Sylvia
Opéra National de Paris, 2005

Cast:
Aurélie Dupont (Sylvia)
Manuel Legris (Aminta)
Nicolas Le Riche (Amor/Orion)
Marie-Agnès Gillot (Diane)
José Martinez (Endymion)

Corps de Ballet et Orchestre de l’Opéra National de Paris
PAUL CONNELLY, conductor
John Neumeier, Choreography

Sound formats: DD 5.0, DTS 5.0, PCM-Stereo
Picture format: 16:9 anamorphic
Region: 0 (all)
Running time: 117 minutes (plus 19-minute special feature)
Booklet languages: English, German, French
Subtitle languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
Special Feature: Interview with John Neumeier

The longstanding and enormously successful director of the Hamburg Ballet, John Neumeier, created his famous adaptation of Sylvia in 1997 at the invitation of the Paris Ballet. TDK presents a recording of this choreography from the Opéra de Paris with a line-up of soloist that includes some of the world’s best dancers: Aurélie Dupont, Marie-Agnès Gillot; Manuel Legris, Nicolas Le Riche and José Martinez are all étoiles at the Paris Ballet and indeed stars on the international dance scene.

More rarely performed than Coppélia, the other great ballet to Leo Delibes' original music, Sylvia or La Nymphe de Diane has nevertheless played an important role in the history of dance. It broke with Romantic ballet and the ideal of the fairy or sylphide which gave way to the maiden warrior, a distant sister to Penthesilea. Sylvia has a long history connected to the Opéra de Paris as well as to the great choreographer Diaghilev in St. Petersburg and has transcended the metamorphoses of dance throughout the twentieth century to be revived again and again right up to John Neumeier’s refreshingly contemporary version. As a choreographer infused as much with the culture of the repertoire as with a spirit of creativity, he seemed preordained to offer a new version of this “classic.”

Neumeier’s version, created with the Opéra de Paris ballet, transforms Sylvia into a modern parable about the difficulties of loving. The characters are stripped of their mythological trappings to take on a more human, more universal dimension. This revival of a classical narrative ballet was immensely successful and has in itself already become a classic with performances in various houses including Venice, Hamburg and Düsseldorf.

With Manuel Legris as the shepherd Aminta, who falls in love with Sylvia, the role is created by one of the most important dancers on the scene. He is a true danseur noble with a sensitive, aristocratic style.

Aurélie Dupont - an extremely beautiful and graceful dancer with a very classical expression, dances the nymph Sylvia, who gradually awakens to sensual love. The partners perform title roles together regularly and they have often been invited to appear as a duo on stages around the world, most recently in the state of the art ballet revue Malakhov and Friends. Dupont can also be seen in the title role of La Sylphide on TDK (DV-BLSYL) at the Opéra de Paris recorded in 2004.

Nicolas Le Riche, famous for his strength and dramatic expression takes on the role of Amour/Orion. As an excellent actor he is perfectly suited to such ambiguous characters as the god who playfully interferes with Sylvia’s love for Aminta. Nicolas Le Riche has danced numerous title roles for the ballet of the Opéra de Paris, some of which can be seen on TDK DVD. These include Clavigo (DV-BLCLAV) and Ivan the Terrible (DV-BLITT).

Marie-Agnès Gillot is his fellow goddess Diana, who also toys with Sylvia’s love for Aminta and, albeit her longing, remains alone at the end. Amazingly flexible in her movements and very expressive, she is perfect for the role. She can also be seen dancing the seductive stranger on the TDK DVD Clavigo.

José Martinez is ideal as a sensitive and refined dancer in the role of the observing Endymion.

Supported by the cautiously simple but very effective stage and costume design by the Greek painter Yannis Kokkos, emphasising the dancing rather than dominating it, John Neumeier has created a ballet that is as timeless as the mythological fable it portrays and at the same time very close to audiences today with it’s story about awakening love and sensuality, which is subject to – whatever it is called: the gods, fate or situation.