Even after 175 years, Giselle has lost none of its mystique ­– not least thanks to Adolphe Adam’s imaginative and catchy music. Patrice Bart staged the ghostly fairy tale in 2015 in unadulterated French style, presenting a new, magical version of the piece with Ballett Zürich. Bart’s interpretation is based on the original choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot.

The fateful 28 June 1841 marks the birth of romantic ballet at the Paris Opera. Based on a story published by Heinrich Heine in 1834, Giselle ou Les Wilis tells the tale of a peasant girl who unwittingly falls in love with a duke; her love is betrayed, she succumbs to insanity and dies. After her death, Giselle joins the circle of the Wilis. Ghostly nocturnal creatures, these abandoned brides lure travelers into an inexorable, fatal dance. In order to protect her lover from the vengeance of her companions, Giselle dances for him before the Ghost Queen Myrtha – until the sinister power of the Wilis ends at daybreak.

In 2025, Patrice Bart will celebrate his 80th birthday. His career – which has lasted for more than 60 years – is closely linked to the Paris Opera Ballet. After his career as a dancer drew to a close, he was named principal ballet master, and took over the Paris company in 1969, together with Eugène Polyakov. In 1991, on the 150th anniversary of the premiere of Giselle, both artists came together to create a new premiere of this key work in the ballet repertoire.

Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot choreographed the original version of Giselle.

Perrot and Carlotta Grisi were lovers and, consequently, Perrot designed all of her dances and pantomime. Everyone in the Paris dance world knew that Perrot had created Grisi's dances and Coralli admitted it, but Perrot was given no official credit in the printed materials such as posters and programs. This was most likely done to prevent Perrot from collecting royalties on the ballet. Perrot liked bold touches and planned several rapid aerial swoops on wires in Act II for Giselle. Grisi was afraid of these swoops, therefore a stage hand was brought in to test them. He crashed face-first into the scenery and the swoops were dropped.

The balletomanes of Paris became very excited as the opening night of Giselle approached. News reports kept their interest alive. Some reports said that Grisi has had an accident whilst other reports indicated that the conductor was ill with a tumor. Still others said that the stage hands feared for their safety.

Hopes that the ballet would be ready in May were dashed and the opening night was postponed several times. Grisi was absent for a few days and her return was delayed to protect her health. Lighting, trapdoors, and scene changes needed further rehearsals. Cuts were made in Grisi's role to spare the dancer's health. Instead of returning to her tomb at the end of the ballet, it was decided that she would be placed on a bed of flowers and sink slowly into the earth. This touch preserved the romantic mood of the Act II finale.

At last, on Monday, 28 June 1841 the curtain rose on Giselle at the Salle Le Peletier. Grisi danced Giselle with Lucien Petipa as her lover Albrecht, Jean Coralli as the gamekeeper Hilarion, and Adèle Dumilâtre as Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis. Typical of the theatrical practices of the time, Giselle was preceded by an excerpt from another production—in this case, the third act of Rossini's opera, Mosè in Egitto. In 1844 Marie Guy-Stéphan made his first appearance in a role for the first production of Giselle, who performed in numerous works by Pepita.

In spite of the chief machinist shouting orders to his crew that could be heard by the audience, Giselle was a great success. Grisi was a sensation. Ballet-goers regarded her as another Marie Taglioni, the greatest ballerina of the period.