La Sylphide

Peter Elfelt, 1903, 1 min
Solo from ’La sylphide’ (1836), ballet by August Bournonville. Performed by Ellen Price (1878-1968), soloist from 1903. Ellen Price’s dancing in Hans Beck’s ballet ‘The Little Mermaid’ (1909) was the inspiration for Edvard Eriksen’s statue of the same name (1911).

Royal court photographer Peter Elfelt (1866-1931) was Denmark's first filmmaker. He made his first recording in early 1897, the one-minute reel 'Driving With Greenland Dogs', and the following ten years he documented every important national event as well as daily life in Denmark. He also made commercial shorts and the first Danish fiction film, The Execution (1903).

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