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May 22, 2007                                                                      CASSIE PATTERSON MCCLUNG
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Stanton Welch Caps the Season with a New Work in June 2008

From June 5 – June 15, 2008, Houston Ballet will perform one of the oldest ballets in existence La Sylphide choreographed by August Bournonville in a staging by Danish ballet master Johnny Eliasen with one of the newest, A Doll’s House by Stanton Welch. 

Danish choreographer August Bournonville created La Sylphide in 1836 to the delight of audiences ever since. One of the dance world’s most exquisite love stories, La Sylphide is set in the Scottish Highlands in the 1830s. The ballet traces the tragic romance of the farmer James and the Sylph, an ethereally beautiful, winged, fairy creature who visits him in his dreams.  James is enchanted by the sylph so much that he abandons his fiancée, the village girl Effie, and follows the sylph to a mysterious forest. La Sylphide, climaxes in one of the most poignant moments of all of Romantic art:  James watches, heartbroken and desolate, as his beloved sylph ascends to heaven, escorted by her attendants.   Over 175 years later, the theme the ballet explores – a yearning for transcendence from a mundane world, the unattainable quest for a dream of poetic perfection – still resonates strongly with contemporary audiences.

La Sylphide is not just a magnificent love story; the work is also a milestone in the history of ballet. Appraising the significance of La Sylphide, the legendary choreographer George Balanchine remarked, “Ballet history was changed completely by the work. Maria Taglioni who danced it and the men who created the role for her made a revolution in the art of dancing that we still witness whenever we go to the ballet and see a world of story . . . that is both real and fantasy, settings that are both ethereal and natural, costumes of flowing white, satin toe shoes, and dancers who rise on pointe and are lifted magically into the air by their partners. The era of romantic ballet began by La Sylphide is still much with us.”

“Johnny Eliasen has an intimate knowledge of the Bournonville technique that the whole ballet is based on. We couldn’t have asked for a more authentic staging of La Sylphide,” commented Mr. Welch. “Johnny was a great dramatic dancer who worked with Erik Bruhn, Peter Schaufuss and danced all three male roles in the ballet. He taught me when I started ballet, coached me in La Sylphide, and has coached our company. It’s a very special time for us.”

Johnny Eliasen studied at the Royal Danish Ballet school, and danced with the company during the late 1960s and the 1970s, attaining the rank of principal.  A versatile dramatic performer, he created leading roles in Flemming Flindt’s Felix Luna and Trio (both 1973) and Triumph of Death (1971).  In 1987, he became ballet master of English National Ballet. In 1990, he was appointed deputy artistic director of the Berlin Opera Ballet, and in 1994, he returned to the Royal Danish Ballet as assistant artistic director, acting as temporary director from 1995-1997. 

At the same time Houston Ballet will be meeting the challenges of mastering the stylistic demands of the great nineteenth century Danish choreographer August Bournonville (1805-1879), the company prepares for Mr. Welch’s new work, A Doll’s House, demonstrating the versatility of the dancers in both classical and contemporary dance idioms.

Mr. Welch’s A Doll’s House is set to music by Hungarian composer István Márta, Doll’s House Story for Percussion Emsemble.   The score is a high-energy work, melding the sounds of traditional percussion instruments: timpani, marimba, xylophone, and various drums, with contemporary, electronically produced sounds. Reading the composers notes on the music inspired Mr. Welch to create the ballet, A Doll’s House. In the ballet, a toy store closes, and the toys engage in a pitched battle, leaving the toy shop devastated without any clear winners. 

“It’s a ballet I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The score is a very well constructed piece of music, and I liked the composer’s brief,” commented Mr. Welch.