A Romantic looking back: the Staatsballett in La Sylphide

By Katja Vaghi, 14 March 2019

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Reviewed at Deutsche Oper, Berlin on 12 March 2019

La Sylphide (August Bournonville)

Staatsballett Berlin

Henrik Vagn Christensen, Conductor

Maria Kochetkova, Dancer

Marian Walter, Dancer

Irresistible: Justin Peck’s The Wind-Up premieres at NYCB

Carla Escoda, 29th January

Never has Justin Peck seemed more compositionally assured, and paradoxically freer, than in his latest ballet, breaking the mold of past work that mostly celebrated the camaraderie of his generation.

****1

Royal Danish Ballet bounce through Bournonville's A Folk Tale

Zoë Anderson, 17th October

Though Bournonville himself saw A Folk Tale as his finest work, it’s rarely performed outside Denmark. The Royal Danish Ballet bring fleet-footed buoyancy to it all.

****1

Pure Bournonville bounce: Johan Kobborg's La Sylphide in Prague

Deborah Weiss, 14th May

The Czech National Ballet bears all the hallmarks of a group of dancers who are hungry to learn and to embody whatever is offered to them.

*****

BRB2 in Carlos Acosta's Classical Selection is full of vitality

Graham Watts, 25th April

With five founding dancers in BRB2, this inaugural dance salad was embellished with other ingredients including the addition of seven members from the main company.

****1

A roller-coaster of diverse dance as ENB celebrates its 70th

Graham Watts, 17th January

A slick and stylish celebration at the Coliseum of this great company's achievements over 70 years.

****1

The Royal Danish Ballet "an expression of joy" in New York

Ivy Lin, 9th July

The program notes include a quote by August Bournonville that says, "The Dance ... is essentially an expression of joy." And in this short but sweet program the company proved that it can still give a master class in showing the joy of The Dance.

*****

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Katja Vaghi

With a background in Dance Studies, Literature and Linguistics (MA English Studies from Zurich University and PhD in dance philosophy from the University of Roehampton in London) and a formation as a modern dancer (Ballet Arts, NYC), Katja is a freelance dancer, choreographer, dance researcher and dramaturge currently living in Berlin.

A Romantic looking back: the Staatsballett in La Sylphide at the Deutsche Oper