The Magical Realm of SF Ballet’s “La Sylphide”

San Francisco Ballet’s “La Sylphide” is an entertaining mix of unearthly beauty, mystical witches, and a distinctive ballet style with many jumps, leaps and animated body language.

The opening night performance on April 10 began before the show, with live bagpipe music on the steps of the War Memorial Opera House by master bagpiper Fred Payne, celebrating the Scottish setting of “La Sylphide.”

The two-act ballet is the story of James, a young Scottish farmer who becomes enchanted by a beautiful, other-worldly sylph before his wedding and risks everything to follow her into a magical realm. Set in the highland landscapes, Act I takes place on the morning of James’ wedding. As he begins to doze in a chair in front of a fire, the sylph, an ethereal winged creature from Romantic folklore, dances around him. The sylph, which symbolizes mystery, freedom and unattainable beauty, draws James away from his wedding and bride, Effy.

What makes “La Sylphide” unique from other ballets is the style of the choreographer August Bournonville. In the 19^th century, he contributed to an era known as the “Danish Golden Age” for its success on the world stage. During his time as a choreographer with the Royal Danish Ballet, Bournonville created his own unique style of movement that is now synonymous with the Danish school of ballet. His works tend to have a lot of mime and gestures, quick footwork, bounding jumps and momentum.

Before the show on opening night, there was a meet-the-artist interview featuring Ulrik Birkkjaer, “La Sylphide” stager and former SF Ballet principal dancer. Birkkjaer was born in Copenhagen and grew up studying Bournonville’s style at the Royal Danish Ballet School. Bournonville, he says, felt dancing should be joyful and shouldn’t look difficult to do.

Guest artist Alban Lendorf, who portrayed James opening night, did just that, making the difficult seem effortless with quick footwork and legs scissoring in the air. Lendorf is a former principal dancer with both American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Danish Ballet and has performed internationally with companies including English National Ballet and Stanislavski Ballet.

Principal dancer Wona Park brought an airy gracefulness to her performance as the Sylph, quietly appearing and disappearing from a scene as one would expect of a winged woodland sprite. Park’s en pointe technique made her seem like she was floating across the stage at times. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Park trained at Sunhwa Arts School and San Francisco Ballet. She joined San Francisco Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2017, was promoted to soloist in 2018, principal dancer in 2020, and appointed Richard C. Barker Principal Dancer in 2024.

Soloist Nataniel Remez brought plenty of character to the role of the vengeful witch, Madge, who can read palms and reveal true fortunes. The role required a lot of acting and, sometimes, comic relief that Remez handled well.

“La Sylphide” features the Grammy Award-winning SF Ballet Orchestra, led by music director and principal conductor Martin West.

Shows are April 11 at 2pm and 8pm; April 12 at 2pm;  and April 14-16 at 7:30pm. Tickets may be purchased online at sfballet.org or by calling ticket services at 415-865-2000.

Teresa Mills-Faraudo is an associate editor at Bay Area Parent.