JOY SABLE
London Coliseum
La Sylphide — the ballet that is all tartan and tulle — is back, performed by English National Ballet at the London Coliseum. ENB has long been a faithful custodian of many of August Bournonville’s ballets, and its dancers schooled in the Danish style by experts Frank Andersen and Eva Kloborg: jumps are light and high, petit batterie (beats) are crisp, the footwork is swift and the arms are kept low, soft and rounded. Created in 1836, La Sylphide is the oldest Romantic ballet still being performed around the world and it is easy to see why.
Its story — bridegroom becomes enchanted by a sylph, jilts his bride but unwittingly kills the sylph after crossing an old hag — is easy to follow, in