Les Sylphide holds an remarkable place in the history ballet. It straddles the beginnings of modern ballet in the Romantic Era, but debuted at a time of great change during the era of the Ballets Russe. Stylistically it is supremely traditional, but revolutionized tradition being the first ballet to debut without having a story line. How did such a unique piece of work come about?
The musical score was written in Frédéric Chopin and debuted in 1893, but it was not until 1909 that the ballet choreographed by Michel Fokine debuted onstage with the famous
Anna Pavlova – Les Sylphide 1909
Anna Pavlova in the lead role. Though it is still un-decided whether Australia or New Zealand can claim the invention of the Pavlova dessert, there is no debate over her claim to fame of Prima Ballerina at the time. Her notoriety led businessman Sergei Diaghaliev to recruit her as the star for his newly founded Ballets Russes – a touring ballet company taking the world by storm with a new style of ballet productions. Modern choreography pushing the boundaries of what audiences defined as ballet, elaborate sets and costumes designed by artists such as Pablo Picasso and Coco Chanel, the Ballets Russe was the hottest ticket in town at the time (think a troupe of Lady Gaga’s in 1909).
Les Sylphide could be seen as the younger cousin of the full length story ballet La Sylphide (1832) which debuted at the start of the Romantic Period of ballet. The early 1800’s saw many progressions in the art – the invention of dimmable gas lighting allowed stages to be set as moonlit woodlands, and the rise of the ballerina dancing on the tips of her toes (en pointe) lead to a fashion of ethereal characters and tragic love stories. What made Les Sylphide different from ballets that came before it was that it contains no story line – it is dancing just for the sake of it. Like its elder cousin, it debuted at a time of great change in the life of ballet – but its choreography and costumes hark back almost 100 years in terms of style.
So lets pretend its 1909, sit back, and enjoy watching beautiful dancing just for the sake of it….
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvDoMNpNlzY?rel=0&w=960&h=720]