La Sylphide (English: The Sylph; Danish: Sylfiden) is a romantic ballet in two acts.

On 12 March 1832 the first version of La Sylphide premiered at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opéra with choreography by the groundbreaking Italian choreographer Filippo Taglioni and music by Jean-Madeleine Schneitzhoeffer.

La Sylphide was the first ballet where dancing en pointe had an aesthetic rationale and was not merely an acrobatic stunt, often involving ungraceful arm movements and exertions, as had been the approach of dancers in the late 1820s.

Marie was known for shortening her skirts in the performance of La Sylphide (to show off her excellent pointe work), which was considered highly scandalous at the time.

The scene of Old Madge's witchcraft which opens Act II of the ballet was inspired by Niccolò Paganini's Le Streghe, which in its turn was inspired by a scene of witches from Il Noce di Benevento (The Walnut Tree of Benevento), an 1812 ballet by choreographer Salvatore Viganò and composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr.

When Marie Taglioni (who had retired in 1847) saw Livry in the role, she stayed on in Paris to teach the girl, who reminded her of herself as a young woman.

In 1892, Marius Petipa mounted a revival of Taglioni's original La Sylphide for the Imperial Ballet, with additional music by Riccardo Drigo.

The Danish ballet master August Bournonville had intended to present a revival of Taglioni's original version in Copenhagen with the Royal Danish Ballet, but the Paris Opera demanded too high a price for Schneitzhoeffer's score.

In the end, Bournonville mounted his own production of La Sylphide based on the original libretto, with music by Herman Severin Løvenskiold.

Modern interpreters of Bournonville's version include Eva Evdokimova and Lis Jeppesen, whose performance is recorded on DVD.

In the hall of a Scottish farmhouse, James Ruben, a young Scotsman, sleeps in a chair by the fireside.

Thinking his sylph has returned, he rushes over, only to find the witch, Old Madge, kneeling at the hearth to warm herself.

As the bridal procession forms, James stands apart and gazes upon the ring he is to place on Effie's finger.

The Sylph snatches the ring, places it on her own finger, and, smiling enticingly, rushes into the forest.

In a fog-shrouded part of the forest, Madge and her companion witches dance grotesquely about a cauldron.

When the contents glow, Madge reaches into the cauldron and pulls a diaphanous, magic scarf from its depths.

The latter was choreographed by Michel Fokine for the Ballets Russes, using music by Frédéric Chopin, as a short performance.

Matthew Bourne created an updated version of La Sylphide in his 1994 production, Highland Fling.