CreatripTeam

South Korea’s National Ballet will stage Giselle in November, featuring Paris Opera Ballet étoile Park Se-eun alternating with National Ballet principal Park Seul-ki as Giselle, and dancers Kim Gi-wan, Heo Seo-myeong and Park Jong-seok as Albrecht. The 1841 romantic ballet tells of a peasant girl, Giselle, who dies after learning her lover Albrecht is a noble with a fiancée; she returns as a vengeful spirit (Wilis) and ultimately forgives him. Traditionally a tragic love story, Giselle’s antagonists have been reinterpreted through modern eyes: Myrtha, queen of the Wilis, once a classic villain in the ballet blanc tradition, now often symbolizes women’s resistance and collective anger at male violence; Albrecht, once romanticized, is increasingly viewed as a “bad man” — a manipulative, irresponsible figure akin to gaslighting. Contemporary productions worldwide (including new stagings that change time or place) recast Giselle herself as an active agent who chooses forgiveness and shows solidarity with other women, reflecting shifting attitudes about gender, responsibility and agency in performance and society.