“The choreography is explosive, fiercely danced.” - The New York Times

Choreographer’s Note for Clear

I originally choreographed Clear for American Ballet Theatre in 2001. The piece was created weeks after the tragedy of September 11, and emerged as my artistic response to those events. It becomes clear in a time of crisis what is most important in life. The single woman represents clarity to the seven men in the ballet. She signifies the path that leads you home in those moments of chaos. Mr. Kors’s costume designs are simple and elegant, focusing the attention on the emotion of the dancing. ——Stanton Welch

Giselle – a Ballet to Die for!

Losing nothing of the romanticism that amazed Giselle’s first audiences in Paris in 1841, the highly-charged story encompasses fervent love, hurt sensibilities, betrayal, madness, danger, remorse, forgiveness and utmost tenderness.

Giselle, a peasant girl, goes mad and kills herself when she is told (by a rival) that her lover, Albrecht, is of noble birth. When he comes to worship at her tomb at night, the ghosts of brides who died before their wedding day, the Wilis, appear and threaten death, but Giselle’s ghost keeps him safe until dawn.

Adolphe Adam (1803–1856) – born in the same year as Berlioz – wrote no fewer than 14 ballets, of which Giselle is his calling card to prosperity. Here he imbues the romantic tale of love’s power both in life and beyond with the most sumptuous orchestral score that stirs the heart and mind like no other.

Giselle will certainly swell your breast with emotion and surely bring a tear to your eyes!

Tan Yuan Yuan(Guest Principal Dancer)

Tan Yuan Yuan, born in Shanghai, China, trained at Shanghai Dancing School and Stuttgart’s John Cranko School. Tan received a gold medal and the Nijinsky Award at the 1st Japan International Ballet and Modern Dance Competition (1993), a gold medal in the 5th International Ballet Competition in Paris (1992). She joined San Francisco Ballet as a soloist in 1995 and became a principal dancer in 1997. She has danced lead female roles in Tomasson’s Giselle, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Nutcracker; Tomasson/Possokhov’s Don Quixote; Morris’ Sylvia; and Lubovitch’s Othello. She created roles in Tomasson’s The Fifth Season, Chi-Lin, Silver Ladders, and 7 for Eight; Possokhov’s Magrittomania, Damned, and Study in Motion; Wheeldon’s Continuum and Quaternary; and Welch’s Tu Tu. Her repertory includes Ashton’s Tha?s Pas de Deux; Balanchine’s Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, Concerto Barocco, Prodigal Son, and Apollo; Duato’s Without Words; Robbins’ In the Night, Dances at a Gathering and Dybbuk; and Makarova’s Paquita.

A frequent guest artist, Tan headlined “Yuan Yuan Tan and Eight Ballet Stars,” a gala in Nara, Japan (2003), and “Yuan Yuan Tan and Friends” Gala in Shanghai in 2000. Additional honors include an invitation to the White House in 1999 and The Bund magazine City of Heart award in Shanghai in December 2007. She was featured in Vogue magazine in April 2003 and was named a “Hero of Asia” in the Asian edition of Time in October 2004. Recent guest appearances include a 2006 charity concert in Shanghai and a performance of the full-length ballet Magpie Bridge – a benefit promoting harmony between China and Japan.

Tan Yuan Yuan joined The Hong Kong Ballet as Guest Principal Dancer from May 2008.

The tickets for Giselle by The Hong Kong Ballet will be on sale soon!