CLASSIC BALLET - The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will bring classical ballet Giselle back to the stage at the HCM City Opera House on October 21 and 22. Photo courtesy of HBSO

HCM CITY — The HCM City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (HBSO) will bring classical ballet Giselle back to the stage at the HCM City Opera House on October 21 and 22.

Giselle, which is considered one of the great romantic ballets, was written by French dramatist and novelist Theophile Gautier and playwright Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges to music by composer Adolphe Adam, and was first performed by the Paris Opera Ballet in 1841.

The two-act ballet is set in a village in southern Germany in the Middle Ages.

The first act tells the story of Giselle, a young peasant girl who dies of a broken heart after discovering that her lover, Albrecht, an aristocrat, is engaged to be married to an upper-class woman.

The second act is set in the afterlife following Giselle's death.

The Wilis, a group of ghostly spirits of dead girls who die from broken hearts, target Albrecht. They have the ability to control men and let them dance until they die. But Giselle defends Albrecht with the power of her great love.

The ballet Giselle premiered in HCM City in September 2018, receiving warm welcome from city audiences.

Đỗ Hoàng Khang Ninh, who has appeared in most of HBSO’s productions such as Ballet Kiều and The Nutcracker, will play Giselle, while meritorious artist Hồ Phi Điệp, deputy head of HBSO’s ballet department, will play Albrecht.

Meritorious artist Trần Hoàng Yến, who won top prizes at the National Dance and Music Festivals, will play Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis.

The performance will also feature soloist Đàm Đức Nhuận and dancers from the HBSO.

STARS OF THE SHOW - Soloist Đỗ Hoàng Khang Ninh and Meritorious Artist Hồ Phi Điệp play leading roles of Giselle and Albrecht. Photo courtesy of HBSO

The HBSO’s production is directed and staged by French dancer and choreographer Chloe Glemot and Japanese dancer Yuki Hiroshige Ohmori.

Glemot was trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School between 1996 and 2003. She has been a professional dancer for the American Ballet Theatre in New York, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal, and the English National Ballet in London.

In 2006, she completed her teacher training at the Centre National de la Danse in Paris. She has taught ballet for children and adults at conservatories and schools in Paris. She moved to Việt Nam in 2013, and is currently working in Singapore.

Ohmori began practising ballet at the age of 11, and was trained at Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Academy. She won the Idemitsu Scholarship at the Asian Pacific Ballet Competition and joined the Australian Ballet School in 1993.

In 1996, Ohmori began her career as a solo dancer at the New National Theatre of Tokyo for 10 years. She later performed as principal dancer at the Noriko Kobayashi Ballet Theatre from 2005 to 2016.

The performance will begin at 8pm. The Opera House is at 7 Lam Sơn Square in District 1. Tickets are available at the box office. — VNS