His Majesty's Theatre, 18 May
Choreographer August Bournonville’s La Sylphide premièred in 1836 in Copenhagen and is one of the world’s oldest surviving romantic ballets. Remarkably, the choreography remains virtually unchanged today, although the technical virtuosity demanded undoubtedly has.
West Australian Ballet first presented this charming yet tragic ballet in 2013. Many of the new dancers currently in the company made the most of their opportunity to perform it, and they delivered an excellent opening night performance, with principals Chihiro Nomura (the Sylphide) and Gakuro Matsui (James) outstanding.
Bournonville commissioned 20-year-old Herman Severin Løvenskiold to compose the music, which was played by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jon Tooby. Løvenskiold’s melodious, dramatically insightful score reflects the duality of the ballet’s moods and settings in the real world and also the spiritual woodland realm of the forest.
Visiting Bournonville specialist Dinna Bjørn, together with West Australian Ballet’s artistic team Sandy Delasalle, Craig Lord-Sole and Cédric Ygnace, re-staged the work, which is set in Scotland in the 1830s. It centres on the story of James and his friend Gurn (Adam Alzaim) who both aspire to marry Effie (Sarah Hepburn). She has chosen James, and the ballet begins the night before their wedding. The narrative is easy to follow with a diverting mix of classical dance, mime and Scottish-flavoured character dance.
With lighting by Jon Buswell, Richard Roberts’s sets perfectly evoke the warmth and comfort of James’s rural cottage and the grey, misty, ghostliness of the forest. Attractive costumes designed by Lexi De Silva range from colourful kilts to ethereal, romantic tutus and complete the picture.
Act I begins with an impressive overture before the curtain opens revealing James dozing by the fire in an armchair in his cottage. A capricious, winged Sylphide visits him and impishly flits, flirts and dances about the room and he becomes entranced.
His fiancée Effie, Gurn and a group of friends arrive and James participates reluctantly in the pre-wedding dancing and merriment. But he is obsessed with the Sylphide, and disturbed by the arrival of fortune-teller Madge (a splendid dramatic performance with comic undertones by Christian Luck), a grotesque, spiteful character who foreshadows misfortune and doomed love. Unnerved and breaking Effie’s heart, James abandons her and follows his elusive Sylphide.
Act II is set in the Sylphide’s woodland realm and James attempts to woo her, although her demise is pre-destined. This act shares many similarities to the ballet Giselle in theme, and in the choreography of the solos and corps de ballet sections for twelve Forest Sylphs and their leader (Polly Hilton) who dance in the clearing.
As had been foretold, Effie marries Gurn and Madge laughs triumphantly as the Sylphide’s body is spirited away and bereft James collapses and dies.
Nomura won the audience’s heart in a charismatic performance with sustained arabesques, silky attitude turns, darting jumps, ballon, graceful arms and rapid bourrées. She showed strength and control when the tempo seemed slow and was heart-breaking in her final scene. Matsui’s James was a reserved, foolish, young idealist and an easy prey. His Act I solo was the night’s highlight and throughout the ballet his elevation, fleet footwork, turns, attitudes, beats, and ability to traverse the stage with ease were thrilling to watch.
Hepburn was an innocent, placid Effie and showed precision in her solo, and kudos to Alzaim for a comic, quirky characterisation of Gurn and an excellent solo. And bravo to the corps for the spirited Scottish reels, the men athletic and technically on song, and the sylphs’ commendably smooth bourrées, symmetry, musicality and lyricism.
The audience loved it all and brought the dancers back for seemingly endless curtain calls before everyone headed out of the theatre to the traffic, noise and 21st century reality.
Margaret Mercer
'La Sylphide' plays His Majesty's Theatre until June 2.
Pictured: Claire Voss as the Sylph and Oscar Valdes as James in 'La Sylphide' (from Saturday's night's cast). Photo: Emma Fishwick.