A stab at romance

Students leap at the chance to stage fiery 1800s ballet “Giselle.”

On a recent Monday, Bridgett Zehr and Gray Davis pretended to fall in love. Exchanging passionate looks and smiles, the dancers spun across the floor at Boca Ballet Theatre, with Davis occasionally lifting Zehr as easily as if she were a feather.

About 20 students from the company’s summer program looked on, appearing captivated by the dancers’ fluid movements and anticipating their appearance onstage with Zehr and Davis today through Sunday, when they’ll perform the romantic ballet “Giselle” at the Countess de Hoernle Theatre at Spanish River High School. The ballet, first performed in 1841, follows the story of a village girl who falls in love and becomes engaged to Count Albrecht, who is in her village disguised as a peasant.

Zehr, who has been a soloist with the National Ballet of Canada and a principal dancer with the English National Ballet, will play the role of Giselle. Davis, who’s in the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre, will perform as Albrecht. Both roles require exceptional technique and great dramatic skills.

“I think the hardest part right now is keeping the character, because sometimes you feel something so much you can get lost in that,” Davis says. “It has to be a story in your own head, too, in order to portray it in your face, or your arms, or every step you take. It helps having [Zehr] next to me.”

The role of Giselle is particularly demanding for its so-called “mad scene” at the end of Act I, when Giselle goes insane and dies of a broken heart after she discovers Albrecht is already engaged to a noblewoman. Zehr has performed the role several times.

“The mad scene can be challenging for me, because it’s really easy to over do it, and it’s really easy to under do it,” Zehr says. “That’s still something I’m working on.”

During rehearsal, Zehr walked through the scene, telling students where to position themselves.

Zehr says she portrays Giselle as a more delicate and vulnerable character than some dancers have.

“I don’t think Giselle should be so physical in the first act. She’s very fragile, fine-boned, and she’s different from the other girls. And that’s why she’s protected so much, because she’s kind of weak in a way,” Zehr says. “When dancers play it very physically, it kind of doesn’t make sense to me, why she would have a weak heart and be protected that much. So I think that’s what translates to why she died and why she would have a fragile heart, and why she became what she did in the second act.”

In the second act, Giselle joins the Wilis, female forest spirits who have suffered from broken hearts. Zehr gently moves across the floor, at times looking as if she’s floating. Davis portrays a remorseful Albrecht, carrying a constant frown, but still jumping and spinning with vigor.

For Dan Guin, executive director and co-artistic director of Boca Ballet, “Giselle” is one of seven ballets students should learn because of its historical importance and message of betrayal and forgiveness.