As the story of Hamlet is to the theater, Giselle is to ballet. Historically significant, audiences see it time after time to experience its interpretation by new generations of ballerinas. Each time, they vow that they have seen something different that they had not picked up on before at a previous viewing.
A love triangle with some unusual twists, the ballet tells the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart when she learns that the nobleman with whom she has fallen hopelessly in love is engaged to another woman. A gamekeeper, who has fallen in love with the peasant girl, is seen weeping at her grave when he is startled by a band of spirits of young women who had died before their wedding days. The bitter spirits rise from their graves to torture men to their deaths.
It is the normal practice of the Wilis to use their beauty to capture the attentions of young men and them force them to dance until they drop dead. Hilarion, they chase relentlessly until they toss him to his death in a lake. Moving on to serve a similar fate to Albrecht, they are thwarted by the ghost of the peasant girl. She forgives Albrecht, who is spared by the Wilis at dawn when they return to their graves until the following evening. Giselle may now rest eternally in peace.
The ballet was first staged in Paris in June, 1841. The following year, it appeared in London in March of 1842. It was later presented in Russia, Italy and in America.
The role demands technical precision, dramatic acting skill as well as outstanding grace. For this reason, it is one of the most coveted roles in ballet. It was created for Carlotta Grisi by dramatist Theophile Gautier. It has been played by many other accomplished ballerinas including Anna Pavlova, Alicia Markova and Svetlana Zakharova.
The story f Giselle was inspired by Henrich Heine's tale of the Wilis. Gautier envisioned it as a ballet. He worked with choreographer, Jules Perot and composer, Adolphe Adam.
A love triangle with some unusual twists, the ballet tells the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart when she learns that the nobleman with whom she has fallen hopelessly in love is engaged to another woman. A gamekeeper, who has fallen in love with the peasant girl, is seen weeping at her grave when he is startled by a band of spirits of young women who had died before their wedding days. The bitter spirits rise from their graves to torture men to their deaths.
It is the normal practice of the Wilis to use their beauty to capture the attentions of young men and them force them to dance until they drop dead. Hilarion, they chase relentlessly until they toss him to his death in a lake. Moving on to serve a similar fate to Albrecht, they are thwarted by the ghost of the peasant girl. She forgives Albrecht, who is spared by the Wilis at dawn when they return to their graves until the following evening. Giselle may now rest eternally in peace.
The ballet was first staged in Paris in June, 1841. The following year, it appeared in London in March of 1842. It was later presented in Russia, Italy and in America.
The role demands technical precision, dramatic acting skill as well as outstanding grace. For this reason, it is one of the most coveted roles in ballet. It was created for Carlotta Grisi by dramatist Theophile Gautier. It has been played by many other accomplished ballerinas including Anna Pavlova, Alicia Markova and Svetlana Zakharova.
The story f Giselle was inspired by Henrich Heine's tale of the Wilis. Gautier envisioned it as a ballet. He worked with choreographer, Jules Perot and composer, Adolphe Adam.
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