Susan Jaffe knows Giselle—first as a principal dancer, now as Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre. Starting Thursday, July 24, Jaffe and ABT bring that romantic ballet to Segerstrom Center for the Arts for five performances.

Premiered in 1841, Giselle has a simple plot yet poses masterful challenges that test the prowess of the leads and the corps de ballet. Giselle is a lovely village maid who is wooed by a young villager who is Albrecht, a nobleman in disguise. When the deception is exposed, Giselle is heartbroken, distraught, and dies (different ways in different productions). In the second act, Albrecht visits Giselle’s forest grave and is surrounded by ghostly Wilis who condemn him to dance to his death. Giselle intervenes, sharing the dancing until the dawn comes, breaking the Wilis’ power. She saves him, but must return to the grave, leaving Albrecht alone.

Jaffe quickly soared from ABT’s corps de ballet to principal dancer after she replaced Gelsey Kirkland at a gala in the challenging pas d’esclave from Le Corsair. After her 1982 debut as Giselle, the New York Times Anna Kisselgoff wrote:

“On Saturday afternoon, Susan Jaffe, the 19-year-old new darling of the ballet world, made her debut in the title role and in her second act, demonstrated her extraordinary talent.”

Over her 22 year career, Jaffe was known for her interpretations of many classics from Swan Lake to Sleeping Beauty as well as her contemporary chops on display in the 1984 Barysnikov telecast of Twyla Tharp’s crossover ballet Push Comes to Shove.

Yet, Jaffe’s special relationship with Giselle was evident in her final performance with ABT in June 2002.

The New Times Anna Kisselgoff was almost rapturous about that final performance:

“A village Giselle with eyes cast down can be a cliché. But Ms. Jaffe’s mime and phrasing within the dancing suggested a particularly virginal innocent. She was too vulnerable to bear any hurt. Albrecht, usually the seducer, was in this case seduced by Giselle and her purity.

“As a Wili, she did not fight for Albrecht’s life so much as plead for it. The same purity was now channeled into serenity. Her mad scene was sad without hysteria.”

Taking time from ABT’s New York summer season, Jaffe talked with dance writer Ann Haskins about elements that distinguish each of the five lead couples coming next week and how her own view evolved over the years she danced Giselle. (The interview has been edited for length and clarity).

Haskins: Please tell me about the five different Giselles and Albrechts on stage next week. The leads opening on Thursday night are principal dancers Hee Seo and Cory Stearns. I understand she just celebrated her 20th anniversary with the company?

Jaffe: Yes, just last week, and Cory also, on the same day. They both came into the company at the same time. They are long-time partners and have developed a beautiful rapport on stage, a special relationship. Hee has this wonderful combination of joy and fragility, as well as naivete. It works when the Giselle is not only exuberant, but also fragile. Otherwise you would not believe that she died of a broken heart or that she had a bad heart.  I believe that somewhere, deep inside, Giselle sees some red flags but doesn’t act on them because she doesn’t want to believe what she sees. As you see in the second act, it is her deep love and forgiveness that crosses over into more universal love or more universal compassion, and not just for Albrecht who is in front of her. As Giselle, Hee beautifully embodies universal love and universal forgiveness and compassion. Plus, she has an enormous jump. She really looks like she flies through the air like a wisp of smoke being blown by the wind. She has that beautiful combination.

Corey is also a very seasoned artist. What I love about his first act is he is very ardent; he really looks in love with Giselle. Some play Albrecht as a cad. I don’t think that any of our Albrecht’s currently do. I think the reason is because it would seem as if he was completely heartless. I think as far as these Albrechts are concerned, all they want to do is to be near Giselle. And so they will do anything just to be near her. These Albrechts are like many young people who lose their head and end up doing things that are not in the best interest of all concerned. They are genuinely enthralled with this enchanting young woman who is just full of love and joy.

