Sylphide

The sylph is the first and at the same time the central creature of the romantic ballet. The work is one of the first major romantic ballets in the world ballet treasury, and certainly one of the oldest that is still performed today. Thanks to the choreography, costume design and music, without exception, we will leave ourselves with a smile to the magical world of imagination in which Sylphida lives. The work is enticing to the point that the choreography of August Bournonville, the Danish ballet master, becomes synonymous and a stereotypical performance for ballet in general. The story of the title character began at the Paris Opera almost two hundred years ago, when Filipa Taglioni staged the work for her daughter Marie Taglioni, and a few years later, Sylphide came to life in a new staging on the stage of the Royal Danish Ballet. The Danish version has been preserved, and in recent years it is experiencing a revival, as it attracts people to the largest opera and ballet houses in the world, such as Paris, Boston, or the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. This time, we will be able to follow the work for the first time in the performance of the ballet ensemble SNG Opera and Ballet Ljubljana with the conductor Marko Gašperšič and Frank Andersen, who set the choreography. Mikael Melbye took care of the costume design and scenography, through which the music of Herman Severin Løvenskiold will flow. The story of the Sylphide takes us to Scotland to a young peasant boy, James, who, just before his wedding, is seduced by the mythical creature after which the work takes its name. James follows her into a magical fantasy world, and his journey begins the tragic story of a young man who risks his life for true love. From the very first performance, Sylphide became a heroine who opened wide the door to new balletic, ethereal creatures.