Giselle, a young village girl, falls in love with prince Albrecht who seduces her. Learning that he is already engaged to a princess, Giselle becomes mad and dies. The Queen of the Wilis (the spirits of young girls who have been betrayed) condemns the prince to dance until he dies, but Giselle’s spirit interposes itself and saves his life. The Giselle of the Yacobson Ballet follows the tradition and preserves the dramatic intensity, emotion and original romantic style of the work. Created in 1841, Giselle represents, in the words of Serge Lifar: “the apotheosis of romantic ballet”. The libretto written by Théophile Gautier applies perfectly the romantic principle of the mix of genres: pastoral in a realistic and prosaic world that ends in tragedy in act I, and an eery atmosphere and fantasy transfiguration of the drama in act II. This libretto opposes, in a contrast that is first social, the spontaneous peasant girl to the haughty duchess, and then, in a moral and metaphysical antithesis, the vengeful Myrtha to the redemptive Giselle. This ballet also recalls the infinitely romantic theme of madness, which is fundamentally opposed to the rationalism of the classics, as well as the theme of love beyond the grave. The alternating tonalities of the music reinforce the dramatic effectiveness of the narration. Giselle is considered to be the most complete romantic ballet as it concentrates all these ingredients intelligently, with nothing appearing as suffocating or too hard to digest.

Source: Maison de la Danse

Born in Saint Petersburg, Andrian Fadeev is a graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy. He joined the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet in 1995 and was awarded the Prix Vaganova —International ballet competition— the same year. In 1997, he was appointed Principal Dancer and quickly became the company’s emblematic dancer for his interpretation of the repertoire’s major roles. He has received numerous other awards such as the BALTIKA prize in 1998, the "Golden Sophit" in 2000 and the "The Soul of Dance" from Ballet Magazine the same year, then in 2006 the Leonide Massine prize. A Russian Meritorious Artist, Andrian Fadeev was appointed director of the Yacobson Ballet company in 2011.

Source: The Kennedy Center 's website

More information : yacobsonballet.ru

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr

Artistic direction: Andrian Fadeev

Creation: 1969

Yacobson Ballet was founded in 1969 by Ballet Master and famous choreographer Leonid Yacobson. It was the first Russian independent company - not associated with an Opera - it quickly created a buzz within the Russian ballet landscape and received the title of "Miniature Company", referring to the short lengths of the pieces created by its founder. During seven years as a director, Leonid Yacobson worked on the development of dance in Russia and collaborated with renowned dancers such as Natalia Makarova, Alla Osipenko, Maya Plisetskaya and Mikhail Baryshniko.
 

After Yacobson's death in 1976, his closest collaborator took the direction of the company and opened the repertoire to Russian and foreign choreographers, developing a repertoire of creations based on the founding technique of ballet. The company also began to export its excellent reputation outside of Russia.
 

Since 2011, the Yacobson Ballet has been directed by Andrian Fadeev, ex principal dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet. With his strength of conviction,
Fadeev wanted to bring the company - composed of 75 dancers with astonishing technique and soloists with strong personalities - to an international level. He rejuvenated ballets from the classical repertoire. And following tradition, he is commissioning and updating new stage productions and costume designs. Cutting the lengthy parts in order to keep what is essential; he gives spirit and rhythm to those historical pieces and modernizes them. The company is a beautiful way to rediscover traditional ballet repertoire, performed elegantly and with brio by excellent dancers.

Source:Trait d'union

More information : yacobsonballet.ru/en