August Bournonville - Bournonville - La Sylphide (Royal Danish Ballet)

When Lis Jeppesen - the Sylphide of our time - in diaphanous white costume and with shining wings, dances for the Scottish farmer James, whom she has entranced with her love and beauty, we are witnessing the first scene of the most famous and enduring ballet by August Bournonville.

The great Danish choreographer and former dancer (he has partnered Marie Taglioni) created La Sylphide for the Royal Danish Ballet in 1836. Of all his surviving ballets it is the oldest and most widely performed.

The Royal Danish Ballet rightly regards its interpretations of the Bournonville classics as being in the purest and most faithfully maintained tradition.

Lis Jeppesen dances the lead role of La Sylphide, a role which demands lyrical interpretation as well as superb technique. Equal expressiveness and faultless dancing are required of James, here performed by Nikolaj Hubbe. Sorella Englund is the brilliant interpreter of the role of Madge, the witch and fortune-teller, whose rejection by James leads her to seek dreadful revenge on him, with tragic consequences.