Haskins: That portrayal of Albrecht seems to be a cousin of James in La Sylphide where the tragedy is set in motion when they are swept away by passion for Giselle in Albrecht’s case or the alluring sprite in James’ case. It allows the audience to care about what happens to this rather thoughtless fellow who is blind to the tragic consequences of his choices.

Jaffe: Exactly. Young people don’t always think that far ahead and suffer a lot of consequences, particularly in their late teens, early 20s. In Albrecht, we see  someone who is a victim of their drives and desires, not thinking that ‘if I do this, then what’s going to happen?’ He hasn’t thought that far in advance. He’s too young to understand the consequences of his actions, which is why, when he comes into the second act, he is full of remorse, because he realizes the result of his actions. It makes it much easier to feel for him while he’s being beaten up by the Wilis, and why Giselle does everything to save his life. That speaks to our humanity. Beyond just the actual technique of the ballet, it is the universality of those kinds of consequences that we all fall victim to in our lives, that continues to speak to us, because we’ve all done stupid things.

Haskins: On Friday evening it is principal dancers Christine Shevchenko and Calvin Royal III. Reviews of ABT’s current New York season had strong praise for the pairing. She particularly seems to have come into her own in the last couple of seasons. Is that an accurate impression?

Jaffe: I would say that’s true. This is a couple that has bloomed this year. Christine Shevchenko, we call her Chevy here, always has been extremely strong and always stylistically accurate. This year, there’s been a deeper layer of storytelling in her, on top of all that stylistic beauty and strength. Calvin has always been a very deep and thoughtful artist. His physicality has improved and increased as well this season. You’re really going to get a beautiful, deep interpretation. It’s really wonderful to be able to see how everybody every year, every performance, deepens and grows. And of course, the more people perform, the more they have that opportunity to do that.

Haskins: The Saturday matinee brings principal dancers Chloe Misseldine and Aran Bell. Chloe Misseldine is one of ABT’s fast risers. I saw some reviews of her Swan Lake that were splendid. Is this her first season doing Giselle?

Jaffe: She did her first Giselle in Minneapolis in April, just one performance. This will be her second performance. She’s an extraordinary young talent. What’s really beautiful about Chloe and Aaron’s interpretation is the intentionality intertwined, enmeshed with their dancing. You feel very moved by their performance. Not to say that you don’t feel moved by the others, but for Chloe and Aran in particular, because they’re so young, is it unusual how they bring, not a maturity, but a depth that you don’t always see with younger dancers.

Haskins: For Saturday evening, it is principal dancers Devon Teuscher and Joo Won Ahn in the leads.

Jaffe: Devin and Joo Won have very, very beautiful interpretations Devin brings a very detailed first act. She’s really thought all the way through the character. For each moment, she really thinks deeply about how to tell the story better for her and for her character. Their second act is beautiful and fully realized. Joo Won was injured for almost a year. He came back and did his first Giselle last week. He was even stronger than before. Even though he was out for a year, he grew a lot in maturity and in his interpretations of the character.

Haskins: The final show, the Sunday matinee, is principal dancers Skylar Brandt and Herman Cornejo.

Jaffe: They were absolutely beautiful last week in Giselle. Their performance was very, very exciting. I think everybody will be wowed by them. Skylar is another who has made leaps this year, her interpretive or authentic being is more fully realized within her own artistry. Of course, Herman is a very seasoned artist. He really feels it very deeply.

Haskins: Giselle has been overseen by a lot of male artistic directors who danced Albrecht. You bring a distinct perspective to the ballet, having danced Giselle. Irina Kolpakova was your coach throughout your career, and I think at certain points you brought in a drama coach. Do the current roster of principal dancers seek out those same kinds of coaching and dramatic input to find ways to take their characterization deeper?

