Giselle Bddrip

Tamara Rojo, dancer and artistic director of English National Ballet, explores Giselle - the first great Romantic ballet, and a defining role for any ballerina. Through two radically contrasting 2016 productions - a traditional 19th-century recreation, and a gritty reimagining of the work by celebrated Anglo-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan - Rojo examines the cultural and social background to the ballet's genesis in 1840s Paris, and the spiritual themes that have fuelled its success over the last 175 years. Giselle is the story of a young peasant girl who personifies all that is good in life, and ultimately forgives the aristocrat who has seduced and betrayed her.

Beatrice is stuck in a depressing office job: her hard work is overlooked, her paycheck's so small she's about to lose her apartment, and her boss won't give her a promotion unless she sleeps with him. But Beatrice just took a vacation to Africa, where she learned a very particular set of skills, both in and out of the bedroom. She's about to transform her boss's life in a way that he never saw coming. She'll get a maid to clean her dirty apartment. And maybe, in the process, Beatrice will finally find love…