Ethan Stiefel Adapts a Bournonville Classic for American Repertory Ballet
August Bournonville’s 1836 ballet La Sylphide, set in Scotland, has long been dear to Ethan Stiefel’s heart. The former American Ballet Theatre principal and Center Stage star danced the lead role of James several times, and for many years trained with legendary Danish teacher Stanley Williams in the Bournonville tradition. Stiefel is also of Scottish descent; he can trace his ancestry on his mother’s side to the Scottish Highland Clan Munro and is a proud member of the New York Caledonian Club. Now, in his new role as American Repertory Ballet’s artist in residence, Stiefel is creating an adaptation of La Sylphide called Spirit of the Highlands, which premieres March 7–9 at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. And he’s giving it a distinctly personal touch.
Stiefel has reimagined classic story ballets before. He co-choreographed a refreshed Giselle with Johan Kobborg in 2012 and, in 2022, created a new Midsummer Night’s Dream for ARB, where he served as artistic director from 2021–24.
“I’ve thought about La Sylphide for a long time, because I felt I could do it in a way that would work really well for American Repertory Ballet, as well as potentially other companies of this size,” says Stiefel. After the death of his father a year and a half ago, he started fleshing out his ideas. “My mom and I were having a lot of conversations about family, which was really healing. It inspired me to do a Sylphide that was more authentic to Scottish heritage and that incorporated elements connected to the Munro family.”
Stiefel is keeping Bournonville’s original structure and story, which follows the fate of James as he leaves his fiancée, Effie, the night before their wedding to pursue a beautiful yet unattainable sylph. The bulk of the choreographic changes Stiefel is making occur in Act I, which will draw more heavily on traditional Scottish Highland dancing. To do this, he asked Kendra Monroe (who also traces her roots to Clan Munro), director of the Monroe School of Highland Dance in North Carolina, to consult on the choreography and give master classes to the company. “There are so many shared sensibilities—and, in certain cases, even terms—between ballet and Highland dance,” says Stiefel, noting its use of sprightly jumps and pointed feet. “For instance, the legs in Highland dance are turned out because it helps the kilt fall better.” The hands, in contrast, are shaped to resemble antlers.
In addition to giving James the Monro surname, Stiefel is incorporating the clan’s tartan into the costumes, designed by Janessa Cornell Urwin. “It’s not just random plaids and tartan prints,” he explains. In addition to the Munro traditional red and green plaid, clan-specific color variations correspond with different occasions. “You can actually create very different looks within the color palette and stay within a cohesive and singular approach.”
Stiefel also wanted to add more dimension to Gurn, who loves the spurned Effie. In addition to giving him more dancing, Stiefel added a prologue to the first overture to establish a dialogue between Gurn and Madge (whom Stiefel describes as a “Celtic priestess” in this production). “We see them scheme a bit,” he says, as both characters have mutual animosity towards James.
As for other updates, Stiefel has refined the mime to be more understandable for modern audiences. He applied that same reasoning to the ballet’s name, too. “ ‘Spirit of the Highlands’ is a play on words,” he says. “But also, a lot of times people aren’t interested in something if they don’t know what the title means. We don’t call Sleeping Beauty or Swan Lake by their original titles—we use a translation.”
The time and focus Stiefel has been able to put into this ballet, and into choreography in general, is one reason he stepped down as ARB’s artistic director (the company appointed Samantha Dunster as director of artistic operations last fall). “I enjoy directing, but wearing the amount of hats one needs to wear in an organization this size was all-encompassing,” he says. “It takes time and effort to coach and create new work. So this was a good way for me to move sideways and focus in a different way.”
