Giselle

Enhance your pre-show experience when visiting the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh by visiting The Lounge. Please note: To access The Lounge, guests must also have a ticket to a performance. Enhance your pre-show experience when visiting the Martin Marietta Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh by visiting The Lounge. Please note: To access The Lounge, guests must also have a ticket to a performance. Choreography by Zalman Raffael (after Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot) Giselle is an abiding testament of passion and reparation. Set in a sunlit village, Giselle becomes smitten with Albrecht who, unbeknownst to her, is a nobleman disguised as a peasant. Though he returns her affection, he is already promised to another. When his betrothal is revealed, the shock proves too great, and Giselle’s fragile heart gives way. In an eidolic forest, we find Giselle in the realm of the Wilis, restless spirits of women conned by their paramours. When Albrecht arrives to mourn at her grave, he is reproved by the Wilis. Giselle’s compassion, withstanding even beyond death, spares him their wrath. Balancing classic beauty with yearning fervor, Giselle remains a masterful affirmation that love transcends the boundaries of life and death.