La Fille Mal Gardee (Marianela Nunez-Carlos Acosta, Royal Ballet 2005)
AVI| Video: 720x576 (1.25:1), 25 fps, 780 kbps avg | Audio: 44.100 kHz, MPEG Layer 3, 2 ch, 192.00 kbps avg | 805.67 Mb
Release Date: July 29, 2008 | Running Time:112 mins
This is the happiest of ballets, ideal for audiences from absolute beginners to passionate dance-lovers.
The simple, attractive love story has been a winner in one staging after another since Jean Dauberval invented it in 1789 amid the excitement of the French Revolution. Frederick Ashton’s fresh choreography and John Lanchbery’s musical adaptation gave it new life 45 years ago and have been enjoyed worldwide ever since. The Royal Ballet’s present revival makes much of its vigorous characters, its brilliantly virtuosic solos and duets, and equally the joy of its English folk dances. Tiny, smiling Marianella Nunez - dancing the heroine Lise for the first time - gives the swift, intricate footwork as gorgeously as I have ever seen it. A door would not open for her first exit and the charming way she coped with this somehow symbolised the character’s blithe response to every problem - and the happy ending. Nunez is an excellent match for Carlos Acosta’s whizzing solos and his cheerful eagerness as her admirer Colas.