Giselle

Giselle

The Story of Giselle

The ballet Giselle is a romantic masterpiece that has been performed continually since it was created more than 160 years ago. The story is set in a peasant village during the festive grape harvest. A beautiful peasant girl named Giselle is in love with Loys, a newcomer to the village, which annoys the local gamekeeper Hilarion, who is in love with Giselle himself. Giselle loves to dance more than anything in the world, and though her mother warns her not to dance because of her weak heart, she joins the dancing and celebrating with her village friends. Hilarion discovers that Loys is actually count Albrecht in disguise and calls the royal hunting party to prove Albrecht’s true identity, and the fact that he is already engaged to be married to princess Bathilde. Giselle is grief-stricken. Her heart fails her as she goes mad, and she dies!

A few nights later, Hilarion visits Giselle’s grave, only to be captured by the legendary Wilis. Wilis are the spirits of women who have been abandoned by men who had promised to marry them. Every night, they rise from their graves to seek revenge by forcing any man they can find to dance until he dies of exhaustion. Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis summons Giselle’s spirit and commands her to dance as a new Wili. The Wilis hear Albrecht and hide as he dances with Giselle’s spirit. The Wilis capture Albrecht, and Myrtha commands him to dance. Knowing that a Wili never tires, Giselle begs to dance instead. She dances alone and with Albrecht, but Myrtha and the Wilis are too strong, and Albrecht must dance. Just as he can dance no more, the sun starts to rise. The Wilis disappear, and Albrecht has survived the night. The power of Giselle and Albrecht’s love for each other has saved Albrecht from a terrible fate.

Giselle

Guest Artist

Southold Dance Theater’s spring production Giselle will feature two of American Ballet Theatre’s most promising dancers.  Luciana Paris and Roddy Doble will perform the roles of Giselle and Count Albrecht with Southold company members in this much loved classical ballet.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Luciana Paris began her ballet training at the age of seven with Elena Perez. From 1991-1996 she studied at The Instituto Superior de Arte delTeatro Colon with Katty Gallo and Raul and Candal. She won a Gold Medal at the Latin American Dance Competition in 1995. Parisjoined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in October 2001. Her repertoire with the Company includes the lead D’Jampe in La Bayadère, Moss in Cinderella, Mazurka Lady and Lead Mazurka/Czardas in Coppélia, the lead gypsy in Don Quixote, Bathilde in Giselle, Prudence in Lady of the Camellias, Columbine, Spanish Dance and one of The Nutcracker’s Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, a Carnival Dancer in Othello, the Lead Polovtsian Girl in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, a Harlot and Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet, Sinatra Suite, the Fairy of Joy in The Sleeping Beauty, the Spanish Princess and the Spanish Dance in Swan Lake, Persephone in Sylvia, and roles in Airs, Allegro Brillante, Black Tuesday, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Brief Fling, Company B, Dumbarton, Le Corsaire, Glow – Stop, In the Upper Room, One of Three, Petite Mort and Symphony in C. . She created a leading role inConcerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra. Paris danced Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite with Marcelo Gomes at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors.

Roddy Doble, from Southbury, Connecticut, began dancing at age six and completed the majority of his training at the Schoolof Performing artsin New Milford, Connecticut, under the direction of Arlene Begelman and Robert Maiorano. His studies included extensive work in ballet and jazz with Elizabeth Parkinson, Mary Ann Lamb and Mary MacLeod, as well as tap and modern. During this time, he appeared as a guest artist and choreographer for the DanburyMusicCenterand the Danbury Symphony Orchestra. Doble joined the Studio Company in August 2006, and was soon named a Chisholm Foundation Scholar. He joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in December 2007 and the corps de ballet in June 2008. His repertoire with the Company includes Lorenzo in Don Quixote, The Man She Must Marry in Jardin aux Lilas, Arabian Man in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Fiancé’s Father in On the DnieperTerrestrial and a Celestial in Shadowplay, a Fairy Knight in The Sleeping Beauty and roles in Airs, Company B, Désir, Dumbarton, The Garden of Villandry, In the Upper Room and One of Three. He created roles in Everything Doesn’t Happen at Once and Private Light