GISELLE is acclaimed director Toa Fraser's interpretation of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's production of Giselle. The classic story of love, erotism and death has been reinterpreted by Fraser to include both the on stage performance of the ballet, and an off-stage romance – interwoven with the ballet – that tells of two itinerant dancers, separated by time, distance and their abiding love for each other.
Direction
Fraser blurs stage and backstage until you can't tell which love is real.
Cinematography
Close-ups that capture sweat, strain, and transcendence.
Production
Two love stories braided so tight they become one.
Director
Toa Fraser
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This production reimagines the 1841 Romantic ballet through a Māori-Samoan director's lens, centering Pasifika and Asian dancers in a traditionally Eurocentric canon.
NZ
US
