“La Sylphide” brings the magic of romantic ballet to Tirana

The timeless romantic ballet La Sylphide will be performed on the stage of the Albanian National Opera and Ballet on November 3, 4, and 5.

This production brings to life one of the great masterpieces of the classical ballet repertoire, a story where the earthly and the ethereal collide, love is tested, and tragedy unfolds.

Set in Scotland in 1836, the narrative follows young Scotsman James, who is engaged to Effie but becomes entranced by a forest spirit, the sylph-maiden. Torn between his human fiancée and the otherworldly apparition, James abandons Effie and follows the sylph into the woods. Yet his devotion comes at a cost: a witch gives him a cursed scarf which, when placed upon the sylph, causes her wings to fall and she dies in his arms. In the end, James is left alone and heartbroken, while Effie marries another man.

La Sylphide is a romantic ballet in two acts. The original version was choreographed by Filippo Taglioni in 1832, and a second, enduring version was created four years later by August Bournonville, the only complete version still performed today.

As one of the earliest works of the Romantic era in dance, La Sylphide introduced lasting innovations such as the use of pointe technique to express ethereal beings and helped define the “ballet blanc” aesthetic of long white tutus and supernatural grace.