Giselle, is aromantic ballet in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first performed in Paris in 1841, with Italian ballerina Carlotta Grisi as Giselle. The ballet became hugely popular and was subsequently staged across Europe, Russia, and the United States.
The ghost-filled ballet tells the tragic, romantic story of a beautiful young peasant girl named Giselle and a disguised nobleman named Albrecht, who fall in love, but when his true identity is revealed by his rival, Hilarion, Giselle goes mad and dies of heartbreak. After her death, she is summoned from her grave into the vengeful, deadly sisterhood of the Willis, the ghosts of unmarried women who died after being betrayed by their lovers and take revenge in the night by dancing men to death by exhaustion. Led by Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, they target Albrecht when he comes to mourn at Giselle’s grave, but her great love frees him from their grasp. They gain their power in numbers as they effortlessly move through dramatic patterns and synchronized movements and control the stage with their long tulle dresses and stoic expressions, creating an ethereal atmosphere that builds as they gradually close in on Albrecht. By saving him from the Wilis, Giselle also saves herself from becoming one of them.
The story is inspired from a passage about the Wilis in De l’Allemagne, by Heinrich Heine, and from a poem called “Fantômes” in by Victor Hugo.
Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot created the original choreography. The traditional choreography that has been passed down to the present day derives primarily from the revivals staged by Marius Petipa during the late 19th and early 20th centuries for the Imperial Ballet in Saint Petersberg. Giselle is one of the world’s most-often performed classical ballets and the role of Giselle is one of the most challenging to dance.
Tickets begin at $40 (including all Hylton mandated fees) and can be purchased through the links below at at the Hylton Box Office 703-993-7759.
