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TDK presents Pierre Lacotte’s landmark reconstruction of the Romantic Ballet La Sylphide, long regarded as a classic in its own right. Recording took place at performances by the Opéra National de Paris, at the Palais Garnier in July 2004.
The original choreography by Philippe Taglioni had changed ballet forever. It introduced constitutional features of Romantic Ballet as we know it. These include dance en pointe and the tutu, which most certainly owe their omnipresence in ballet to the success of the 1832 staging of La Sylphide in Paris. Everything about the event combined to transform the ballet into a magical spectacle: the libretto, inspired by romantic literature, the bucolic exoticism of the village wedding festivities, the dramatic realism of the Sylvan forest, the eerie halo of the gas lights, the aerial flights of the dancers, the long diaphanous tulle costumes, and the ballerina’s variations en pointes. Through this work, ballet master Philippe Taglioni managed to achieve a magical fusion between mime and artistic dance in a light and flowing style that gave birth to the first “white” act in the history of ballet.
Pierre Lacotte’s 1972 reconstruction returned to the very roots of Taglioni’s work. Whilst writing a book on romantic ballet in 1968, he had discovered documents about Philippe Taglioni's 1832 La Sylphide, which enabled him to reconstruct the work. Originally produced for television in 1971, it was subsequently transferred to the stage when the Paris Opera invited Lacotte and the dancers Ghislaine Thesmar and Michael Denard to repeat the performance at the Palais Garnier on 9 June 1972. It had not appeared in the Paris Opera’s repertoire for over a century but after Lacotte’s careful reconstruction, this choreographic masterpiece became standard repertory in companies from Helsinki to Tokyo, from Buenos Aires to Prague.
In 2004, the Paris Opera Ballet revived this classic reconstruction, now to be released on DVD. The revival also paid tribute to Marie Taglioni, the first Sylphide ever, on the bicentenary of her birth. This time, Aurélie Dupont, one of the most cherished prima ballerinas worldwide, created the title role. She was partnered by Mathieu Ganio, the youngest etoile of the Paris company and expected to be the next star of international ballet.
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