Frederick Ashton

Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton OM, CH,CBE, (September 17, 1904 - October 18, 1988) was a leading international dancer and choreographer. He is most noted as the founder choreographer of the Royal Ballet in London, but also worked as a director and choreographer of opera, film and theatre revues. He was admitted into the French Legion d’Honneur in 1962, was made a Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1963, received the Queen Elizabeth II Coronatation Award from the Royal Academy of Dance in 1959 and the Gold Medal from the Carina Aria Foundation in Sweden in 1972.

Early life

Ashton was born at Guayaquil in Ecuador, in the artistic neighbourhood called Las Peñas, the original founding site of the city.

When he was 13 he witnessed a life-changing event when he attended a performance by the legendary Anna Pavlova in the Municipal Theater in Lima, Peru. He was so impressed that from that day on he was determined that he would become a dancer.

Career

In 1919 he went to England to attend Dover College and then to study under the famous Leonide Massine and established a working relationship with the ballet troupe belonging to Marie Rambert and Ninette de Valois. His aim was to become a great dancer, but his late introduction to dancing and slight physique made this a highly difficult ambition to fulfil. However, Rambert discovered Ashton's aptitude for choreography and allowed him to choreograph his first ballet, "The Tragedy of Fashion", in 1926, starting a tremendously successful career as a choreographer.

He began his career with the "Ballet Rambert" which was originally called The Ballet Club. He rose to fame with The Royal Ballet, becoming its resident choreographer in the 1930s. Work from this decade that has stayed in repertory includes "Les Patineurs", "Les Rendezvous", and "A Wedding Bouquet". World War Two inspired Ashton to create some works along more sombre lines, including "Dante Sonata" (recently reconstructed after having been thought lost), and after the war he turned to plotless ballet, with such works as "Symphonic Variations" and "Scènes de ballet". 1948 brought his first major three-act ballet for a British company, "Cinderella", which was followed by "Sylvia" (1952), and "Ondine" (1958), with choreography created especially to display Margot Fonteyn's unique talents and music by Hans Werner Henze. While "Ondine" was a vehicle for Fonteyn, "Marguerite and Armand" displayed the excellence of Fonteyn's partnership with Rudolf Nureyev. His version of "La Fille mal gardée" was particularly successful, and his broad "travesti" performances as one of the comic Ugly Stepsisters in Sergei Prokofiev's "Cinderella" were annual events for many years.

Ashton was Director of the Royal Ballet from 1963 to 1970. He brought new works by Antony Tudor to the company, as well as guaranteeing the survival of several of Nijinska's ballets by having her mount "Les Noces" and "Les Biches". Two important revivals of George Balanchine's works also marked Ashton's time as Director.

He also enjoyed a productive career away from ballet as a choreographer for films, revues, and musicals. His work in opera included, in 1953, directing Kathleen Ferrier in Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" at Covent Garden.

Personal

Ashton was a great friend of the Paget family and was a frequent visit to the family seat at Plas Newydd; it was here that one of the Paget daughters, Lady Rose fell hopelessly in love with him; he rebuffed her advances and at one point returned her letters - after having corrected her spelling. Despite this, they remained friends.

In 1962, he was knighted for his services to ballet. He died in 1988 at his home, Chandos Lodge, in Eye, Suffolk, England. He was a great friend of Michael Baić of Framlingham in Suffolk.

Ashton's nephew, Anthony Russell-Roberts, is the Administrative Director of the Royal Ballet.

References

*"Frederick Ashton (1904-880: Founder Choreographer of The Royal Ballet". John Percival, for "Royal Opera House's" magazine produced for December 2007 production of "Les Patineurs" and "Tales of Beatrix Potter".

Further reading

* "Frederick Ashton: a choreographer and his ballets" by Zoë Dominic and John Selwyn Gilbert. London: Harrap, 1971. ISBN-X
* "Frederick Ashton and his ballets" by David Vaughan. London: A. and C. Black, 1977. ISBN-X
* "Secret Muses: The Life of Frederick Ashton" by Julie Kavanagh. London: Faber, 1996. ISBN
* "Following Sir Fred's Steps: Ashton's Legacy" edited by Stephanie Jordan and Andrée Grau. London: Dance Books, 1996. ISBN (also available in an online edition - see below)
* "A network of Styles: Discovering the Choreographed Movement of Frederick Ashton" by Geraldine Morris. University of Surrey, 2000.

External links

* [http://www.ballet.co.uk/ashton/ Ballet.co Ashton pages]
* [http://www.ballet.co.uk/followingsirfred/home.htm Following Sir Fred's Steps]
* [http://members.shaw.ca/mallandaine/h21.html Parents]
* [http://www.ballet.co.uk/contexts/cinderella.htm Frederick Ashton's "Cinderella" ballet]
* [http://www.ashtonarchive.com/chronlist.htm David Vaughan's chronology of Ashton ballets]
* [http://www.ashtonarchive.com/fredstep.htm Notes on the 'Fred Step' by Alastair Macaulay]
* [http://www.dovercollege.org.uk Dover College]
* [http://www.danceview.org/archives/ashton/ Danceview's Ashton Archive]
* [http://www.mirella-dance.com/tutu/issue_1.html Tutu Revue essay by Clive Barnes]
* [http://www.rambert.org.uk/about/people/detail.asp?art=1217 Rambert Dance Company's Ashton pages]
* [http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/collections/default.php?ter_id=311 London Theatre Museum's Ashton pages]