Milwaukee Ballet opened its season last weekend with a ghost story, launching a year of big, bold ballets collectively titled Beyond Belief. Last weekend’s Giselle tells a century-old fairy tale through the lens of real-life atrocities in war-torn Europe, dabbling in themes like life and death; and class, power and agency.

Milwaukee Ballet’s updated Giselle is now more than 20 years old, but it reads as fresh and relevant in 2025. Rather than an ancient century storybook village, this Giselle takes place in a 1940s Jewish ghetto at the height of World War II.

The ballet marked the official homecoming for Milwaukee native Jennifer Hackbarth, who danced the title role (shared with Lahna Vanderbush) as a newly instated leading artist with the Milwaukee Ballet. Hackbarth’

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