Giselle

Tentative knocking at the door. Two bodies nestle close together on a wooden bench. The last leaf of the daisy flower promises: He loves you. At the moment of seemingly supreme happiness, Giselle finds out that her lover has betrayed her with a double life. Hurt and in a frenzy of rage over this lie, she dances herself to her death. But the bond of love is said to be stronger than earthly boundaries. Followed by other, equally restless shadows, she appears to him as a Wili, one of those beings who in Heinrich Heine's works gather in pale green moonlight to avenge the betrayal of their love.

Seemingly weightless floating bodies in white, floor-length tutus have shaped the image of romantic-fantastic ballet for generations, but “Giselle” also has a central and timeless message in addition to the iconographic aesthetics of “ballet blanc”: a brief moment can be eternity in the face of playful love, and the ghosts of this missed happiness will find no rest.

With this new creation, Demis Volpi examines a repertoire classic for a contemporary approach to traditions and gender images in ballet and at the same time surrenders to the endless fascination for the magic of the stage.