By Mandy Fang | NB Indy Arts Writer
A noted Academy Award nominated actor recently made a remark that no one cares about ballet anymore.
Ballet isn’t dying. It’s not a dying industry. The only thing dying in ballet are the love interests and the villains.
Performing a ballet filled with illustrious deaths and compassionate love at Segerstrom April 9-12 is American Ballet Theatre (ABT), which stages five performances of the Frederick Ashton ballet, “Sylvia.”
Originally choreographed in 1952 to Léo Delibes’ 1876 score, Ashton created “Sylvia” for one of ballet’s most decorated stars, Margot Fonteyn. The three-act ballet traverses a love story between a nymph (Sylvia) and a shepherd, Aminta, in Ancient Greece. A mythological world of dancing whimsical creatures and gods is presented in pointe shoes and tutus plus bows and arrows.
The role of Sylvia will be danced by five ABT dancers: Chloe Misseldine, Devon Teuscher (debut), Catherine Hurlin, Skylar Brandt, and Hee Seo. This iconic role is a demanding one; the ballerina barely leaves the stage and seems to create a new fantasy with every act.
From romantic and emotive to witty and seductive, the ballet flaunts a shifting tone in addition to complimenting chorographical nuances.
As Christopher Newton, former dancer with the Royal Ballet who restaged the ballet in 2005, put it, the character of Sylvia “starts off as an Amazon figure, then becomes lovelorn, then distressed, then seductive. She has as much dancing as the ballerina in Swan Lake.”
Newton reconstructed Ashton’s choreography using archival film and his own personal recollections, as Ashton did not use a method of dance notation. When “Sylvia” was revived for The Royal Ballet’s 2005 centenary celebration of Ashton’s birth, the ballet had not been performed since 1965.
Before its triumphant return at ABT’s 2025 Met season, the company had not performed the ballet in nearly a decade. It has since become one of ABT’s most celebrated resurgences, earning raves from critics. Bachtrack called it “an absolute treasure,” praising Ashton’s “perfect mix of humor and romanticism with extremely difficult steps that challenge the entire company.” The Wall Street Journal described it as “three richly textured acts of entertainingly detailed dancing.”
ABT is bringing Sylvia to the west coast for the Ashton Worldwide 2024-2028 festival, celebrating his legacy and contributions to the world of ballet. Tickets start at $59.00 and can be found at www.scfta.org.
