Photo Flash: First Look at Pacific Northwest Ballet's GISELLE

Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2011 production of Giselle has been staged by PNB artistic director Peter Boal, based in part on primary sources from Paris and St. Petersburg, with the assistance of dance historians Marian Smith and Doug Fullington. In 2014, new scenery and costumes designed by Jérôme Kaplan will be added to the production. It runs May 30-June 8, 2014. Check out the photos below!

Giselle is widely acknowledged as the greatest ballet of the Romantic era. Premiering in Paris in 1841, Giselle tells the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart after her fiancé is revealed to be a nobleman in disguise. In death, she joins the ranks of the Wilis, supernatural maidens who died before the wedding days and are doomed to take their revenge on men for eternity. In a miraculous display of love beyond the grave, Giselle saves her betrothed from certain death at the hands of her ghostly sisters. The ballet epitomizes the Romantic age with its idealization of country life, fascination with the supernatural, and obsession with the idea of the unattainable woman.

In collaboration with Peter Boal, who has overseen the entire staging, Marian Smith concentrated on the French sources and their use for the action of the ballet, and Doug Fullington reconstructed choreography using the Stepanov notations. This production marks the first time an American ballet company has based a production on Stepanov notation as well as the first use in modern times of the rare French sources for Giselle. Peter Boal has also taken into account the rich performance history of Giselle in fashioning a production that both honors the past and appeals to today's audience.

Photo Credit: Angela Sterling

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