Jaffe: I don’t work with each one of them every single day, but when I work with them, I incorporate that in my coaching. I prepared Chloe for her first Giselle in Minneapolis, so I spent every day with her to get her ready. When I am with them, I am working dramaturgically as well as on clarity, stylistically and technically. I remember one day I was coaching Chloe in Swan Lake, and I said, “Chloe, that’s not an attitude. Well, of course, it’s an attitude, but it’s not an attitude. This means that you are protecting Siegfried from von Rothbart.” So it’s not about the position, it’s about the intent of the positions or ballet steps used to speak the language. The meaning and intent need to be there in order for it to be a filled moment. I’ll ask a lot of questions like “Why are you doing this at this moment?  What are you thinking about Albrecht?” I try to help them thread an arc of a character, not just moment to moment. If there is no arc, then the character is disjointed. They have so many things to think about. Sometimes they just need to be reminded to really look at this as an arc, while also moment to moment.

My dramaturgical work when I was dancing was after hours, never in the studio, because I didn’t want to be too directed. I wanted to come to the dramaturg and say, I’m really struggling with this moment trying to feel what this character is going through. Here are my issues, and then we would talk about it. If the dancer isn’t adding their own feeling, then it’s not going to work. So I try to leave space for that dancer to come with their own ideas and intentions. I might point out that a moment doesn’t work and the reason why. Then they’ll come up with something else. I try to guide instead of being too prescriptive.

Haskins: Do you recall one of those moments, or one of those challenges where you were trying to figure something out and took it to the dramaturg?

Jaffe: Let me think about this. Oh, I remember I really struggled with Giselle’s naivete. I just thought how can she be that blind not to see what’s going on in front of her. The dramaturg reminded me that most people, when they see red flags, sometimes choose to ignore them and take part in their own demise. Then I could connect to Giselle because that felt much more human than simply being naive or stupid.  She’s not stupid, but she doesn’t want to believe what she sees until it is too late. It would be things like that that I would need to come to a better understanding. The dancer, the performer, has to fully, with all their heart, believe in what they’re doing, believe in what is happening to the character in that moment. If they don’t believe it, we all know it, we all feel it. Getting to that place of belief can be really fun, because you try this, try that, and try to come to another understanding, to think outside the box to find that “Aha!” moment, and then be really able to grab and hold that moment or that character in a deeper way.

Haskins: How did Giselle become your final performance?

Jaffe: I had decided in January that I was going to retire at the end of that season in June. Giselle was the last thing on my season that year. It ended up being really fortunate for me, because at the end of the ballet, Giselle takes Albrecht’s hand, she brings her other hand to her heart, and then extends it out in front and above her head to say “Our love will last through eternity.” For me, that was a really important message at the end of my career, to tell the audience that my love and my gratitude for them having watched me grow up and dance through all those years would last to eternity.  It’s not about what happens in life, it’s the meaning we give it, right? So that was that moment and that was the meaning that happened for me at that instant.

Haskins: In interviews you have spoken about a point after your meteoric rise when you regrouped.

Jaffe: I just woke up one day and said, “This isn’t enough. This just isn’t enough, and I’ve got to figure out how to deepen it.” And there wasn’t really enough time in rehearsal to figure that out. So I worked with Julio Horvath and his gyrotonics. He created gyrotonics, and, you know, I sat by him and I said, Where does movement come from? Where in the body, where does it come from? Where is the initiation of movement? I wanted to go really deep, and I did that. I worked with the dramaturg, and of course, I was also working with Irina Kolpakova. I was engulfing myself with just a deep learning curve, because I just felt what I was doing wasn’t enough…Oh gosh, it’s 4:30, I have to be at another meeting…

Haskins: One final, quick question. Where does movement start from? Did you find out?

Jaffe: I think it comes from deep within the core, the very center of your being, which is not only just physical, but spiritual as well.

American Ballet Theatre — Giselle at Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, 600 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa; Thurs.- Fri., July 24-25, 7:30 pm, Sat., July 26, 2 & 7:30 pm, Sun., July 27, 1 pm, $55.37 to $190.97. American Ballet Theatre