NYC Ballet's (Mis)Adventures with Bournonville: Part Four, 5/24 Performance of 'La Sylphide'

Before we saw the all-Bournonville program at NYC Ballet on Sunday, May 24th, I had attended a dress rehearsal of 'La Sylphide' on May 5th and together we went to the NYCB Seminar on " Peter Martins' 'La Sylphide' and the Bournonville Style" on May 18th.  This is the fourth of four posts about these events.


La Sylphide:
SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 24, 3:00 PM [Conductor: Capps]
LA SYLPHIDE: Lovette, Huxley, King, Schumacher, Smith, Muller

During the Spring season the Company programmed eight performances of Bournonville's 'La Sylphide' with four different principal casts.  After seeing the opening night cast at the May 5th dress rehearsal, I was pleased to see another excellent cast on May 24th.  At this performance I was less distracted by the sets and able to concentrate more on the dancing and mime.

Lauren Lovette as the Sylph and Anthony Huxley as James in Act II of Bournonville's 'La Sylphide'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Lauren Lovette made a lovely, airborne Sylph filled with mischievous joy.  She has a very expressive face with large sparkling eyes which she uses to captivate the audience as well as James.  Her dancing was both fleet and secure.  

Anthony Huxley as James executed the beats and spacious jumps of the role with elan and his mime scenes were delivered with clarity and force.  For such a reserved dancer, this was an impressive breakthrough into a more expansive, confident performing style.

Lauren King was lovely as the baffled Effie and Troy Schumacher's Gurn was an earthy, grounded rival of the daydreaming James for Effie's hand in marriage.  Gretchen Smith's old crone, Madge, lacked the overwhelming sense of aggrievement that should provide the basis for her actions.  Gwyneth Muller looks like James' older sister rather than his mother.

The Royal Danish Ballet has a different life cycle for dancers than NYC Ballet.  RBD can move dancers on from dance roles to character roles as they mature.  It's in keeping with the Danish welfare state to provide dancers with meaningful work as they mature while giving the RBD a ready supply of character dancers for roles like Madge and James' mother.  NYC Ballet lacks the resources or infrastructure to support such a system -- although Darci Kistler, Jock Soto and Albert Evans did take on character parts in Peter Martins' 'Romeo+Juliet'.  This puts a burden on young dancers in mime-heavy ballets like 'La Sylphide'.  Not only do they have to learn the mime gestures, but they must also do it as characters who are two or three times as old as they are. 

Act II of Peter Martins' staging of Bournonville's 'La Sylphide' for New York City Ballet.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The corps of sylphs in Act II danced as if they had been dancing in the Bournonville style their entire lives.  While there is some lovely dancing in Act II, as a whole 'La Sylphide' is about half mime and lacks the urgency and excitement that is at the heart of the Company's dance profile.  

As an exercise in expanding and improving the Company's dance technique, the restaging of 'Bournonville Divertissements' and the introduction of 'La Sylphide' was entirely successful.  However, I don't think that New York City Ballet's audience is ready for an entire evening (or afternoon) of Bournonville.  In fact, it quickly becomes boring and repetitious.