La Sylphide Cast A Romantic in Two Acts

Conductor: Philip Ellis, Guest Conductor Little Girl (Mar 2) Avery Grierson or Maya Fazzari* Choreography: after Elena Lobsanova (Mar 3 mat, 5 eve) Music: Herman Severin Løvenskjold Sonia Rodriguez (Mar 3 eve, 5 mat) Two Men Set and Costume Design: Desmond Heeley (Mar 4, 6) Jonathan Renna or Giorgio Galli Lighting Design: Robert Thomson Ethan Watts or Donald Thom James Répétiteurs: Lindsay Fischer, Mandy-Jayne Richardson, Rex Harrington Francesco Gabriele Frola (Mar 2, 3 eve, 5 mat) Pas de Six Naoya Ebe (Mar 3 mat, 5 eve) Jenna Savella or Emma Hawes, Premiere (Johan Kobborg, after August Bournonville): Harrison James (Mar 4, 6) Chelsy Meiss or Calley Skalnik, , Covent Garden, London, UK, October 6, 2005 Meghan Pugh or Miyoko Koyasu The National Ballet of Canada Premiere: March 2, 2016 Madge Robert Stephen or Christopher Gerty, Sonia Rodriguez (Mar 2, 6) Donald Thom or Ethan Watts, Premiere (August Bournonville): Stephanie Hutchison (Mar 3 mat, 5 eve) Spencer Hack or Trygve Cumpston The Royal Theatre, , Denmark, November 28, 1836 Rebekah Rimsay (Mar 3 eve, 4, 5 mat) The National Ballet of Canada Premiere (): December 31, 1964 First Sylph Effie Kathryn Hosier or Hannah Fischer Special thanks to The Catherine and Maxwell Meighen Foundation for supporting La Sylphide. Jillian Vanstone (Mar 2, 4, 6) Meghan Pugh (Mar 3 mat, 5 eve) Two Sylphs La Sylphide Ballet Talks sponsor: Torys LLP Emma Hawes (Mar 3 eve, 5 mat) Jenna Savella or Emma Hawes Chelsy Meiss or Calley Skalnik Gurn Piotr Stanczyk (Mar 2, 6) Reel Men and Women, Guests, Musicians, Maids, Skylar Campbell (Mar 3 mat, 5 eve) Witches and Sylphs Running Time Jack Bertinshaw (Mar 3 eve, 5 mat) Artists of the Ballet Act I 35m Dylan Tedaldi (Mar 4) Intermission 20m Reel Boys and Girls Act II 35m Anna Students of Canada’s National Ballet School* Total (approx) 1h 30m Rebekah Rimsay (Mar 2, 3 mat, 5 eve) Stephanie Hutchison (Mar 3 eve, 4, 5 mat, 6) *Students of Canada’s National Ballet School appear by kind permission of Artistic Director, Mavis Staines, C.M.

All casting is subject to change.

The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the support of the following: PRE-BALLET Three course menu designed by our Chef de Cuisine Jon Pong each week. We acknowledge the Includes appetizer, main course and financial support of the Bringing the arts to life The Government of Ontario through the The Volunteer Committee, CHEF’S MENU Government of Canada De l'art plein la vie Honourable Michael Coteau, Minister of The National Ballet dessert, all for $40* through the Department Tourism, Culture and Sport. of Canadian Heritage of Canada via the Endowment EVERY SATURDAY Joining us post-ballet? Incentives component of the Canada Cultural Show your ticket stub + we’ll sweeten your Investment Fund. order with dessert on us. *In by 6:30PM, please The National Ballet of Canada operates under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association. notify the host at time The National Ballet of Canada is a member of the Canadian Dance Assembly and Dance/USA. of reservation.

Guillaume Côté and Elena Lobsanova. Photo by Karolina Kuras.

