SIR FREDERICK ASHTON

Sir Frederick Ashton was born in Ecuador in 1904 and determined to become a dancer after seeing Anna Pavlova dance in 1917 in Lima, Peru. Arriving in London, he studied with Leonide Massine and later with Marie Rambert (who encouraged his first ventures in choreography) as well as dancing briefly in Ida Rubinstein's company (1928-9).

A Tragedy of Fashion was followed by further choreographies (Capriol Suite, Façade, Les Rendezvous), until in 1935 he accepted de Valois' invitation to join her Vic-Wells Ballet as dancer and choreographer. It was in 1935, too, that Ashton began a long creative association with Margot Fonteyn, for whom he would create many great roles over 25 years.

Besides his pre-war ballets at Sadler's Wells, Ashton choreographed for revues and musicals. His career would also embrace opera, film and international commissions, creating ballets in New York, Monte Carlo, Paris, Copenhagen and Milan. During the War, he served in the RAF (1941-5) before creating Symphonic Variations for the Sadler's Wells Ballet's 1946 season in its new home at Covent Garden, affirming a new spirit of classicism and modernity in English postwar ballet.

During the next two decades, Ashton's ballets, often created around the talents of particular dancers, included: Scenes de ballet and Cinderella (1948), in which Ashton and Robert Helpmann famously played the Ugly Sisters. He created La fille mal gardée (1960) for Nadia Nerina and David Blair, The Two Pigeons (1961) for Lynn Seymour and Christopher Gable, and The Dream (1964) for Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell.

Appointed Associate Director of the Royal Ballet in 1952, and it was under Ashton's direction until 1970 the company rose to new heights. His choreographic career continued with Monotones (1965), Jazz Calendar, Enigma Variations (1968), A Month in the Country (1976) and the popular film success The Tales of Beatrix Potter (1971) in which he performed the role of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle.

Now named Founder Choreographer of the Royal Ballet and knighted in 1962, Sir Frederick died in 1988. His ballets, which remain in the international repertory undiminished, show a remarkable versatility, a lyrical and highly sensitive musicality, and an equal facility in recreating historical ballets and creating new works. If any single artist can be said to have formulated a native English classical ballet style and developed it over a lifetime, it is Sir Frederick Ashton

©Tim Tubbs