The Miami City Ballet will present what is perhaps the most cherished of all 19th-century ballets, Giselle, created in 1841 and which has never lost its preeminence in the repertory. Perhaps the most cherished of all 19th-century ballets, Giselle, created in 1841, has never lost its preeminence in the repertory. One reason among many: Every ballerina wants to dance it! And just about every great ballerina in history has danced it – from Pavlova to Ulanova, Fonteyn, Alonso, Kirkland, Makarova, and so many more. In Act One the ballerina gets to be a naïve, loving peasant girl who is betrayed by Albrecht, her aristocrat lover, and has a harrowing mad scene before dying. In Act Two she’s a ghostly Wili, raised from her tomb to join her spectral sisters in driving inconstant men to their death — only to defy the Wilis and use the power of her love to save Albrecht from his doom. Act One demands earthly romantic charm and dramatic intensity; Act Two demands incorporeal purity concealing steely classical technique. A deep theme that binds the two acts together: the power of dance itself. Giselle, with its own wonderful score by Adolphe Adam, is the ultimate dance statement about the centrality of dance to life. Friday & Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $20 to $99.