Chattanooga Ballet offers heart-wrenching ‘Giselle’

Chattanooga Ballet will offer works old and new in two performances this weekend.

The marquee event is the romantic- era ballet “Giselle — Act II,” first performed in Paris in 1841. The modern works are by choreographers Gabriell Gambino, Jennia Shanley, Joellen Wojtowicz and Andrew Parker.

With its ethereal setting and heart-wrenching closing scene, “Giselle” is often referred to as the “Hamlet” of ballet repertoire. It was inspired by a German folk tale about young girls, known as wilis, who were engaged to be married yet died before their wedding day. At night they would rise up from their graves and dance together under the moon. Adolphe Adam composed t he music. Jules Perrot and Jean Coralli created the choreography for the production, a favorite worldwide.

Parker, who also serves as the company’s artistic director, calls it a “moving love story … filled with romance, death, spirit and triumph [that] fuses together the dancer’s dramatic acting with brilliant and glorious dancing.”

Dancing the principal role of Giselle will be professional company member Samantha Sole, partnered by Dillon Davis as Albrecht. The role of Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, will be danced by company member Kirsten Hyde. Hilarion will be danced by guest artist Christopher Durham. The roles of Monya and Zulma will be performed by Chloe Russell and Caroline Blair.

The works by Gambino, Shanley, Wojtowicz and Parker reflect Chattanooga Ballet’s commitment to presenting new choreographic works, a practice that has resulted in the commissioning and production of more than 50 premieres by Tennessee and regional choreographers.

Gambino, based in Atlanta, previously premiered “Optimist” with Chattanooga Ballet in 2014. She will premiere the contemporary work “Haptic” at this concert.

Shanley created “Conducting Cosmos” for the Chattanooga Ballet Children’s Company to music by Michale Roberts.

Wojtowicz, Chattanooga Ballet’s school/outreach director, has created a companion piece to “Conducting Cosmos” titled “Universe.”

Parker is contributing “Swing Suite,” described as “an energetic, playful and zany ballet inspired by swing music” — the kind of music that can make him “dance around the living room,” he says.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Samantha Sole and Dillon Davis are partnered in the roles of Giselle and Albrecht in the Chattanooga Ballet production of ‘Giselle — Act II.”