The misty romance of Giselle, which Miami City Ballet brought back on Friday night at the Adrienne Arsht Center, is stylistic light years — and more than 170 calendar years — from the slashing modernisms of Viscera, the Liam Scarlett ballet MCB premiered in January.

But the depth and self-knowledge the dancers have gained from that experience were visible in their confident performance of this classic dance tragedy.

Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra were in their element in the leading roles of Giselle, in which the dance-loving village girl dies of a broken heart after being jilted by Albrecht. The nobleman disguises his position to dally with her, and regrets it deeply after Giselle’s spirit proves her love by saving him from the ghostly, vengeful Wilis in the second act.

Jeanette Delgado made a powerful impression in her debut as Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, making up for her lack of height — Myrtha is traditionally danced by a tall ballerina — with an utterly commanding presence and impeccably sculpted dancing.

Kronenberg has been dancing Giselle since MCB first performed it in 2002, and she has made this ballerina-defining role her own.

She has a beautifully natural girlish, vulnerable quality in the first act, while her mad scene, after Giselle discovers Albrecht’s treachery, feels real and original. In the second act, she radiates the strange blend of serenity and yearning that make the figure of Giselle so compelling.

Technically, Kronenberg has unerring balance, whether in long hops on a single pointe or tilting into deepest arabesque, as well as cloud-soft arms and willowy torso. Her one fault Friday was during the long sequence of fluttering jumps in the second act, where her torso seemed rigid, rather than floating.

Guerra, her real life husband, has also become terrifically natural as Albrecht, making a seamless journey from cocky charm to distraught remorse. In the second act, he tops powerful, elastic leaps with agonized arches that show the depth of Albrecht’s agony.

The corps de ballet danced with a vivid energy and unified impulse, whether as Giselle’s joyful companions or in the relentless criss-crossing patterns of Wilis. The sole critique here is that they tended to be a little too steely and sharp for these wafting spirits.

Ashley Knox and Zoe Zien flowed beautifully as Myrtha’s lieutenants.

Other standouts were Kleber Rebello, the young Brazilian dancer who came through MCB’s school and has risen rapidly from apprentice in 2010 to soloist. Partnering Tricia Albertson in the first act’s peasant pas de deux, he showed off the crackling footwork, sharp jumps and smooth, solid foundation that have made him one of the troupe’s most engaging and accomplished dancers. Reyneris Reyes was convincingly passionate and natural as Hilarion, Giselle’s ardent peasant suitor. He seems an excellent candidate for Albrecht.

Artistic director Edward Villella, who normally sits in the orchestra section to mix with the ballet company’s patrons on a program’s opening night, instead sat in another area on Friday. Rather like the evening’s heroine, it seems that he feels rejected and disrespected by powerful ballet backers who have pressed for his departure.

But the company he has created showed its quality onstage, empowered, like Giselle, by devotion and love for dancing.