Giselle over time

It is difficult to estimate to what extent Giselle, as presented to-day, differs from the ballet as originally produced. The reader has only to examine the synopsis to see that several episodes have completely disappeared. I recall an illuminating remark made by the late Michel Fokine, when, about to leave England, he addressed his company after the premiere of a new ballet he had just produced in London. He urged them to remember everything he had taught them, for, without the constant supervision of the choreographer, there were few ballets which did not lose ten per cent. of their value after a week or two; while, in six months' time, he added with a smile, he might be hard put to it to recognise his own composition. Judge, then, what may happen to a ballet produced a century ago, and subjected to the frailty of human recollection, to the editing and adaptation by numerous choreographers, and to the demands of successive ballerine of widely divergent technical abilities!

The Ballet Called Giselle by Cyril W. Beaumount. 1987 [1945]. Page 26.