Fairies flit, witches curse, and peasants race across the Scottish highlands in a colorfully scored romantic intrigue. It's the stuff of high fantasy managed best by the grand ballet, and this weekend and last, it's the Boston Ballet's "La Sylphide" at the Wang Center. The two-act ballet, which marks the midpoint of the company's five-program season, is a great success, making it an early contender to serve as season's high point as well.
The second of three balletic incarnations of a young man's ill-fated love for the eponymous sprite, "La Sylphide" is an important seminal work of romantic ballet. This version premiered at the Royal Danish Ballet in 1836, four years after the first was danced in Paris. (The third version, the one-act "Les Sylphides," is set to Chopin and remains a staple of many major repertories.)
This "Sylphide," composed by Herman L??venskjold, is taken directly from the RDB version, with choreography adapted from August Bournonville by Sorella Englund. Englund, a legendary Bournonville dancer, has shown herself a faithful interpreter here by preserving his characteristically buoyant simplicity in her Boston Ballet setting.
The plot is as airy as the dancing: James, a young Scot, leaves his fianc?©e Effy at the altar to pursue an ethereal wood sprite with whom he has become enamored. But cursed by a witch he petulantly spurns, the object of his affection dies at the very moment of her capture, leaving James heartbroken and Effy married to his rival.
The charm of "La Sylphide," however, comes less from its narrative simplicity than from its whimsical character choreography. Effy's girlish turns and frolicking footwork contrast sharply with the sylph, who, sprite that she is, is all fluttering pointes and graceful extensions. The witch, Madge, limps evilly around the stage, while James' pursuit of the sylph is executed in exhilarating ballon.
The piece's intrinsic merit aside, it is an almost perfect ballet for this company, whose personnel and history leave it well equipped to tackle works dependent more on control and panache than traditional form and technical alacrity. Soloist Karine Seneca was exactly the right lyrical dancer for the sylph, even though Sunday matinee press passes left this reviewer wishing he'd seen the preceding performance withbig-gun principal Larissa Ponomarenko's in the role.
The relatively simple choreography was most noticeably effective in the corps de ballet, usually wince-worthy in their unison dancing. But in "La Sylphide," such sloppiness was evident only in some poorly synchronized entrances, after which the corps' dancing was crisp and confident. Particularly noteworthy were an energetic highland fling and a remarkably delicate sylph chorus in the second act.
Here, as elsewhere, Yury Yanowsky's James was a wonderful compliment, nimbly landing his bounding ballon in front of the sylphs' delicate tone with gravity-defying lightness. His passionate assurance also countered Adriana Suarez's vigorously sinister Madge, a role Englund herself will dance twice during the course of the run.
It's exciting to see the Boston Ballet handle an important piece with such considerable flair, raising expectations for the remainder of the season. However, dance appreciators would be well advised to approach the season-ending "Sleeping Beauty" with a modicum of trepidation, as the company's ambition is rarely a match for the scope of ballets so thoroughly steeped in the classical tradition. But with another weekend of "La Sylphide" approaching, audiences will be momentarily content with such refreshingly capable dancing.
