet Faster are all featured, and offer a perspective never seen before.

Here are a couple of examples by photographer Andrew Ross, but head over to the Facebook page (and give us a ‘like’ while you’re there!) to see more.