Giselle, danced to familiar music by the French ballet and opera composer Adolphe Adam, is a Romantic-era ballet first danced in Paris in 1840. It is one of the very few ballets of that tradition that still holds the stage, danced in calf-length tutus. In the first act, villager Giselle is in love with Albrecht, a nobleman disguised as a peasant. When Giselle discovers the deceit, she is heartbroken and dies. In the second act, the undying love of Giselle for Albrecht, who has come by night to visit her tomb, saves him from having his life-spirit taken from him by the spectral wilis, the vampiric ghosts of betrothed girls who have died before their wedding day, and their Queen.

The Romantic poet Theophile Gautier is the author of the plot for this ballet.

The version we see today is not much like the original, where the most famous dancer of her day, Fanny Essler had an operatic mad scene at the end of the first act. Giselle passed out of the European repertory until it was revived by Sergei Diaghilev in 1910, a startling change of pace for the avant-garde Ballets Russes. The role of Giselle is one of the most sought-after in ballet, since it demands both technical perfection and outstanding grace and lyricism. Several of the most accomplished dancers to perform this role include Carolotta Grisi (for whom Théophile Gautier created the role), Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Cynthia Gregory,Galina Ulanova , Alicia Markova, Beryl Goldwyn, Antoinette Sibley , Margot Fonteyn and Natalia Markarova .

External link

• Some dance history of Giselle by Suzanne McCarthy for the Royal Ballet