A Sylphide just like a Sylphide should be: Iryna Tsymbal

Mar 8

Mar 8 A Sylphide just like a Sylphide should be: Iryna Tsymbal

Very soon it is going to be ten years since I first saw her in the title role of “La Sylphide”. One of those blessed performances that capture you from beginning to end. One that belongs from then on to the very few that are really unforgettable.

“The Sylphide is an allegory of the feminine seduction, with all that the romantic period left us to think about lightness, grace, suaveness, frivolity and foul innocence”. It all made sense with her dancing the part.

Thinking of Miss Tsymbal, I can only quote myself in a critique that I wrote as I watched “La Sylphide” with Maria Yakovleva: “Irina Tsymbal (somebody once said “Die Personifizierung der Poesie / the personification of poetry” about her) impressed me a lot… She gave “her” Sylphide many dimensions, extraordinary qualities. And THAT was a performance not to forget…”

Here my humble homage to a Prima-ballerina who is no more with the Vienna State Opera, one who could not give a farewell performance to HER audiences. Thank you for all the joy you have given us throughout the (many) years.