Royal New Zealand Ballet: Giselle

Overview

During New Zealand's COVID-19 lockdown, the Royal New Zealand Ballet broadcast striking live performances to living rooms across the country — including one of the greatest romantic ballets of all time.

This May, RNZB favourite Giselle returns to the stage as part of the company's 2021 season. RNZB's production of the classic ballet first toured in 2012 to sell-out audiences, before returning in 2016 to great acclaim. It has since been performed in China, the USA, the UK and Italy, and turned into a feature film by director Toa Fraser. Live orchestral accompaniment will lift performances for the 2021 run.

Giselle is a roller coaster romance, a tale of betrayal, the supernatural and love that transcends death. In a remote village, the beautiful and innocent Giselle falls madly in love with a duke in disguise. When he is revealed as Count Albrecht, Giselle, broken hearted, descends into madness and death. In a forest, the Wilis (ethereal ghosts of jilted girls) meet to greet their recently arrived sister, who rises from her grave to join their ranks. When Albrecht arrives to mourn, she must forgive her lover and save him from death.

Image: Ross Brown.