Giselle at Cincinnati Music Hall

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2. Giselle

Cincinnati Ballet honors the long history of classical ballet with this important classical tragedy. Associate Artistic Director Devon Carney choreographs after Marius Petipa, and the CSO performs music by Adolphe Adam.

This great classic ballet tragedy premiered June 28, 1841 at the Paris Opéra Ballet. The story is based on the German legend about Wilis, women who had been betrayed by their betrothed and died before marrying. The ethereal virgins haunt graveyards, enacting revenge on men who cross their paths. The peasant girl Giselle goes mad after falling in love with Albrecht, an aristocrat who deceives her. The story of betrayal, forgiveness and love that transcends death ends in a graveyard, an eerie but fitting setting for Halloween weekend. Although she has become a ghostly Wili herself, Giselle fights to protect her beloved from the other Wilis who have ordered him to 'dance until you die'.

Associate Artistic Director Devon Carney premiered his Giselle choreography in 2006. 'Cincinnati Ballet managed an exquisite marriage of delicate, precision dancing and compelling dramatics to honor this great 19th century romantic ballet', wrote Jerry Stein in The Cincinnati Post. 'Devon Carney brings superb guidance to his restrained choreography. His approach not only allows a poetic display of dancing from the principals but impressive lyricism of the company's women's chorus. The corps so pristine, so poetic here has never looked so competently rehearsed for a story ballet.'