Audiences have been enchanted by the story of Giselle for over 170 years. A young maid falls in love with a philandering duke, dies of madness upon learning of his duplicity, then returns as a ghost to save him from imminent death at the hands of supernatural forces. Love, betrayal, forgiveness – an emotional smorgasbord that has long dished out the goods for balletomanes season after season. And so The Australian Ballet brings the story to life once more, begging the question: why?

Ako Kondo and Ty King-Wall. Photo © Jeff Busby

A work like Giselle is best thought of as a long-term project – for the company, its dancers and its audiences. Of course, such a famous ballet comes loaded with history and reputation – most will remember their first time witnessing Giselle’s descent into madness or recall the magic of the wilis draped in tulle veils.

But the work also provides an opportunity for the dancers to revisit and refine the choreography; to uncover new interpretations or perspectives that lie deep within the narrative and its complex characters. A program note by arts writer Deborah Jones comments that the true essence of...