Ballet Hawaii returns to the Blaisdell this weekend with "Giselle," a beloved ballet featuring a demented heroine and a chorus of eternally dancing wilis (a Slavic term for vampires, but here used to denote young fiancees who die before their weddings).

According to Pamela Taylor-Tongg, artistic director of Ballet Hawaii, " 'Giselle' is one of the supreme achievements of the Romantic Ballet. It offers dancers the opportunity to display not only their technical expertise, but also their acting skills."

Dancing Giselle will be 19-year old Tiler Peck who, at the age of 17, was one of the youngest dancers to ever be promoted to soloist at the New York City Ballet.

Peck, well aware of the importance of the role, commented via text message while touring Europe. "One of the biggest challenges I have found in learning this famous role is developing the complexity of her character. Act 1 is completely different from Act 2, and it is imperative to show the distinction. This role differs greatly from the rep I do at New York City Ballet because we do not have that many opportunities to do full-length ballets, although I had the experience when I performed Juliet last year. I truly believe that this role will help me grow as an artist."

Peck's partner will be Joaquin de Luz, another New York City Ballet principal dancer. De Luz hails from Cuba, where he was a member of the esteemed National Ballet, directed by Alicia Alonso, one of the greatest Giselles of the 20th century.

Robert Barnett, former director of the Atlanta Ballet, fondly recalls seeing Alonso dance her first Giselle in 1946. He is restaging the ballet here, basing the choreography on the version he learned from David Blair, a former dancer with England's Royal Ballet who set it on Atlanta's company years ago.

Interviewed before a recent rehearsal, Barnett said, "The whole ballet is its style. The steps are fairly simple, but the style is the most important thing. A lot of the style of Romantic Ballet is based on the clothing of the time: tight bodices and shoes that weren't nearly as strong as today's pointe shoe."

The brief Romantic Ballet period, during which "Giselle" was created, followed the era of court ballets and preceded that of the great classical ballets. It is said to have begun in 1832 with the Paris Opera production of "La Sylphide," and climaxed in 1841 with "Giselle." The Italian dancer Marie Taglioni, the original Sylphide, was one of the first ballerinas to dance on pointe. The role of Giselle was created for another Italian, Carlotta Grisi, a leading ballerina of the time.

French choreographer Marius Petipa, creator of "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty" and other classical ballets, restaged "Giselle" in St. Petersburg in the 1880s. It is this later version that has come down in time via the Royal Ballet's 1934 restaging of Petipa's rendition.

"Giselle" will present an evening of romance and drama, a generous dose of ballet history, and some first-rate dancing.

Carol Egan is a freelance writer living in Hawai'i.