Sylvia: Anastasia Kolegova
Aminta: Philipp Stepin
Orion: Andrei Yermakov
Eros: Alexei Timofeyev
Diana: Tatiana Tkachenko
Premiere of Léo Delibes' ballet choreographed by Louis Mérante – 14 nbspJune 1876, Grand Opéra, Paris
Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s version: 3 September 1952, Royal Opera House, London
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre (choreography by Frederick Ashton): 3 April 2014
Running time 2 hours 25 minutes
The performance has two intervals
The Mariinsky Theatre would like to express its gratitude to Mr Toshihiko Takahashi for his constant support of its ballet projects.
Ashton found the key to unlock Delibes’ magical music. He created an airy, impetuous, light and ironic ballet in which the element of dance reigns supreme, present in precise yet watercolour, weightless forms.
Ashton’s entire ballet is filled with the very nature of dance. Its most important quality is its dynamism. By the middle of the century world ballet had already adopted the experience of Balanchine’s modern classicism – and Ashton immersed the naive old plot into tempestuous series of dance that gave structure to the space, answered the spirit of the music and filled the whole with lively and intense energy.
The ballet is structured as a series of dazzling ensembles into which the plot is woven with great wit. The ethereal ensemble of the dryads in long ballet tunics and the fauns who catch them with garlands of flowers, the dynamic ensemble of hunters in short tunics, army helmets and bows, the ensemble of villagers with rakes and wheelbarrows, each succeeding the last. And the story of how Aminta falls in love with Sylvia the huntress-nymph, how he is injured and revived by Eros who adopts the guise of a sorcerer, how Sylvia is abducted by the evil Orion and how she laughs at him and confuses him, is also totally suitable for dance and unfolds without reducing the generally flying pace. These plot scenes are full of refinement and wonderful choreographic humour – humour not just in the character’s behaviour, but also in how typical ballet movements are used and how the music is interpreted.
Sylvia is also a hymn to lightness. Even the terrifying Eros disguised as the old sorcerer in his hood and wide-brimmed hat, moving with a particular and light step – at one and the same time dancing and cat-like – resembles a commedia dell’arte performer. And the conflict of the two rivals – Aminta and Orion – which so resembles the conflict between Jean de Brienne and Abderakhman in the famous Raymonda is also resolved through lightness; the tender Aminta emerges victorious from all the peripeteia while the “masculine” Orion is shamed.
The image of Sylvia combines heroism (the bellicose dances of the hunters) and piquancy (the scene of Orion’s seduction), and elegance with dance passion (a variation to the music of the famous pizzicato). Inna Sklyarevskaya
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This highlighting is being used in accordance with Federal Law N436-FZ dated 29 December 2010 (edition dated 1 May 2019) "On the protection of children from information that may be harmful to their health"