Paris Opera Ballet: GISELLE

Ballet in two acts (1892) As the ultimate romantic ballet Giselle wows audiences in Paris with another sold-out run, here's a chance to revisit a classic performance. It begins like a fairy tale: Giselle, a sweet peasant girl falls in love with Albrecht, a young man who seems like a simple villager but is actually a duke. But he’s already promised to someone else, and when Giselle finds out, she loses her mind and dies. She is taken by the Wilis - ghosts of girls who were left by unfaithful loves. Will Giselle seek revenge by luring Albrecht to his death, or will love and forgiveness prevail? First performed in 1841 at the Royal Academy of Music, Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli’s ballet – here adapted by Patrice Bart and Eugène Polyakov – ushered in a new aesthetic in the history of Western dance. Pointe shoes, arabesques and long white tutus conjure up a fantastical, diaphanous universe that perfectly captures the spirit of Romanticism.