Choreography by Michel Fokine
Staged by Kirk Peterson
Music by Frederic Chopin, orchestrated by Roy Douglas
Scenery by Alexandre Benois
Lighting by David K. H. Elliott

Timing: 31:00

Les Sylphides, a one-act romantic reverie, is a plotless work in which a poet dances with ghostly sylphs in a forest. The corps de ballet is on stage almost throughout, used in decorative groups when not actually dancing. The ballet is in the repertory of nearly every company in the world.

The music for Les Sylphides, orchestrated by Roy Douglas, is as follows: Prelude in A Flat Major; Nocturne in A Flat Major, Op. 32, No. 2; Valse in G Flat Major, Op. 70, No. 1; Mazurka in D Major, Op. 33, No. 2; Mazurka in C Major, Op. 67, No. 3; Prelude in A Major, Op. 28, No. 7; Valse in C sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2 and Grand Valse Brillante in E Flat Major, Op. 18.

Les Sylphides, under the title Reverie Romantique: Ballet sur la musique de Chopin, was given its first performance at the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg on March 8, 1908, with Olga Preobrajenska, Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky.

The ballet was staged for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in the form we know today and premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris on June 2, 1909. Les Sylphides was danced at its first performance by Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Vaslav Nijinsky and Alexandra Baldina.

Les Sylphides was given its United States premiere by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Century Theatre, New York on January 20, 1916, danced by Lydia Lopoukhova, Lubov Tchernicheva, Xenia Maclezova and Adolph Bolm.

Les Sylphides was given its Ballet Theatre premiere at the Center Theatre, New York on January 11, 1940, danced by Karen Conrad, Nina Stroganova, Lucia Chase and William Dollar.

Previous Notes:

Choreography by Michel Fokine
Music by Frederic Chopin
Scenery by Augustus Vincent Tack*
Costumes by Lucinda Ballard
Lighting by Jean Rosenthal, later Nananne Porcher**
*Later by Eugene Dunkel after Jean Corot and, currently, credited to Alexandre Benois with no costume credit.
**Lighting currently by David K. H. Elliot

World Premiere: Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, 6/2/09
Orchestrated by Sergei Taneyev, Anatole Liadov, Alexander Glazunov, Nicholas Tcherepnine, Igor Stravinsky
Scenery and costumes by Alexandre Benois
Original Cast: Anna Pavlova, Tamara Karsavina, Alexandra Baldina, Vaslav Nijinsky
ABT Premiere: The Center Theatre, New York, 1/11/40
Cast: Karen Conrad, Nina Stroganova, Lucia Chase, William Dollar