La Sylphide - Travel to the Scottish Highlands for a bit of Fun and Mischief...
- theadventuresofaro
- Jul 18, 2023
- 4 min read
"Once upon a time long, long ago in Scotland there was a village. The village was way up in the highlands where the folks of the town believed in fairies and witches and all sorts of things..."
The Scottish highlands have always been a mystical place full of magic and faeries and really whatever your imagination can bring. Almost two hundred years ago a very famous romantic ballet was created set in these highlands, La Sylphide. The audiences of Paris where most ballet was taking place at this time wanted to "travel to" some place more exotic and unknown, some place that they’d never been before. Scotland was just the right place. The very first ballet danced in pointe shoes, the daughter of its choreographer, Filippo Taglioni, named Marie who danced the lead role, stuffed and glued and packed her regular dance shoes so that she could create the ethereal look of a fairy dancing her toes - and it worked. La Sylphide has captivated audiences from all over the world these past 200 years.
The story starts at dawn in the dark of a manor house. James, who is due to be married later that day, is fast asleep in his chair in front of a fading fire. Suddenly he feels as if he’s been kissed by someone. He awakes to find himself face to face with a beautiful slyph (a fairy of the air) who immediately disappears. (Btw it wasn’t and still isn’t uncommon to have a fire going in the summer time in Scotland as the weather can be quite cold and chilly this time of year.)
After the sylph disappears, the wedding party arrives along with an uninvited guest, the Madge, a witch who begins to tell everyone’s fortune’s including James’ bride to be Effie, a sweet and sensitive girl who is enamored with James. The Madge tells Effie that she is going to actually be marrying James' best friend, Gurn which of course upsets everyone and the witch is asked to leave the house.
It’s unfortunate that the original choreography created by Taglioni no longer exists for this ballet. There are notes and drawings that a choreographer once attempted to piece together to recreate it but his interpretation sadly was not well received. There was a man named August Bournonville who created a second version of the ballet just a few years after the first and it is his that still remains today and it regularly performed. Being that he was Danish, the Royal Danish Ballet still performs his version of the ballet today. Here is a version of it.
The woods of the Scottish Highlands, both light and dark make such a beautiful setting for this story. During the second half of the ballet, La Sylphide reappears at the manor house and leads James away and off into the light and airy woods. Meanwhile the Madge, with the help of her witch friends, is creating some dark magic on James’ scarf that she has stolen from the house during her departure in a darker part of the woods. Both the Madge and La Sylphide play very mischievous roles in this ballet and their scenes in the woods seem to match their personalities, one light and the other dark...
During the time of the creation of the ballet, the Romantic or Victorian era was just beginning. Full of romance and long beautiful flowing white tutus mixed with a fixation on magic and mysticism. It made for some fascinating ballets full of love triangles and drama.
In our children’s book version, available here on Amazon, we made a few modifications to the ending of the story which happens as follows:
After James follows La Sylphide into the forest he comes upon her and the other slyphs, more spirits of the air, dancing in a glade. He begins to dance with La Sylphide and they continue dancing all night. Back at the manor house after James has run off Gurn finally feels free to express his true feelings and confesses his love to Effie who realizes that she returns those feelings. They decide to get married.
James and La Sylphide also decide to get married but they have one last obstacle to overcome, the Madge suddenly appears with the cursed sash and offers it to James claiming it will make La Sylphide his forever. But being a kind man (and in a shift from the original plot), James claims that he doesn’t want to trick La Sylphide into being with him. He tells the Madge he wants to let her do it of her own volition...
The two couples reunite to get married and live happily ever after with James even apologizing to Effie for not being a good friend to her and running off like he did. The moral: value what you have rather than chasing a fantasy.
La Sylphide certainly is a fun ballet full of mischief and magic. The setting of the Scottish highlands with its woods and beautiful landscapes and magical woods truly lends itself as a mesmerizing place to set this story. Especially if you still believe in "faeries and witches and all sorts of things..."
References and Further Reading:
More about the Ballet:
La Sylphide: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Sylphide
History of La Sylphide: https://fisherballet.com/history-of-la-sylphide/
August Bournonville: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Bournonville
Filippo Taglioni: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_Taglioni
Marie Taglioni: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Taglioni
More to watch, listen to and read:
La Sylphide performed by Royal Danish Ballet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4P8coXDHdQ
La Sylphide, children's book by The Adventures of a Rogue Swan: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092YV2RMM?
La Sylphide, The Most Important Classical Ballet You've Probably Never Seen: https://www.theclassicalgirl.com/la-sylphide-the-most-important-classical-ballet-youve-probably-never-seen/
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