Hearts and Arrows

The work of the late Frederick Ashton is less often revived in the United States than it is in Great Britain. As part of the Ashton Worldwide 2024-2028 festival, American Ballet Theatre has mounted “Sylvia,” Ashton’s 1952 full-length ballet that combines elements of romantic ballet with Greek myth, a story about the nymph Sylvia who has sworn off love until pierced by Cupid’s arrow. Danced to music by Léo Delibes that recalls a lusher version of his “Coppélia” score, “Sylvia” is a playful yet more mature piece of romantic comedy.

Performance

American Ballet Theatre: “Sylvia” by Frederick Ashton

Place

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, California, April 9-12, 2026

Words

Robert Steven Mack

Ingrid Thoms, Chloe Misseldine, and Paulina Waski in “Sylvia” by Frederick Ashton. Photograph by Nir Arieli

Ashton’s choreography is itself a revival of an unsuccessful 1876 ballet for the Paris Opera choreographed by the forgotten Louis Mérante. American Ballet Theatre first performed the production in 2005 and revived it this past summer for the company’s busy Metropolitan Opera House season in New York. Appearing less fatigued, the company brought it skillfully back to life to the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California on April 9-12.

The ballet opens with Eros, danced by Takumi Miyake, overlooking the shepherd Aminta, performed by Aran Bell on the April 12 matinee, who pines for Sylvia, danced by Chloe Misseldine. Sylvia, a nymph of Diana, has in her proto-feminist manner sworn off love and men. When she confronts Aminta for spying on her, the shepherd eagerly professes his love. Sylvia draws her bow to Eros but accidentally pierces Aminta. In turn, Eros draws his bow and shoots Sylvia in turn. Unfazed, she removes the arrow and ferries away with her attendants.

Meanwhile, the evil Orion, played by James Whiteside, wants Sylvia for himself. Sylvia returns to weep over Aminta and when Orion sees her, he whisks her away. A hooded figure, only his bare, prancing feet visible beneath a long, gray cloak, awakens Aminta with magical flower petals. He reveals himself to be wily Eros, and bids Aminta to rescue Sylvia.

Sylvia, who has managed to tame Orion’s advances, calls for Eros’s help. The god of love summons a tremendous sailboat, and Sylvia travels to find Aminta at a Bacchan festival where he has been searching for her. Miyake performs a soaring series of jumps, uniting the lovers who perform their pas de deux and variations.

Chloe Misseldine and Jose Sebastian in “Sylvia” by Frederick Ashton. Photograph by Nir Arieli

Following this, Orion returns to stop the union, but is foiled by the goddess Diana, in a cameo by Paulina Waski. However, Diana is furious at Sylvia for breaking her vow to not fall in love, until Eros shows a scene, revealed behind a scrim above the action onstage, of her own tryst with the shepherd Endymion. A momentarily wistful Diana changes her mind and blesses Sylvia and Aminta’s union.

The entire production welcomed American Ballet Theatre taking the “theatre” part seriously, preserving all of Ashton’s flair and romance between the natural and supernatural without any hint of self-consciously maudlin dramatics. As Sylvia, Misseldine shone in the part Ashton originally choreographed for Margot Fonteyn, gracefully enunciating her sensitive footwork, musicality, and acting chops as if she had been performing the part as long as Fonteyn. She easily executed double and triple pirouettes from fifth, even while her port de bras never showed signs of strains so common in relative youth. The torch appears to be passing.

Indeed, a few years ago, Whiteside might have danced the male lead rather than the villainous Orion. Effortlessly, Whiteside captures the inherent comedy of the villain; unlike Von Rothbart, this is not a villain to be taken seriously. None of the humor in the ballet, save perhaps for Miyake’s prancing feet when disguised as a beggar, is terribly broad. Yet even Orion’s larkies have a cartoonish aspect, as evidenced by the side-by-side duet of Orion’s male servants in the cave scene, performed en caractère in baggy pants with flexed feet in an almost vaudevillesque fashion. If Whiteside played his villain straight, then Orion’s attendants, danced by Scout Forsythe, Cameron McCune, Nathan Vendt, and Courtney Shealy, provided a sense broader comedy for balance. Misseldine, holding her own in what would be, in contemporary sight a drastic situation, seemingly knows that there are all kinds of mortals, whether it be Orion or Aminta, and that Sylvia would have no trouble in foiling any of them.

Chloe Misseldine and artists of the American Ballet Theatre in “Sylvia” by Frederick Ashton. Photograph by Nir Arieli

Bell, one of ABT’s leading men, exhibits his always steady partnering abilities, although his third act variation seemed sprightly for his build. Miyake was the stand-out, his tour-jetés and double assemblies soaring through the air, even if spinning out of control at the finish of the last act. Nonetheless, I prefer the excitement to technical robotics.

Other elements supported the principal cast, including a corps that looked more together than they have in recent years. Additionally, the lush painterly backdrops by Robin and Christopher Ironside, with additional designs by Peter Farmer, brought us into the pleasant, dreamy milieu of 18th and 19th century neoclassical art, the refinement of brush and movement, as well as the pastoral themes, evidently complimenting the English ballet tradition.

Delibes’ score, performed by the Pacific Symphony under the baton of Charles Barker, provides a lush, underappreciated canvas for mythological romance. Like Balanchine, Ashton worshiped sensitive musicality, but he had a taste for theatrics as well. Hopefully, the international festival named in his honor brings more of his works to American audiences by the end of 2028 and beyond, not just the story ballets but his abstract works as well. A little revival now and then is a good thing.

Robert Steven Mack

Robert Steven Mack is a company artist with City Ballet of San Diego and an award-winning filmmaker. His writing has appeared in The New Criterion, Law and Liberty, American Purpose, and Arts Fuse. Robert received his Master of Public Affairs from Indiana University, Bloomington, from which he also holds a BA in History and a BS in Ballet Performance from the Jacobs School of Music.

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