6 national.ballet.ca 7 A Note on La Sylphide Synopsis

A powerful evocation of the Romantic preoccupation ACT I ACT II with the natural and otherworldly, La Sylphide is a dance A Scottish manor-house A glade in the forest work of consummate formal beauty and irresistible It is the morning of James’s marriage to Effie and he is Deep in the forest, shrouded in mist, Madge is planning emotional power. The distinctive and dazzling August asleep in his armchair. A winged figure, a Sylphide, is her revenge. She makes a veil, irresistible to all, in a Bournonville choreography, with its emphasis on intricate kneeling by his side. She kisses him on his forehead magic cauldron. As the fog lifts, James enters with footwork and ballon, reach new expressive heights in the and he wakes up confused. Entranced by the vision of the Sylph, who shows him her realm. She brings him story of the young Scotsman, James, who forsakes the the Sylph, he attempts to capture her, but she escapes berries and water but evades his embrace. To lift his certainties of happiness of the peasant world he knows him; as she reaches the fireplace, she vanishes up the spirits she calls on her sisters and the forest fills with to pursue the beautiful and mysterious Sylph. chimney. Troubled, he wakes his companions but none sylphs, who dance for James. Try as he might, he is of them have seen her. Gurn, James’ rival, arrives and unable to catch the Sylph in his arms. Bournonville’s La Sylphide was first produced at The learns that James is infatuated with someone other Royal Theatre, Copenhagen, on November 28, 1836. than Effie. Effie and James’ companions reach the glade looking The National Ballet of Canada premiered the work in for him. Gurn finds James’ hat, but Madge convinces 1964, staged and partly re-choreographed by Erik The preparations for the wedding are in full swing. him to say nothing. He proposes to Effie and,

Bruhn, who later became Artistic Director. Over the Erik Bruhn and in rehearsal (1964). Photo by Pete Ward. James hardly notices Effie; instead she is wooed encouraged by Madge, she accepts. Everyone leaves years, National Ballet audiences have seen definitive by Gurn whom she ignores. James joins in the to prepare for the wedding of Effie and Gurn. interpretations in the leading role of James by Rudolf preparations but gradually realizes that, as Effie dreams Nureyev, Mikhail Baryshinkov, Nikolaj Hübbe and Bruhn more and more of the wedding, his own dreams go far Meanwhile, James is desperately looking for the Sylph, himself. beyond the walls of the manor-house. and Madge convinces him that the veil she has made will enable him to catch her. The Sylph appears and, In this production of La Sylphide, renowned Danish An old woman, Madge, has slipped unnoticed into the seeing the veil is totally captivated by it. She allows dancer and choreographer Johan Kobborg brings his hall to warm herself by the fire. James, sensing that James to place it around her shoulders and as he long and intimate knowledge of Bournonville technique she is a sinister presence, takes an immediate dislike does so, he kisses her. His embrace is fatal and the to his interpretation of the great master’s most famous to her and cannot bear to see her sitting where he last Sylph’s wings fall to the ground. In despair James sees ballet. His expressive and attentive new staging fully saw the Sylph. He orders her to leave but Effie calms what should have been his own wedding party in the embraces the romanticism of the original and enlivens it him and persuades him to let Madge tell the fortunes distance. As Madge forces him to see what he has lost, in a way that few modern productions have. of some of the guests. Madge prophesies that Effie he realizes that in trying to possess the unobtainable he will marry Gurn, and James, furious at this, threatens has lost everything. Lynn Seymour and Rudolf Nureyev (1965). Photo by Ken Bell. (1975) . Photo by Martha Swope. Madge, who curses him. Effie runs off to dress for the wedding leaving James alone and in turmoil. La Sylphide and the National Ballet: A Long Tradition The Sylph once again shows herself to James, declares Veteran National Ballet watchers will never forget New Year’s Eve, 1964. It marked the company premiere of August her love for him and tells him that they belong together, Bournonville’s La Sylphide, staged by Erik Bruhn, one of the greatest exponents of the Danish choreographer’s joyful, Gurn enters and, believing that he may have caught fleet-footed style. Bruhn danced the hero James. His Sylph was Canadian-born ballerina Lynn Seymour, by then an James talking to another woman, attempts to reveal the established star of England’s The Royal Ballet. This, in itself, was enough to generate excitement, but, when word situation to Effie but fails. spread that the great Soviet defector, Rudolf Nureyev, had arrived in to see his friend Bruhn’s first ballet production, balletomania reached fever pitch. When Bruhn later developed a troubling injury, National Ballet leading As the wedding festivities begin, the Sylph reappears dancer Earl Kraul was hastily prepared for the role and danced magnificently. However, what understandably riveted and, unable to resist her enticements, James follows public attention was news that Nureyev himself would make a double debut on January 5, 1965 – his first James her into the forest. Effie is left broken-hearted. and his first appearance with the company. Despite slipping on ice and spraining his ankles, the heavily bandaged Nureyev scored a personal triumph. It was altogether an exciting moment in the National Ballet’s early history.

The company performed Bruhn’s staging for many years. In 2005, Bournonville expert Nikolaj Hübbe, then with Ballet, staged a new production on the company in honour of the bicentenary of Bournonville’s birth. Hübbe, now Artistic Director of The , also danced the role of James for one performance. This season marks the North American premiere of Johan Kobburg’s acclaimed version of this Romantic classic, originally created for The Royal Ballet in 2005. A former Principal Dancer with The Royal Ballet, Kobborg was trained in the Bournonville tradition in his native Denmark.

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