“It’s a classic, but not classical. “Giselle” premiered in Paris in 1841, created for the ballerina Carlotta Grisi by choreographers Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot and set to a magnificent score by Adolphe Adam. Considered today as epitomizing the height of ballet’s Romantic period, classical king Marius Petipa restaged the ballet in 1884 for the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg, with many, if not most “Giselles” performed worldwide today being some variation thereof.
Lola De Avila’s 2012 staging is no exception, premiered by the Joffrey Ballet Wednesday and running through Oct. 29 at the Auditorium Theatre. Avila, in fact, strips “Giselle” of any hint of modernity, offering audiences a time machine to that summer Paris evening in 1841.”
Read the full review by Lauren Warnecke in the Chicago Tribune HERE.