{"id":299175,"date":"2026-05-04T14:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299175\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T14:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:20:08","slug":"pacific-northwest-ballets-giselle-lyric-beauty-and-a-measured-message","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/299175\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Northwest Ballet\u2019s Giselle: Lyric Beauty and A Measured Message"},"content":{"rendered":"

From its first pastoral sigh, Pacific Northwest Ballet\u2019s<\/a> Giselle unfolds with a breadth of beauty and clarity, reclaiming this Romantic classic in its full ethereal dimension. Rooted in the original choreography of Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot, and Marius Petipa, and artfully expanded by Artistic Director Peter Boal<\/a>, the production transports us to the mid-19th-century world of Carlotta Grisi and the Paris Opera.<\/p>\n

Guided by the scholarship of Doug Fullington<\/a>\u2014one of the few fluent in Stepanov\u2019s notation\u2014and Marian Smith<\/a>, musicologist and scholar, the production achieves rare historical precision. Their work restores gesture vocabulary, clarifies mime, and challenges the received versions of the ballet we think we know. The result is not simply reconstruction, but reanimation\u2014an immersive return to the past that briefly eclipses today\u2019s cacophony.<\/p>\n

\"Pacific<\/a><\/p>\n

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Elizabeth Murphy and Christopher D\u2019Ariano as Giselle and Albert, with PNB company dancers in Peter Boal\u2019s acclaimed staging of Giselle \u2013 Photo by Angela Sterling.<\/p>\n

Act I unfolds both as idyllic and quietly foreboding, framed by J\u00e9r\u00f4me Kaplan\u2019s<\/a> evocative sets and costumes. The pastoral village\u2014washed in wheat, blue, and muted gold\u2014stands in subtle contrast to the ominous realm of the fabled Wilis. Adolphe Adam\u2019s lilting yet dramatic score, conducted with sensitivity by Emil de Cou and the PNB Orchestra, underscores the emotional contours of this Slavic legend, drawn from a poem by Heinrich Heine. At its center, Elizabeth Murphy\u2019s Giselle, delicate and ethereal, emerges as a portrait shaped more by lyrical restraint than dramatic volatility.<\/p>\n

Christopher D\u2019Ariano\u2019s Albrecht, a Duke, disguised in rustic peasant tones, approaches the role with refinement rather than danger. His courtship unfolds through soft phrasing and technical excellence instead of layered tension\u2014elegant, though at times lacking the urgency that propels the drama forward. The familiar flower game, \u201cHe loves me, he loves me not,\u201d lands with quiet inevitability, though without the deeper sense of dread that can foreshadow the ballet\u2019s tragic turn.<\/p>\n

The full corps, beautifully rehearsed and working almost as one, establishes itself early as a defining strength. Village dances unfold with relaxed musicality, unhurried and spacious, allowing the choreography to breathe. A particularly buoyant pas de deux emerges amid the festivities which has a story in itself.\u00a0 Clara Ruf Maldonado and Kuu Sakuragi deliver crisp beats, fleet footwork, and finely articulated turns, injecting the scene with welcome brilliance. The peasant corps responds organically, at times forming windmill-like patterns before resolving into sculptural groupings that frame the central couple.<\/p>\n

\"Pacific<\/a><\/p>\n

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Elizabeth Murphy and Christopher D\u2019Ariano as Giselle and Albert, in Peter Boal\u2019s acclaimed staging of Giselle \u2013 Photo by Angela Sterling.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s Act I strength lies in her vulnerability, supported by an unforced technique. Comparisons to iconic Giselles\u2014Alicia Alonso, Natalia Osipova, even the dramatic ballerina, Nora Kaye\u2014inevitably arise, though Murphy does not attempt their amplitude. Instead, she leans into simplicity, crafting a Giselle defined by softness rather than volatility. While this lends an appealing sincerity, it also tempers the emotional stakes; her unraveling, though thoughtfully shaped, does not fully rupture the world around her.<\/p>\n

