Four Ways Giselle Changed Ballet
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre opens its 2026-27 season with Giselle with the PBT Orchestra, one of the most challenging works in the ballet repertoire. It is also one of the oldest classical ballets, premiering in Paris in 1841 during the French Romantic Era.
Widely regarded as a ballet masterpiece, Giselle is renowned for its emotional depth, technical rigor, and theatricality. It is a tragic love story of betrayal, forgiveness, and redemption.
Its impact on ballet today is unmistakable. The choreography introduced new techniques and stylistic elements that continue to shape ballet. Some of the ballet innovations popularized by Giselle include:
The Romantic Tutu
- Giselle popularized the romantic tutu, a floaty, bell-shaped skirt that falls halfway between a dancer’s knees and ankles.
- These tutus give the ballerina the illusion of floating across the stage, adding an airy lightness to the already graceful performance
- The tutu was inspired by early-nineteenth-century themes, such as the Industrial Revolution and fashion trends circulating across Europe and the Americas.
- During this era, ballet focused on lighter movements and more intricate storytelling, using costumes to accentuate graceful choreography and heighten the dramatic experience.
- This style of tutu became a staple in the ballet community and is still used frequently in dance today.
Pointe Shoes
- Giselle was one of the first ballets performed on pointe.
- This new technique allowed dancers to look like they were floating and flying across the stage.
- In the early 1830s, pointework was introduced to ballet, paving the way for the creation of pointe shoes in the following years.
- Pointe shoes evolved from simple, square-toed satin slippers to darned, leather-soled slippers that fit the ballerina’s foot tightly, wrapped around the ankles with ribbon.
- At first, dancing en pointe required significant arm movement to gather enough momentum to rise onto the tips of the toes, a feeling remarkably similar to trying to balance on tiptoe while barefoot.
- Dancers used minimal padding at the toes of the slippers and kept pointe work light and brief because their shoes offered limited support.
- Italian ballerina Marie Taglioni was the first to dance en pointe in La Sylphide, inspiring other dancers to advance pointe work in choreography, leading to many of the performances we know and love today!
Elevating the Role of Lead Ballerina
- Giselle’s iconic choreography, sweeping costuming, and ethereal aesthetic redefined ballet and changed the role of the ballerina.
- Giselle’s title role is considered one of ballet’s greatest challenges, requiring the ballerina to move seamlessly from an innocent girl to a heartbroken spirit.
- This dual role set the precedent that a lead ballerina must demonstrate both virtuosic technique and deeply evocative storytelling through refined acting skills.
- Giselle’s heartbreak, death, and ghostly return create one of the most stunning and rapid character transformations in ballet – from ecstatic joy to psychological collapse, physical death, and ghostly serenity.
Ballet Blanc
- Giselle invented the “Ballet Blanc” genre, or white ballet, in which the lead ballerina and the supporting corps de ballet are dressed in all white.
- Act II of Giselle exemplifies Ballet Blanc, as Giselle and the Wilis perform in all-white costumes while dancing in the underworld, heightening the scene’s ghostly eeriness.
- The graceful, white tutus adorning Giselle and the Wilis also signify the purity of the undead maidens who were betrayed by their lovers and will never wed.
- The lightness of the costumes gives the performance a romantic feel, showcasing the grace, beauty, and supernatural aspects of the era, and making the ballerinas appear as if they are floating.
Past & Preseent artists of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre | Photography: Aimee DiAndrea & Justin Merriman