Holiday Ballet Watchlist: La Sylphide

Continuing on the theme of love and death (as so many of these classical ballets do), let's watch the Opera National de Paris performance of La Sylphide. 

First performed in 1832 in Paris, La Sylphide is one of the earliest surviving Romantic ballets. The original choreography was by Filippo Taglioni, created to showcase his daughter Marie Taglioni, whose ethereal style defined the Romantic ballerina.

The version most often performed today was choreographed in 1836 by August Bournonville, with music by Herman Severin Løvenskiold. It emphasizes lightness, musicality, and understated drama.

James, a young Scottish man, becomes enchanted by a sylph, a magical forest spirit, on the morning of his wedding. Drawn away from real life by his obsession, he follows her into the woods. His attempt to possess the sylph leads to her death, and James loses both the magical creature and his human love, ending the ballet in quiet devastation.