BIOGRAPHY


Gisele trained in physical theatre at the Central School of Speech and Drama, where she was a founding member of the award-winning theatre company SHUNT. She collaborated in the company’s early shows before leaving to concentrate on her aerial work, remaining a director on the Board until 2010. In 1999 she attended the Circus Space where she trained in aerial skills, performing in the Millennium Dome show during 2000. Since then she has been working as an aerialist, musician and theatre maker.

In 2002 Gisele received the Jerwood Prize for Circus for her production Out of Line, directed by Gemma Brockis, which explored the idea of the line spatially, in movement and music, using rope, tightwire, paper and voice.

In 2004, following a performance with the Dante Quartet, she received funding from the Arts Council England to research further into the crossover between the live music and aerial work.

In 2006 she collaborated with Schubert Ensemble violinist Simon Blendis to create a performance based on music by Bach and several contemporary composers that had been commissioned by Simon to commemorate the Bach 250th anniversary celebrations. The piece was selected for the Firsts Festival at the Linbury Studios, Royal Opera House, for which it was re-worked under the direction of Lucy Bailey, and later performed at the Aldeburgh Music Fringe Festival and the Speaker’s Banquet at Middle Temple Hall. Violinist Marcus Beecham-Stevens has taken over from Simon Blendis and they will continue to tour the work.

Alongside, Gisele has pursued her work in singing and composing. In 2004 she was invited to perform one of her original songs at the International Spring Festival for Foreigners - the Chinese equivalent of Eurovision! - in Kunming, China, where she was awarded Bronze. The trip resulted in a commission from BBC4 From Our Own Correspondent.

In 2005 she submitted an entry for a competition organised by the Beijing Olympic Committee, for a theme tune for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. While the piece was not chosen, it led her to securing a contract with Carlin Music Publishing in 2006 for an album of songs marking the Beijing Olympic Games. Working with three co-writers she completed the album in 2007 and later that year formed FUXIAN, the first Chinese-Western fusion band outside Asia. The group performed at several London venues including at the Chinese New Year celebrations in Trafalgar Square in 2008 in front of an audience of 35,000.

In 2007 Gisele was also invited to work as Chinese music advisor to composer Nitin Sawhney and choreographer Akram Khan for the production Bahok ,a collaboration with the China State Ballet.

In 2008 Gisele completed the LEM (Laboratoire d'Etude du Mouvement) at L'Ecole Jacque Lecoq in Paris. In 2009 she was awarded Lauréat at the Résidence au Centre International des Récollets, Paris, where she continued her collaboration of aerial work and music with Theatre de Complicite founder member Jozef Houben, collaborating with four Baroque musicians on a performance installation on the form and dynamic of music in space. The piece was shortlisted for the ROH Linbury Studio Festival of Firsts and also for the Jeunes Talents Cirque Europe competition in 2010.

In 2011 she received a commission from the LSO and SoundUK to collaborate with violinist Alexander Balenescu and accordionist Lina Petrova; the performance was presented to a sellout audience at LSO St Lukes in February.

Prior to beginning her performance work, Gisele studied Chinese at the University of Cambridge and Islamic and Asian Art History at SOAS, London. She also qualified as an Equity Analyst in the City where she worked for four years, specialising in Asian stockmarkets.


Collaborations

In addition to developing her own work, Gisele has worked with the following companies and artists:

SHUNT /Simon McBurney/ Théâtre de Complicité/ Lucy Bailey/ Joz Houben/ Akram Khan/Nitin Sawhney/ Kosmos Ensemble/ John Caird/ F/Z Productions/ Scarabeus/ Clod Ensemble/ Isabel Rocamora/ Dante Quartet/ Abigail Yeates/ Knitting Company/ Gandini Jugglers/ London Symphony Orchestra