Dance Review - Giselle (Pacific Northwest Ballet)

Dance Review - Giselle
Presented By: Pacific Northwest Ballet - Seattle, WA
Show Run: April 10 - April 19, 2026
Date Reviewed: Friday, April 10, 2026 (opening night)
Run Time: 2 Hours, 15 Minutes (including a 25-minute intermission)
Reviewed by: Tucker Cholvin

When I was 17, I had the foolish misfortune to introduce my then-boyfriend to the man who would quickly become his next boyfriend. We hung out with this friend of mine one weekend at Alderwood Mall; shortly thereafter, my boyfriend abruptly dumped me. A week later I found out that I had both played myself and been played. They were together. Ah, youth.

I was, to say the least, not happy about this. Revenge fantasies took hold in my mind: confronting them, breaking them up, other unhinged ideas. One fantasy that I didn’t consider, oddly, was dying of heartbreak, joining a nocturnal band of similarly wronged souls, and seeking our revenge by catching men in the woods at night and forcing them to dance to their deaths.

This is more or less (without the gay teenagers and Alderwood Mall) the plot of Giselle, now on stage at Pacific Northwest Ballet through April 19. One of ballet’s foundational works, it tells the story of a young woman who, betrayed by love in life, finds herself in death amidst the Wilis – the souls of women who, wronged in love, exact their revenge in death by dancing men to death. Of all the classic ballets that are commonly performed, it is perhaps one of the gloomiest.

Other “storybook” ballets, like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, can be a little light on plot. You already know she’s going to end up with the prince, so why not bring Puss in Boots out for a little dance while we’re all here? Not so with Giselle, which crams in soap opera levels of plot, free of dialogue. For this reason, I highly recommend reading the synopsis and the guide to ballet mime before the curtain rises. The heavy narration is an opportunity for PNB dancers to show off their acting chops – Ryan Cardea, Mark Cuddihee, Melisa Guilliams and Dammiel Cruz-Garrido found moments to inject humor into scenes that otherwise would have been heavy and didactic.

Often in Giselle, the stage is crowded as the company makes their way through large ensemble numbers. These are some of the ballet’s best moments, as sixteen dancers bring precision and synchrony to their movements; it made the joyful dances more exuberant, the ghostly ones more enthralling. In their Act I pas de deux, Clara Ruf Maldonado and Kuu Sakuragi were electric in respective solos, but chemistry seemed elude them when they danced together. In Act II, Amanda Morgan is both chilling and regal as Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, and a pleasure to watch throughout.

Another aspect that stands out in Giselle is the set and staging. The set is richly illustrated and created – the forest in Act II seems deeply thicketed. When the stage fills with fog, it’s deliciously spooky. Randall G. Chiarelli’s lighting design for the production feels every bit as subtle and nuanced as the dancing. I kept noticing little details of light – the golden glow of sunset on a distant castle, the shimmer of a pond in moonlight – that made the whole show feel deeply alive.

185 years since its debut, Giselle has long since lapsed into the public domain, creating space for artists and productions to play with it. If Giselle fails to satisfy, it’s because this isn’t a revenge story at all; instead of dancing the man who wronged her to death, Giselle forgives and releases him.

That’s the way the story goes – but should it? Perhaps a 2026 audience would like to watch Giselle exact her revenge on the men who tormented her for once. Justice, denied to Giselle in Act I and so many others in real life, is so rarely extracted. I found myself longing for a taste. In its absence, however, there’s still much to enjoy, and Giselle may haunt you even after the sun rises on the Wilis. It’s well worth it.

The Pacific Northwest Ballet production of Giselle runs on stage at McCaw Hall in Seattle through April 19. For more information, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.pnb.org/.

Photo credit: Angela Sterling