Sir Frederick Ashton had a life as packed with incident as one of his ballets. Born in Ecuador to British parents, he did not move to England until he was 15 to a public school to learn a trade. He was miserable there as he had already seen what he wanted to be his future: he had seen Anna Pavlova dance and was desperate to be a dancer but his family refused to contemplate it. His father commited suicide when Fred was 20 and, despite his mother and sister joining him in London, he followed his dream and was accepted as a pupil by two former Ballets Russes stars Leonide Massine and later by Marie Rambert. As well as all these influences, he had also seen the iconic Isadora Duncan dance.
By 1930 Ashton had been encouraged by Rambert to concentrate on choreography and he worked for her company Ballet Club which morphed into Ballet Rambert. In 1935, after working with her on several production, Ashton joined another former Ballet Russes star Ninette de Valois as her company choreographer. So Ashton was well placed when, after WWII, de Valois' company was invited to form the new ballet company at Covent Garden Opera House, the company that ten years later were granted the title The Royal Ballet. Two years after moving to Covent Garden Ashton created SCÉNES DE BALLET (1948) to music by Igor Stravinsky.
Against a surreal background, the short piece still holds the attention with Ashton's pioneering geometric choreography, the dancers' sharp staccato movements and the arresting although slightly dated costume colours of yellow, black, purple and blue. The lead performances by Yasmine Naghadi and Reece Clarke were fine.
De Valois stood down as director in 1963 and Ashton took over. Although no fan of administration his tenure continued to build The Royal Ballet's fame but when the CEO David Webster stood down in 1970 he wanted a whole new creative team to take over so Ashton was forced to stand down too which was an upset to him. Sir Fred still created the occasional ballet including his narrative masterpiece A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY (1976)
We had seen A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY in 2019 and it remains a remarkable adaptation of Turgenev's play. Natalia Petrovna rules her country home with a charming grace, adored by her husband Ysiaev, son Kolia, her ward Vera and close friend Rakitin. Her life is changed however when her son's new tutor arrives, handsome student Baliaev. He returns Natalia's affections but when Vera discovers them together, she jealously alerts the whole family to their romance; Baliaev leaves and Natalia is left with her lovelorn feelings.
Peggy Ashcroft told Ashton that his version was better than the original play and at only 40 minutes it whips along. Ashton's clean, classic tone and economic story-telling shine and his choreography allows moments for the cast to stand out such as Liam Boswell's solo as Kolya. It is a haunting cameo of a ballet, perfectly matched to a selected score by Chopin. William Bracewell was a passionate Baliaev and Isabella Gasparini was fine as Vera. But the heart of the ballet was the remarkable Natalia Osipova - her poise and elegance changed by sudden love ending up crushed, slowly walking towards an uncertain future.
In 1980, Sir Fred aged 76 was invited to devise a short piece to celebrate The Queen Mother's 80th birthday and he produced RHAPSODY to music by Rachmaninoff. As Mikhail Baryshnikov was a guest artist with The Royal Ballet, the male lead role is certanly more showier than the female partner, originally danced by Lesley Collier. Ashton had used the music before in Vincente Minnelli's film STORY OF THREE LOVES but devised new choreography for this commission.
Baryshnikov missed the start of rehearsals so Ashton perfected the female lead's solos and the ensemble of 6 male and 6 female dancers. When he arrived Baryshnikov was disappointed that his movements were in the brash "Russian style" and not the more nuanced English style that Ashton had created but he threw himself into it. Here it was a perfect fit for Steven McRae's bravura style although it was still an edge-of-seat performance as it is only 7 months since his return to the stage where he tore his tendon during a performance in MANON which took two years to heal. Anna Rose O'Sullivan was a delightful partner but Steven's astonishing leaps and sheer panache made him the focus of attention throughout; it ended with a lovely "That's all" pose which won him cheers to the Faberge egg-style roof.
Sir Fred died eight years after RHAPSODY's creation, his place in the history of dance assured and his legacy of work lives on vibrantly in the company he helped form.
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