Dance
- Date:
11, 12 and 13
January, 8 p.m.
- Hall: Main Auditorium
A dance of purity and love against witches
With a painfully sad story, typical of the Romantic period, based on the never ending conflict between the forces of good and evil, the persecution of purity, and the impossibility of a love that is honest and beautiful, the Compañía Nacional de Danza/CND (National Dance Company), founded originally as the Ballet Clásico Nacional in 1979, and which is presently directed by Joaquín De Luz, returns to the Teatro de la Maestranza. There is a double attraction of staging a piece that will have been premiered just a few weeks ahead of Sevilla and will have the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra in the pit under conductor Daniel Capps.
Capps is a brilliant conductor who has had great success on the concert platform with many of the important European orchestras and acted as assistant conductor to Sir John Eliot Gardiner. He is also an accomplished specialist in dance repertory as he has worked with Wayne McGregor, has led tours with the Royal Ballet and collaborated with the New York City Ballet.
This time the CND returns to the imaginary and allegorical world of La Sylphide (The Sylph), in the 1836 choreography of the Danish August Bournonville. With a music score of Herman Severin Løvensklod, it is one of the oldest surviving ballets in history and the summit of Romantic ballet. It narrates the tragic story of the ethereal sylph - the forest spirit or symbol of pure and unattainable love -, who unleashes the eternal devotion of a Scottish farmer, James Ruben. The witch, Old Madge, resentful for having been previously rejected by James, pursues them. She designs a horrible fate for the young pair who were the innocent incarnation of love and beauty.
World premiere by the Royal Danish at the Royal Danish Theater of Copenhagen on November 28, 1836
Premiere by the Compañía Nacional de Danza at the Teatro de la Zarzuela of Madrid on December 7, 2023.
- Choreography: August Bournonville
- Music: Herman Severin Lovenskjold
- Libretto: Adolphe Nourrit
- Set design: Elisa Sanz
- Costume design: Tania Bakunova
- Stage: Petrusjka Broholm
Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra
- Musical director: Daniel Capps
Compañía Nacional de Danza
Founded in 1979, the first director was Víctor Ullate, followed by María de Ávila. Ray Barra was appointed permanent stable director in 1990. Artistic directors of standing such as Maya Plisétskaya, Nacho Duato or Hervé Palito, and in 2011, José Carlos Martínez became the new director of the company. Since 2019, Joaquín De Luz leads the troupe.
Joaquín De Luz
Began his ballet training in the school of Víctor Ullate, and then became part of his company, where he interpreted choreographies of Ullate, as well as Eduardo Lao, Maurice Bejart or George Balanchine, among others. He has danced in the most renowned ballets and companies and is invited by different institutions to give courses and master classes.