La Sylphide

LA SYLPHIDE
August Bournonville | Ballet in two acts
From the Bolshoi Ballet | Approximate running time: 130 minutes including 1 intermission

La Sylphide is one of the world's oldest surviving romantic ballets, dating back to August Bournonville's 1836 version. The version presented today has been adapted by choreographer Johan Kobborg, and gleams anew at the Bolshoi Ballet. In La Sylphide, the human realm of a small Scottish community – evoked by traditional folk songs in Herman Løvenskiold's score – meets the spiritual when James, a classic Romantic hero, is utterly bewitched by a beautiful sylph whom he is unable to touch. Starring Ekaterina Krysanova as the Sylph, and Vyacheslav Lopatin as James.

CAST
Sylph: Ekaterina Krysanova
James: Vyacheslav Lopatin
Madge, witch: Irina Zibrova
Effie, James' fiancée: Anna Rebetskaya
Gurn: Denis Savin
Anna, James' mother: Irina Semirechenskaya
Two Friends: Alexander Vorobiyov, Alexander Voytyuk
Pas de six: Ivan Alexeyev, Xenia Kern, Maria Prorvich, Anna Proskurnina, Igor Tsvirko, Klim Yefimov
Old Musician: Andrei Sitnikov
The First Sylph: Anna Tikhomirova
Two Sylphs: Olga Kishnyova, Victoria Yakusheva

CREATIVE
Music: Herman Severin Løvenskiold
Libretto: Adolphe Nourrit and Filippo Taglioni
Choreography: August Bournonville
Production and new choreography: Johan Kobborg
Sets and costumes design: Peter Farmer
Lighting designer: Damir Ismagilov
Conductor: Pavel Klinichev
With the Orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre
With the Bolshoi soloists and the Bolshoi Corps de Ballet
Performed live September 30, 2012.

ABOUT THE CHOREOGRAPHERS
August BOURNONVILLE (Denmark, 1805-1879) studied dance at the Royal Danish Ballet, under the
direction of his father. He then completed his training in Paris from 1824 to 1830. On his return from France, he succeeded to his father as head of the Royal Danish Ballet, a position he held until 1877.
Contrary to the trend of the Romantic ballet of the time, Bournonville does not give less importance to the
male dancer: he gives equal importance to both male and female dancers. This choice, both social and aesthetic, is still visible today, since the Danish school is renowned for training great male performers.
Johan KOBBORG is a Danish dancer born in Odense in 1972. After starting his career at the Royal Danish Ballet School at the age of sixteen, he joined the London Royal Ballet in 1999 where he became Principal Dancer. He is now recognized across the world as one of the leading dancers of his generation. Kobborg has also been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Nureyev International Competition (Grand Prix 1994), USA International Competition, Jackson, USA (Grand Prix 1994) and the Erik Bruhn Competition (1993) and received a 2006 Laurence Olivier Award nomination for his production of La Sylphide which he produced in 2005 for London’s Royal Ballet. In 2008, Johan Kobborg presented a new horeographic version of La Sylphide at the Bolshoi theatre.

HISTORY
La Sylphide is one of the world's oldest surviving romantic ballets. August Bournonville's version is an adaptation of an 1832 French ballet of the same name, which showcased the technique of the great 9th century ballerina Maria Taglioni, and ushered in a new Romantic era of dance. Bournonville was the first
choreographer to recreate La Sylphide and it is his version that has survived – it has been performed regularly by the Royal Danish Ballet since its premiere in 1836 and remains one of his most celebrated
works. In La Sylphide, the human realm of a small Scottish community – evoked by traditional folk songs
in Herman Løvenskiold's score – meets the spiritual realm of the otherworldly sylphs. James, a classic
Romantic hero, is utterly bewitched by a beautiful sylph: although he is unable to touch her, he movingly
echoes her movements in his. Bournonville placed a greater emphasis on the narrative in his version of
the ballet and developed the characters of the embittered witch and James (a role he danced himself). The
Royal Ballet’s production is staged by the Danish choreographer Johan Kobborg, himself steeped in the
Bournonville style.

SYNOPSIS
In a Scottish manor-house, on the morning of his wedding, James wakes up from a dream to discover a
beautiful winged sylph before him. Entranced by the vision, he attempts to capture her but she escapes
him and vanishes. During the wedding preparations, James hardly notices Effie; instead she is wooed by
Gurn whom she ignores. James joins in the preparations but gradually realizes that his dreams go far
beyond the walls of the manor-house and that his obsession with the winged creature risks his own
happiness and that of his fiancée Effie.