SPOTLIGHT: Maina Gielgud, doyenne of the ballet world, brings her traditional elegance to CBA’s GISELLE

Beverley Brommert

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When a dynamic ballet company barely eighteen months old receives training from an internationally respected doyenne of the ballet world, a remarkable production is likely to result, especially when the production in question is none other than a perennial favourite of the repertoire like GISELLE.

Photo by Joan Ward.

A self-avowed traditionalist to her elegant fingertips, Maina Gielgud is currently bringing her wealth of experience to bear on the talents of Cape Ballet Africa (CBA) ahead of the company's next major offering in November this year.

Her task has been made easier through previous acquaintance with some of the dancers of CBA; in 2022 she was in Cape Town for the Cape Town City Ballet's production of GISELLE.

"It is a joy to be able to develop one's own reading of a work like this, instead of adopting that of someone else," remarks this grande dame of ballet, adding, "It is not merely a matter of knowing the steps (how different can you make traditional steps anyway?). Ballet must move the audience, engage them...clean technique is just the alphabet, then the grammar; beyond that, more importantly, is the meaning of the work and that is what will allow the audience to become a part of an experience to share with everyone on the stage, not just the leads."

This means, she explains, that dancers do not play to the audience, but rather interact with each other to narrate their story "without the wall between stage and audience." In a ballet like GISELLE, for instance, that audience becomes part of the performance if its members are treated like peasant spectators at the autumn grape harvest of Act One.

Photo by Joan Ward.

At the time of this interview, company and producer had been working together for some three weeks, and the fruit of their joint endeavours was visible a fortnight later in an impressive performance of excerpts from the classic masterpiece, titled PETITE GISELLE.

On a stage with only a plain black backdrop, basic lighting, and pitiless proximity to the audience in a compact venue, the company's leading artists gave a stellar account of various solos and pas de deux from both acts of GISELLE. These illustrated in the most convincing way how far young dancers have responded to Gielgud's training, not merely in terms of technique, but also in their ability to develop the personae they interpret.

Dancing from the corps de ballet still requires work, as until recently, the newly-minted CBA did not have enough performers to execute the demanding ensemble of Act Two, a situation now happily remedied. Nothing in the course of this interview suggested any anxiety on that score from Gielgud, who appreciates the commitment of her young charges: "I am quite satisfied with progress thus far, the dancers are working beautifully and quick to understand what is required of them; above all, they are hungry to learn, and not set in their ways ".

Photo of Joan Ward.

On the subject of her personal philosophy where coaching fledgling artists is concerned, she comments, "The older I get, the more I learn to trust my instincts about those I train. Ideally one should have the time to know one's dancers, as each is different. In a short time frame for preparation, you simply hope to camouflage what flaws cannot be rectified, but a longer period such as the one I currently enjoy affords the luxury of taking time to help the trainees find their character, there is time to collaborate with them, to engage them in a meaningful dialogue."

Her kindness and patience are clearly paying off, their results patent in the rising calibre of CBA's young dancers under her mentorship.

In addition to preparing GISELLE, she is also rehearsing the company for their December production of THE NUTCRACKER at Montecasino’s Teatro, alternating between these two very dissimilar works-in-progress from day to day. Her comment on rehearsal reveals to some extent the secret of her success: "Rehearsal is NOT endless repetition of the same steps, the same moves...it is about finding something worthwhile to work on, and it is never boring".

One suspects that "boring" is the least appropriate word to describe a Gielgud training session with CBA's dancers.

Cape Ballet Africa presents Maina Gielgud's production of GISELLE at the Baxter Theatre from 13 to 22 November. Bookings can be made at Webtickets