DANCE REVIEW : Royal Danish ‘Sylphide’: New Cast, Old Problems

Another day. Another “La Sylphide.” Another set of principals. Another disappointment.

The Royal Danish Ballet, ensconced at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, still employs lots of wonderful dancers, and most of them still understand the elusive complexities of the Bournonville style. But Peter Schaufuss’ new production of the signature masterpiece--a production rooted in the London of 1979 rather than the Copenhagen of 1836--tramples on authenticity. Padded and puffy, it steadfastly avoids charm at one extreme and pathos at the other.

Don’t blame the dancers. They may not be ideally cast in every instance. But they are working hard and following orders.

The central sylph on Wednesday was Silja Schandorff. Tall, willowy and sensuous by conventional flying-fairy standards, she excelled in passages demanding lyrical expansion, even if she found the mercurial moments something of a strain. Here was an otherworldly heroine who didn’t dance on rainbows or moonbeams, just on wood. At least she danced beautifully.

She was sensitively partnered by Lloyd Riggins, a boyish danseur noble from Florida who has become a leading exponent of the endangered Danish tradition. He knows the secret of speed that denies effort (or the appearance thereof). He commands the light touch imperative in this repertory, and he projects romantic urgency with elegance that seldom precludes urgency. He couldn’t make much sense of the anachronistic solo Schaufuss has invented for the hero, but he went through the motions stoically.

Riggins abandons Copenhagen next season to take up residence in Hamburg. It was rumored that this was his final “Sylphide” with the Royal Danes. If that is true, he leaves at a high level of accomplishment and esteem.

Madge, the easily offended witch who brings about the downfall of the Sylphide, was portrayed by Flemming Ryberg. The role has often been performed by a man in drag. Women tend to meet the meaty challenge more sympathetically, however, and Ryberg’s immediate predecessor, Kirsten Simone, did just that on Tuesday. She happens to be his sister.

Ryberg contented himself with a survey of cartoon grotesquerie. Instead of a characterization, he offered a hook nose, eyes that popped in perpetuo and a toothless mouth that always gaped askew. One kept waiting for him to dip Snow White’s apple into a vat of poison. Subtlety wasn’t this brute’s stock in trade.

Simone, demoted here to the maternal poses of Anna, posed knowingly. Otherwise, this was business as usual for the Schaufuss “Sylphide.”

* The Royal Danish Ballet presents “A Folk Tale” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, tonight through Sunday afternoon (evenings at 8, weekend matinees at 2). Tickets $20-$70. (714) 556-2787.