AMSTERDAM: Nearly a century after she was shot as an alleged spy, the story of the world’s ultimate femme fatale, Mata Hari, is to be staged for the first time as a ballet in her native Netherlands.

“Mata Hari” will open to an already sold-out premiere at the Dutch National Ballet in Amsterdam on Feb. 6, aiming to bring to life through dance the woman whose name has become synonymous with sensuality and ultimately, fatal betrayal.

Frisian-born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, known by her stage name Mata Hari, was executed by a French firing squad on Oct. 15, 1917 after being accused of spying for Germany during World War I. She was just 41.

Her Oriental dances in pre-war Parisian halls made her an overnight sensation in the French capital and elsewhere in Europe.

Now her story is being told “en pointe” for the first time.

“I wanted to make a dramatic ballet... and I was looking for a subject matter to create dance, so there had to be a connection with dance,” said Ted Brandsen, Dutch National Ballet director and the show’s choreographer.

“Mata Hari was a person who always fascinated me and she was Dutch. A lot of people actually don’t know that,” Brandsen told AFP.