Hello! I also saw the Friday evening performance. Julie Kent was very good in the first act, her mad scene being teriffic, and her second act was superb. Jose Manuel Carreno was very noble throughout the ballet, and his dancing, especially the second act variation, as mentioned earlier, was . His dancing always amazes me. They both looked very nice together and delivered wonderful performances.
Erica Cornejo was a very big standout in the first act. I had never seen her dance before and was extremely impressed. My sister (who also dances) and my dance friends agree with me that she was so exciting to watch and so captivating!
I was happy to see Gennadi Saveliev dance in the second act because I enjoy his dancing and thought he did a great job. It was a bit funny to me that when he was supposed to look tired by the end of his dance with the willis, he still had so much energy nonetheless and was still great to watch.
Finally, when I have been reading the reviews of ABT on the boards, I know that Veronica Part has quite a large fan base and so I was very interested to see her dance as Myrtha. First off, she was so tall on stage, she made you give her your attention. She had beautiful arms and impressed me. She seemed to improve throughout the evening as her jumps started shaky and not as controlled (her height a factor, perhaps?) but later got under control and displayed beautifully high jetes. She also kept in character the entire time and was a very cold Myrtha.
Overall, I had a wonderful evening seeing ABT's Giselle. It was a solid production, and even the corps was very impressive in the second act! The dancing was very beautiful, and I hope they return to Chicago again sometime soon.