La sulfide ballet youtube biography

With mythological spirits, a forlorn hero chasing the unknown, and supernatural forces, here is everything you need to know about the first major Romantic ballet, La Sylphide.

First, for some history, there are technically two versions of the ballet! The original La Sylphide was created by Italian dancer and choreographer Filippo Taglioni. The ballet premiered on March 12, 1832, at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra with music by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer. Taglioni created the work to showcase his daughter, Marie Taglioni, who remains one of the most celebrated ballerinas of the Romantic era. What made this ballet so notable was that it was the first time where dancing en pointe had an aesthetic rationale and was not merely an acrobatic stunt, which typically had ungraceful arm and leg movements. Another fun note is that Marie was known for shortening her skirts to reveal more leg and show off her impressive pointe work which was considered highly scandalous at the time!

The second version of La Sylphide was created by Danish ballet master August Bournonville of the Royal Danish Ballet. He had originally intended to present a revival of Filippo Taglioni’s ballet but things didn’t go to plan after the Paris Opéra demanded too high a price for Schneitzhoeffer’s score. So instead, Bournonville mounted his own production, using the original libretto (story) and chose new music composed by Herman Severin Løvenskjold. His version premiered on November 18, 1836, at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen.

Bournonville’s version is the only one that has survived and continues to be danced in its original form by the Royal Danish Ballet and ballet companies all across the world. On top of that, it is one of Bournonville’s most celebrated works!

The scenario (libretto/story) of the ballet was written by Adolphe Nourrit, a French opera singer and composer. He based it on author Charles Nodier’s novell

Choreographer: August Bouronville

Composer: Herman Severin Lovenskiold

Love’s a fickle mistress, isn’t she? A romantic ballet of two halves, Taglioni’s La Sylphide, revived by August Bouronville, is one of the world’s oldest surviving ballets. Set against the quaint, mystical romances of Scotland, this performance courtesy of the English National Ballet, produced by The Royal Danish Theatre, is streaming live to promote the significance dance provides in storytelling, community, and art. A tale of romanticism, judgement, and enchantment, La Sylphide leans to exaggerations of Scottish culture but has foundations in the country’s history of movement and wealth of myth.

Infatuated by a Sylph, an air sprite, James finds himself succumbing to his temptations of the fae and rejecting his fiancé Effie. As lead danseur, Isaac Hernandez has confident control of the stage, but his expression outside of his precise needle-footwork can’t match that of Jurgita Dronina’s Sylph – an ethereal being who maintains the production’s historical influence of promoting en-pointe as a narrative tool of the gentleness of the sprite, rather than for a show of technique.

Brigadoon has nothing on these settings or costumes, sublime, colourful and as tartan-clad as a tourist shop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. It’s entirely in good taste, with exaggerated period-accurate garb for the most part, with the occasional outfit playing into the ease of visual aesthetic of the danseur, particularly Giorgio Garrett’s Gurn with a kilt which wouldn’t feel amiss in Hollister.

A merging of two dance forms, technically impressive due to the differing footwork, the featherlike steps of ballet are instead subject to the heavy, authoritative stomps of a Scottish ceilidh, and the marriage of Scottish passion with French elegance is marvellously enrapturing – think less Flying Scotsman, more Dansante Ecossais.

Equally, as the different styles of ballet, Highland, and Scottish country dance find an ev