The dramatic turn is precise. The hunting party\u2019s entrance\u2014bold in red\u2014fractures the pastoral calm. When the powerful presence of Dammiel Cruz-Garrido as Hilarion, deeply in love with Giselle, exposes Albrecht\u2019s deception, the atmosphere tightens. Giselle\u2019s descent from naivet\u00e9 to disbelief and finally madness is restrained yet profound.\u00a0 Her disorientation is revealed with gestures that repeat then fragment, and the flower\u2019s verdict haunts her final moments. By the time she collapses in her mother\u2019s arms\u2014tenderly portrayed by Elle Macy\u2014the tragedy feels inevitable.<\/p>\n

Act II then shifts into a stark, moonlit forested world. The Wilis gather like mist, their synchronization chilling in its precision. Here, the production finds its strongest visual and structural cohesion. Under Myrtha\u2019s command, they operate less as individuals than as a single, implacable force.<\/p>\n

Milisa Guilliams\u2019 Myrtha is commanding and incisive, her authority expressed through expansive jumps and unwavering stillness. At her side, Moyna (Juliet Prine) and Zulm\u00e9 (Ashton Edwards) form a formidable second tier, leading the Wilis with unified purpose in their vengeful mission. In contrast, D\u2019Ariano\u2019s return as Albrecht, though sincere and technically clean, lacks the amplitude of desperation that defines the role at its highest level. His grief registers, but remains contained within a limited emotional range.<\/p>\n

\"Pacific<\/a><\/p>\n

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancers Christopher D\u2019Ariano and Elizabeth Murphy as Albert and Giselle, in Peter Boal\u2019s acclaimed staging of Giselle \u2013 Photo by Angela Sterling.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s Giselle in Act II continues her commitment to lyricism. Her phrasing is gentle, her presence elusive\u2014appearing, dissolving, and returning. Yet the role\u2019s technical demands occasionally reveal strain. The classic central extension wavers for just a moment, breaking the illusion, then is recovered to move on with emotional clarity.<\/p>\n

The Wilis\u2019 vengeance drives the act with increasing force. Hilarion\u2019s fate is relentless, and Albrecht\u2019s entrechats, clean and constant, signal the characters fatigue and dance to his death. Yet the ballet\u2019s emotional core resides in Giselle\u2019s intervention. She cannot overcome Myrtha, but is able to delay the inevitable. Love, here, does not conquer death\u2014it merely softens its terms.<\/p>\n

\"Pacific<\/a><\/p>\n

Pacific Northwest Ballet corps de ballet dancer Melissa Guilliams as Myrtha, in Peter Boal\u2019s acclaimed staging of Giselle \u2013 Photo by Angela Sterling.<\/p>\n

As dawn breaks in stillness, the clock strikes four. The Wilis vanish, and Giselle fades with them\u2014her final farewell marked by a quiet descent into her grave. Albrecht remains as his squire, (Jory Luther,) and fianc\u00e9e, (Lily Wills), join him; she reaches toward him as he reaches toward the grave, a gesture of quiet resignation rather than cathartic release. It marks a subtle departure, where Albrecht often collapses onto the grave, shrouded in his black cape\u2014an image so memorably realized by Erik Bruhn in a final, dramatic farewell.<\/p>\n

Pacific Northwest Ballet\u2019s Giselle succeeds through clarity, musicality, and deep respect for the work\u2019s historical architecture. Yet its dramatic and interpretive restraint at its center keeps the production from achieving the full emotional devastation the ballet can deliver. What lingers is not overwhelming tragedy, but a refined, carefully rendered meditation on love and loss\u2014graceful, intelligent, and ultimately held at a distance.<\/p>\n

For more information about Pacific Northwest Ballet, please visit their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Written by Joanne DiVito for LA Dance Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Featured image: Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist Dammiel Cruz-Garrido as Hilarion, with PNB company dancers, in Peter Boal\u2019s acclaimed staging of Giselle \u2013 Photo by Angela Sterling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From its first pastoral sigh, Pacific Northwest Ballet\u2019s Giselle unfolds with a breadth of beauty and clarity, reclaiming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-299175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}