The Hong Kong Ballet (HKB) presents a new production of Giselle, starring a lineup of world-renowned guest dancers and accompanied by the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong under the baton of Fayçal Karoui. HKB’s artistic director Septime Webre and South African ballet artist Charla Glenn team up to breathe new life into this story of love, betrayal, and redemption, for nine performances only at the end of this month.
Some of the famous guest artists for this production include the étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet Hugo Marchand – who was a torch bearer at last year’s Paris Olympic Games – in his Hong Kong debut, while The Royal Ballet’s principal dancer Marianela Nuñez returns to dance with HKB for her third consecutive year. Giselle also marks the return of another principal dancer of The Royal Ballet, Matthew Ball, whom we last saw as Prince Siegfried in last year’s production of Swan Lake. Ball had great chemistry with HKB’s principal dancer Ye Feifei, and we’re excited to see them reunite on stage. Lastly, the international star Victor Caixeta, who was formerly the principal dancer of the Dutch National Ballet will also be returning to collaborate with HKB.
For the uninitiated, this ballet follows the kind-hearted peasant girl Giselle who meets and falls in love with the handsome Albrecht, only to discover later that the flirtatious man has lied to her about his background and is also engaged to someone else. The deceit and grief drives her mad and the vengeful spirits of women who died before their weddings try to take revenge on Albrecht for Giselle, but her unwavering love protects him from the supernatural forces. The ballet blanc in the second act, when the wilis spirits rise from their graves is definitely one to keep an eye out for.
HKB’s new Giselle will feature beautiful costumes and sets by the designer Jérôme Kaplan, including a castle inspired by the Château de Pierrefond and cottages modeled after Marie Antoinette’s Hameau de la Reine hamlet at Versailles. This tragic, poignant ballet is to be staged on Fridays to Sundays from May 30 to June 8 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Tickets range from $180 to $1,000, with concessions available for full-time students and senior citizens.
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