Carlotta Grisi

[1] She next appeared in Paris at the Théâtre de la Renaissance (1840) and a year later, toured with Perrot to other parts of Europe.

It caused a sensation and inspired its reviewers to proclaim Giselle to be the greatest ballet of its time and a triumphant successor to the Romantic masterwork La Sylphide.

Dance historian Lillian Moore says of her "In Grisi were united all the best attributes of the other outstanding ballerinas of the romantic period: the buoyant elevation of Taglioni, the technical virtuosity and mimic powers of Elssler, and the joyous, exuberant facility of Cerrito.

In 1850, she joined Perrot in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he had been appointed ballet master, and she danced Giselle at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre.

The first Giselle in Russia had been danced by Fanny Elssler, and so the initial reaction to Grisi's interpretation of the role was not enthusiastic.

[4] One of the creators of Giselle, Théophile Gautier, who was married to Carlotta's sister Ernestina, described her dancing as having a childlike artlessness, a happy and infectious gaiety.