Giselle is a ballet by Adolphe Adam. It has 2 acts, 2 scenes, with a libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Théophile Gautier and was originally choreographed by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot (the principal Ballerina's dances). The choreography of nearly all modern productions derives from the revivals of Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet (1884, 1899, 1903).

Giselle was first presented by the Ballet du Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique, Paris, France, on June 28, 1841.

The version passed down to the present day was staged by Marius Petipa for the Imperial Ballet (today the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet). Petipa staged his definitive revival of Giselle in 1884 for the Ballerina Maria Gorshenkova, but made his final touches to the work for Anna Pavlova's debut in 1903. It is said that the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet still dance the ballet in Petipa's original design nearly unchanged. Petipa's final work on Giselle was notated in the Stepanov method of choreographic notation around the turn of the 20th century, and is today held as part of the famous Sergeyev Collection in the Harvard University Library Theatre Collection.

In the first act, a young, innocent village maiden named Giselle is in love with a man she knows only as Loys. In reality, the man is Albrecht, a nobleman disguised as a peasant, who is betrothed to Bathilde, daughter of the Duke. When Giselle discovers the deceit, she is inconsolable and goes mad, then dies; one version says she dies of a broken heart while another says she commits suicide in her madness. In the second act, her undying love for Albrecht saves him from the wicked magic of the wilis, vampiric ghosts of betrothed girls who were betrayed by their lovers and died before their wedding day. Though their leader, Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis, forces Albrecht to dance again and again, Giselle intervenes long enough to spare his life and allow him to survive until the dawn. At sunrise, the wilis must return to their grave; Giselle must return as well but not before showing Albrecht that she forgives him for his treachery. The two pledge their love to each other and she descends back into her grave, but will forever be separated. Giselle is now a wili for the rest of eternity.