Losing her mind, her hair flying wildly, she dances incessantly. The prophecy of the flower petals looms in her memory. Confused and staring off into space, she starts to dance the same way she was dancing earlier with Albrecht. The alarmed Giselle rips from her neck the necklace that she received as a gift and throws it down in front of Bathilde's feet. The young noblewoman, however, informs Giselle that she is mistaken, for the count standing there before them is her own fiancé. She rushes to Bathilde to tell her that Albrecht is her love. Gisella is neither able nor willing to grasp what has taken place.

The work imposes strenuous technical demands on all of the performers: only the very finest dancers of classical ballet are capable of credibly reflecting Giselle's etherealness, the impetuosity of the male characters and the delicate movements of the wilis. They rise from their graves at midnight to haunt the moonlit valleys, and woe to those whom they entice to dance with them! They'll be mercilessly danced to death! As librettist Théophile Gautier put it, “ The ballet came to be intimately and fertilely pervaded by everything that is mysterious, remote and unearthly.” In this fairy tale-like story, Giselle's supernatural existence after dying of a broken heart serves as the vehicle for depicting the tensions that develop between men and women, making this one of the most complex and difficult leading roles in the history of ballet. The plot originates from a German legend: the wilis are brides who died before their weddings.

Premiered in 1841, Giselle is perhaps the sole Romantic ballet that continues to be performed on every major ballet stage in the world today.

Gisele opera garnier