Mendocino Ballet’s upcoming production at Mendocino College Center Theater on Saturday, June 1 at 2 and 7 p.m. and on Sunday, June 2 at 2 p.
m. begins with Act II of the classical masterwork “Giselle,” considered to be the most romantic ballet of all time. Act I and it’s a sunny day in the Rhineland in the Middle Ages.
Duke Albrecht, a young nobleman, has fallen in love with Giselle, a beautiful peasant girl. Although her loved ones discourage her from reciprocating — he is betrothed to another — she is smitten. Upon discovering his betrayal, she flies into a fit of rage and stabs herself to death with his sword.
Her body is laid to rest in the forest. In Act II, Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, calls for her ghostly cohort of young girls, all of whom have died of broken hearts, to initiate Giselle. The grieving Albrecht enters the forest and when Giselle appears — from her grave — Myrtha tries to prevent the two from being together.
Giselle is defiant and the couple dance a beautiful Pas De Deux — step of two — a pantomime of the love tragedy between the two, a proclamation of their love for each other from beyond the grave. Allison Reedy performs as Giselle. She’s 19, studying human services at Mendocino College and has been dancing with the company’s executive director Trudy McCreanor for 15 years.
She’s played Alice in “Alice in Wonderland,” the Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Nutcracker” and Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” Larson Schon-Brunner per.