6 Thursday, June 11 , 2020 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com ARTS On ‘Creole Giselle’, a re- imagined classic ballet Many ballet stories are weird. Swans falling in love, dolls being mis- taken for humans and the Christmas- time obsession with a nut-cracking device all pass as normal. We accept their quirks because their music and choreography are about more than their stories. Adolphe Adam’s “Giselle” is different. “Giselle” has an awesome story. Arthur Mitchell might have known this more than anyone. Albrecht is a womanizing prince who pretends to love Giselle, a peas- ant, while he is actually engaged to be married. When she learns of his trickery she dies of heartbreak and swiftly joins an army of female ghosts, here called willis, dedicated to the destruction of all men who cross their path. When Albrecht comes looking for Giselle’s grave (a little too late, don’t you think?), the kingdom of female afterlife forces him to dance until his own death — it’s a delicious ending to a beautiful show. Originally premiered in Paris in 1841, the ballet enjoyed immediate success, eventu- ally travelling across Europe and into America in 1846. The show is easily one of the most- performed productions in ballet today, but it’s also quite symbolic of a racially oppressive past. The willis dance in white dresses that match a historically white skin uniform that excluded any dancers of color long past its 19th century premiere. Arthur Mitchell’s “Giselle” is dif- ferent. First created in 1984 for his all-black company Dance Theatre of Harlem, the production eventually won a Laurence Olivier Award for its ingenious handling of history, ballet and American art. Mitchell enlisted Frederic Franklin to restage the clas- sic story using his cast of all-black dancers. Franklin abandoned the show’s original Rhineland setting and moved his production to the Ameri- can South on a farm in Louisiana. He kept the choreography true to the 1841 original and maintained Adolphe Adam’s masterful music. They named their new show “Creole Giselle.” This past weekend, DTH streamed a 1987 recording of “Creole Giselle” on YouTube. The New York Times named the show one of “Six things to do at home this weekend,” and the recording accrued over 7,000 views in one day. Though blurry and at times darkly lit, the show boasted crisp technique from its dancers and its refreshing design shone as an artistic tour de force. Watching the video, I wondered: Why haven’t more companies taken Mitchell as an example for them- selves? Marketing departments often complain of audiences who feel dis- connected from classical ballet sto- ries — what do we have in common with a German peasant, a Russian swan or a lifelike dancing doll? These feelings of separation can be even greater for people of color who have been excluded from such shows on the basis of historically white casting and in some ballets, problematic por- trayals of Eastern cultures. Mitchell knew this because he and his dancers had lived it, but he did not allow the outer image of “Giselle” to push him away. Stripped of costumes and cast- ing choices, every ballet to have sur- vived so many years tells omnipresent stories of love and loss. Often referred to as the Hamlet of ballet, “Giselle”’s dazzling music and dreamy dancing sets a golden standard of such emo- tions, and there is power and inten- tion in DTH’s choice to perform the work in full: Black dancers, and all dancers of color, are equally able to display the universal facets of the human condition that “Giselle” and every one of its 19th century coun- terparts explore. Such themes do not belong to one era or one people, yet their current packaging can some- times make it seem to be so. What’s stopping other major bal- let companies from reconsidering their 19th century reproductions? Could “Swan Lake” happen on the shores of Lake Michigan? Wouldn’t “Le Corsaire” work well on a Navy ship? Perhaps “Coppelia”’s doll fac- tory could be set in industrial-age America. More recently than Mitch- ell, “Final Bow for Yellowface” author Phil Chan told Megan Fairchild in an interview in May that he’s been work- ing on a new version of “La Bayadere” set in 1930s Hollywood rather than an ill-represented India. The new approach, Chan said, “makes that story about us instead of them. When Mitchell moved DTH’s “Giselle” to the Antebellum South in 1984, he was doing just that: Through a simple set change, his show could tell the stories that belonged to his dancers and not the all-white group from 150 years prior. ZOE PHILLIPS Daily Arts Writer Read more at michigandaily.com SUMMER SERIES SUMMER SERIES ‘Girl, Serpent, Thorn’ is fresh A sign of a compelling book is the inability to look away from the page. When reading Melissa Bashardoust’s “Girl, Serpent, Thorn,” my nose stayed glued to the e-book screen. Despite the questionable pacing and unfulfilled storylines, I chugged her book down like a gloriously cold bottle of water on a scorching summer day. I was immersed in Melissa Bashar- doust’s fictionalized Persian empire. Her mythic world documents sprawl- ing palaces, dangerous ladies and looming demonic forces. In that vast world, a young princess, Soraya, is isolated from the rest of the popula- tion. Her poisonous touch makes her a threat to the kingdom. While her twin brother rules the realm, she is touch- starved and relegated to her bedroom, and can only travel through the palace’s secret passageways. To change her fate, she is tempted by the mythic demons whose power she has been gifted. That temptation leads her and her kingdom to their destruction and ultimate resolution. Soraya stands for every reader unaware of their potential and power. She is a poster child for internalized self-loathing but lacks the vocabu- lary to identify her insecurities. She’s lonely and afraid of her own abilities. She wants friends but fears for their safety. She fundamentally wants some permanence in a world determined to obscure and deny her existence. Very few novels represent internalized self- loathing and confusion as clearly as Bashardoust’s. Bashardoust’s ancient Persian set- ting functions more as a vague aesthet- ic stage for magical plot devices than as an immersive world. Bashardoust’s primary focus is her character-driven drama. There is very little within the novel grounded in history. Further- more, the broader war between Sora- ya’s civilization and the demonic forces that plague them goes unex- plored and unquestioned. The greater in-world conflict is a watery backdrop for Soraya’s struggle to identify her wants within a cacophony of conflict- ing opinions and expectations. Though “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” is not compelling in setting, its strengths lie in its willingness to focus on indi- vidual autonomy. In many respects, Bashardoust’s protagonist is atypical. Soraya’s backstory and actions code her as an antihero but while she ques- tions morality, her greatest sin is out of her power. She’s too powerful and influential to make childish mistakes. Soraya does not mean harm but all her actions have consequences. While confused and hurting, Soraya cripples her kingdom’s defenses, allowing a hoard of demons to overtake the land. Soraya’s mistakes and selfish desire sets her apart from others in the YA lit- erary canon. Bashardoust allows Sora- ya to impart devastating destruction on those around her, then forces her to clean up her mess. But despite her self- ishness, you can’t help but empathize with her character. Soraya has not only been deprived of human company but also the ability to make mistakes. That tragedy drives Sora- ya’s desire for restitu- tion and foretells her kingdom’s doom. Soraya’s atypical character construc- tion is one example of how Bashardoust’s novel plays Rus- sian roulette with expectations. Vet- eran YA readers are trained to pick up on genre tropes and plotlines. Soraya has two love interests. Early hints flag each character as a contender for her heart. But unlike other YA novels, ultimately neither love inter- est is fighting for Soraya’s heart. They are vying to influence her worldview and self-perception. Through min- ute framing differences, Bashardoust flaunts romantic expectations while never straying beyond the bounds of YA convention. Her novel features the YA hallmarks, such as: The powerful magic woman who doesn’t know she’s special, dark and mysterious boys and looming existential threats. However, the novel does not attempt to sub- vert the genre conventions. Instead, Bashardoust rearranges the tropes by compressing the novel’s timeline. Common YA tropes act as temporary red herrings for seasoned readers. LIZZY YOON Daily Arts Writer Read more at michigandaily.com “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” Melissa Bashardoust Flatiron Books July 7, 2020 BOOK REVIEW BOOK REVIEW