Say, you haven't seen any evil spirits lurking about, have you?
"Well, that's typical," said Dennis Behat, artistic director for Ballet San Jose ballet, when he learned that a bronze sculpture of an evil spirit from the ballet "Giselle" had been stolen. "Typical" is not the word we would have used.
The sculpture, created by Julia Lord in 1978 at a cost of $17,000, depicts a nasty fairy called a "Wili" that tries to lure men to their death in "Giselle." In the show, the heroine's ghost defends her lover from the Wilis.
It would seem that the spirit of the sculpture was too strong to be contained by earthly bonds. It was only just recently installed in the lobby of the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose, and nobody's quite sure how long it's been missing. Its disappearance was only discovered when a staff member started hunting around for it, in preparation for a move to San Jose Center for Performing Arts.
It wouldn't be the first time that the 200-pound sculpture vanished. In 1982, the torso was stolen and reappeared a few weeks later.
Is this latest evaporation the work of nefarious bronze thieves? Or something a little more ineffable? Only Giselle knows for sure.
Matt Baume has been called a nasty fairy at times.
