Out of the Seattle dance scene emerges House of Verlaine's retelling of the romantic ballet, Giselle, a production brought to life by Lily Verlaine's exquisite assemblage of daring classical artists. House of Verlaine's retelling resets the classic ballet on an award-winning haunted house set designed by Julia Welch (Gregory Award-winner), and features performances from a company comprised of top tier professional, local dance talent including Lara Seefeldt and Davione Gordon amongst others.
Giselle is on sale now and will perform at The Triple Door for two nights only - August 31 and September 1 - tickets are available at TheTripleDoor.net. In this reimagined Giselle, we watch as a couple in love stumble into an old house that we come to find out is haunted with Willis, a group of supernatural women who traditionally dance men to their death. In Verlaine's retelling, we watch her interpret the actions of the Willis through stunning, fresh choreography.
"The Willis' interaction with the couple was undoubtedly the most intelligently choreographed segment of Verlaine's work, with the Willis assisting actions like [Lara] Seefeldt feeding [Thomas] Phelan chocolates without the pair ever taking notice of the woman sitting in between them. It produced a striking ghostly feel to great effect," Imana Gunawan of SeattleDances reported.
"I was moved to create this spin on Giselle when I saw the play The Things Are Against Us by Susan Soon-He Stanton," Verlaine comments. "The female characters in her play spend the entirety confused and victimized. This characterization of women stands in stark contrast to the vengeful, cool Willis that exist in German folklore, so I asked myself how the narrative of male perpetrators would be different if the Willis were to inhabit a spooky bed and breakfast." This evening In The House of Verlaine will deliver the absolute best in both dance and burlesque. The complete House of Verlaine company and guest artists to perform this rendition of Giselle includes: Lara Seefeldt (Spectrum Dance Theater; Whim W'Him), Davione Gordon (Spectrum Dance Theater), Paris Original (Verlaine & McCann Presents), Thomas Phelan (Whim W'Him), Christin Purcell (International Ballet Theater), Molly Levy (LED Boise; Verlaine & McCann Presnet), Hannah Simmons (Velcoity Dance Company), Holly Nuss (Seattle Opera), and Scotty Flores (DanceCrush Award-winner; Verlaine & McCann Present). For more information, HouseOfVerlaine.com.
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