Giselle
Giselle tells the haunting tale of a young country maiden who is deceived by a nobleman in disguise, which sends her delicate mind into madness and leads to her tragic death. This story of love, deception, betrayal, and forgiveness has stood the test of time and remains one of the most technically demanding and emotional dramas of classical ballet.
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Giselle
Giselle is a quintessential ballet performance that was premiered in 1841. The ghost-filled ballet tells the tragic, romantic story of a beautiful young peasant girl who falls for the flirtations of the deceitful and disguised nobleman Albrecht. When the ruse is revealed, the fragile Giselle dies of heartbreak, and Albrecht must face the otherworldly consequences of his careless seduction. One of the world’s most-often performed classical ballets, it is also one of its most challenging to dance.
Giselle Dates
Giselle
Giselle marks the story of a village maiden who falls in love with a Duke in disguise known as Albrecht. However, Hilarion, a man hopelessly in love with Giselle, see’s deception masked within Albrecht and seeks to expose his true identity. In this ballet, love falls victim to betrayal in the innocent mind of Giselle when Hilarion airs Albrecht’s nobility and unstoppable fate of marrying Bathilde, the Prince of Courtland’s daughter.In a passionate scene, Giselle’s feeble mind goes mad as she attempts to kill herself with Albrecht’s sword. Just moments before it’s thin tip would penetrate her chest, Albrecht withdraws it from her. Although the sword did not kill her, a broken heart soon does the inevitable deed,as she points to her lover one last time just before she collapses and dies. It is not until Act II when we see Giselle rise again, yet this time she is stripped of the merriment once present in her damasked cheeks, and instead is seen with her body decorated in the harsh white of an unmarried bride. In this act, the wilis, maidens who have died before marriage, dance in the night as bacchantes luring young men to dance to their death. A remorseful Albrecht seeks Giselle’s grave when the Queen of the Willis orders Giselle to entice him to dance. Despite Albrecht’s gasps for air and falls of weakness, Giselle sustains him until daybreak where the Willis are forced to return to their graves. The ballet concludes as an unwilling Giselle is forced to meet her new life as a Wili as she grasps Albrecht’s hands a final time until fate pulls her away.