American Ballet Theater’s ‘Sylvia’ Illuminates the Segerstrom Center Stage April 9-12, 2026

The full-length classical ballet, based on Ashton’s original choreography for the Royal Ballet spins into dance to tell the story of the Sylvia, the chaste devotee of the Goddess Diana who falls in love with the shepard Aminta, a man smitten by her independence and beauty. Photo courtesy Segerstrom Center.

March 2, 2026

By Lydia E. Ringwald

The spectacular and lavish American Ballet Theater production of choreographer Frederick Ashton’s  ‘Sylvia’ visits the Segerstrom Center stage from April 9 – April 12, 2026. 

The full-length classical ballet, based on Ashton’s original choreography for the Royal Ballet spins into dance to tell the story of the Sylvia, the chaste devotee of the Goddess Diana who falls in love with the shepard Aminta, a man smitten by her independence and beauty.

In the opening scenes in a sacred forest, Sylvia as the huntress dances with her retinue of nymphs, armed with bows and arrows and there meets the shepard Aminta. She at first resists his advances and wounds him, but then relents with compassion for the wounded man.

The story enfolds with her abduction by the brutal Orion, her plea for rescue to the God Eros and eventually her reunion with gentle arms of Aminta who truly loves and cares for  her.

Originally derived from the 1573 play ‘Aminta’ by the Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso, the story has experienced various incarnations into ballet productions over 150 years since its premiere as ‘Sylvia, ou la Nymphe de Diane’ at the Garnier Theater in Paris in 1876. 

 The original Paris Opera ballet choreography by Louis Alexandre Merante with sets designed by Jules Cheret and costumes by Lacoste was danced to a musical composition of Leo Delibes. At that time, the music of Leo Delibes received so much acclaim that even Tchaikovsky when expressing his enthusiastic admiration for the music, suggested that it was superior to his own musical score.

In 1901 the Russian Imperial Ballet presented a version and later also a version of the ballet was performed in St. Petersburg at the Mariinsky Theater.  On an individual tour, the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova performed excerpts from the ballet that inspired Frederick Ashton to choreograph his version of the ballet in 1952 for the Royal Ballet with an intricate and challenging choreography performed by the legendary ballerina Margot Fonteyn.

 American Ballet Theater’s ‘Sylvia’ revives the Frederick Ashton production for the Royal Ballet in a celebration of Ashton’s choreography as part of a Worldwide 2024- 2028 festival honoring Ashton’s legacy.

It’s intriguing to note that when the story is stripped of its sentimental romance, the dramatic plight of a proud and independent woman who accepts her love for a man in her life reveals intriguing insights into psyche of the successful modern woman who must also often find a balance between independence and union.

The chaste and independent Sylvia must forfeit her independence for love; for the opportunity to experience compassion and union with the man who loves her as she forges and finds a new balance.

At first Sylvia confronts aggressive, domineering male energy when she is  abducted by force by Orion. She is then released from his domination by Eros into a redeeming union with Aminta’s gentle love.

Sylvia balances her independence and power with the forces of love and union to fully arrive at a complete human experience that includes both chastity and independence with the vulnerability of love and union.

The ballet dances the truth latent in the mythological story. ’Sylvia’ reveals insights into the conflicts and resolutions of the psyche that are intrinsic to our human experience.

 American Ballet Theater presents ‘Sylvia’ April 9 – April 12 at Segerstrom Center.

Please visit www.scfta.org for tickets and further information.