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Publicist Lee Kopp said the production was a mixture of costumes from Boston Ballet, Ballet San Jose’s 1994 production and additions by David Guthrie; the result is modest though the cottages jarred an otherwise harmonious whole. Hilarion’s Act I gifts from hunting seemed a brace of squirrels or young rabbits. Nahat included two handsome borzoi looking hounds and a dead stag borne on a pole borne by two attendants. It was an interesting touch since deer, like butterflies, in mythology have symbolic connotations to the human soul.

What distinguished Act I’s motivation was Hilarion’s witnessing Wilfred’s bowing to Albrecht already garbed in his peasant outfit. Albrecht's greetings exchanged with the grape gatherers implied a sufficient sojourn in the village to enjoy acceptance, intensifying the rejection at the end of Act I. Giselle’s fainting spell elicited concern from Albrecht, who wanted to seat her on the bench, grasping her gently, touching her forehead to determine whether she had a fever. When faced with the prospect of the hunting party, Albrecht hesitates at the unlocked door of his cottage where Hilarion was also hidden. At the ducal party’s gathering, Giselle introduces the couple who then dance the pas de deux; Berthe did not undo Giselle’s coiffure before the mad scene.

The Act II branches, stripped of their summer raiment, helped to fire Act II. As Act II’s curtain rose, two grave diggers are completing Giselle’s burial; Hilarion arrived with two white poles which he assembled into a cross, binding them with rope before bowing at the grave site in grief.

If parts of Act I seemed tentative, consider the fact that three days prior to performance, Maycel Solas, the intended Albrecht for Karen Gabay’s Giselle, suffered an injury. Nahat procured as substitute Inaki Urlezaga, a tall, slender Argentinian who resigned for personal reasons from his principal dancer status with the Royal Ballet January 2005, eliciting a healthy string of comments on ballet.co. It was immediately apparent Urlezaga knew the role cold; while tuning to the cast on short notice, he made Loys/Albrecht a thoroughly believable, romantic young man whose rapture out distanced social rank and common sense. His dancing in Act I suffered from noticeable sound in his variation, easily due to the fatigue inherent to short notice plane travel; by Act II his multiple entrechats were as soundless as his partnering was a model of caring. I hope he comes again soon.

The supporting characters were uniformly solid, though Maximo Califono seemed a trifle melodramatic as Hilarion. Roni Mahler gave us a genuinely maternal Bathilde, a little short on the mime relating to the Wilis. Ruth Ann Namey was a spirited Bathilde, thoroughly enjoying her outing. An interesting touch was Daniel Gwatkin’s, the Duke of Courland, taking Albrecht’s sword from him after Giselle’s death.
 

Particularly impressive were Mirai Noda and Le Mai Linh in the Peasant pas de deux; their precise, classically rendered dancing created a lovely contrast to the generalized warmth of the village afternoon harvest/hunting celebrations.

For Act II Moyna and Zulma were effectively danced by Catherine Grow and Alexandra Meijur; the latter’s sharp emphasis in Zulma’s variation made her an excellent candidate for Myrtha, who was danced by Haley Henderson. Suitably tall, Henderson was an impressive figure, although her port de bras and epaulement at times seemed awkward. While the corps performed with earnestness, it would be nice if the company budget permitted either more performances or a longer rehearsal period; preferably both.

Karen Gabay, Giselle for the first two of four performances, has danced for Dennis Nahat for twenty-six years. This diminutive ballerina gave us a warm, vulnerable Giselle, entirely believable in both acts; her dramatic emphasis was stronger than the phrasing which ballerinas usually accent in this romantic classical ballet.

Rita Felciano remarked she thought Giselle should be done by any company every two or three years. I concur. But, even with the dozen years’ hiatus, Nahat’s direction, fostered by his sojourn in American Ballet Theatre, gave us a memorable Giselle.