Joffrey Ballet’s ‘Little Mermaid’ unsettles as it entrances

Victoria Jaiani projects fear, doubt and vulnerability in the title role of “The Little Mermaid,” by the Joffrey Ballet. (Cheryl Mann)

To understand and appreciate the Joffrey Ballet’s new production of “The Little Mermaid,” it’s important first of all to understand that it has little to do with Walt Disney’s hugely successful if anodyne animated version from 1989.

Much more in keeping with the darkness of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale, this nearly 2½-hour adaptation is meditative, intense, unsettling and sometimes even grim. It is also unfailingly entrancing and beautiful.