Although we think of Frederick Ashton as the most English of choreographers, he was actually born in Ecuador, on September 17th 1904, and then spent his early years in Peru, where his father was a diplomat. It was while he was at school in Lima that he first saw Anna Pavlova, an event which changed his life: he became determined to be a dancer - and not just any dancer, but 'the greatest dancer in the world' - and his love for Pavlova remained a major influence on his choreography throughout his whole career.
Ashton came to England when he was 15, as a boarder at Dover College, and left school after three unhappy years only to move into a dreary job which he hated. He started ballet lessons with Leonide Massine on Saturday afternoons, and eventually persuaded his family that he should train full-time. When Massine moved away from London he sent Ashton to Marie Rambert - one of those seemingly unimportant decisions which changes history, for it was Rambert's clever eye which saw the potential choroegrapher in the would-be dancer, and entrusted him with his first ballet, A Tragedy of Fashion.
Ashton left Rambert for a year to dance with Bronislava Nijinska, another of the the major influences on his work, and when he returned he began choreographing regularly for Rambert, making works for her Ballet Club, to be performed on the handkerchief-sized stage of the Mercury Theatre. At the same time he started making work for Ninette de Valois and the Vic-Wells ballet, and in 1935 he left Rambert and joined de Valois permanently. (Poor Rambert, fated so often to develop a wonderful talent and watch it walk away.) His first major work for the Vic-Wells was the 1933 Les Rendezvous, made for Alicia Markova; when Markova left the company he focused his attention on her successor, a young girl called Margot Fonteyn.
Ashton left Rambert for a year to dance with Bronislava Nijinska, another of the the major influences on his work, and when he returned he began choreographing regularly for Rambert, making works for her Ballet Club, to be performed on the handkerchief-sized stage of the Mercury Theatre. At the same time he started making work for Ninette de Valois and the Vic-Wells ballet, and in 1935 he left Rambert and joined de Valois permanently. (Poor Rambert, fated so often to develop a wonderful talent and watch it walk away.) His first major work for the Vic-Wells was the 1933 Les Rendezvous, made for Alicia Markova; when Markova left the company he focused his attention on her successor, a young girl called Margot Fonteyn.Though Ashton's choreography encompasses many modes – mime, pantomime, pure classicism, popular and folk dances – you could see it as essentially influenced by three women. Foremost is Pavlova, who inspired his undying love of classical technique, and of all the "carry-on" that accompanies ballet: its airs and graces, its manners and mannerisms (Ashton's love of the pantomime dame is the flipside to this reverence). Second is Nijinska, whose innovative use of the upper body affected Ashton's technique, where the head, shoulders, arms and hands are much more articulated than in the more "leggy" Russian or American styles. Third is Isadora Duncan, for whom deep-felt sincerity, simplicity of action and seriousness of intent were the motives behind steps and style.
Ashton often encoded his own biography in his ballets. Bisexual as a youth and later gay, the objects of his romantic and sexual desire – often distanced in terms of age, geography or affection – fuelled his work. Julie Kavanagh's definitive biography Secret Muses explains the background, though you don't need to know it to appreciate the ballets.
Whatever piece you watch, see if you can spot the Fred step, a little signature that Ashton put into many of his works, like a lucky charm. He got it from Pavlova.
"I believe simply that a ballet must be a good work of art, that it must express the choreographer's vision of experience as truthfully and beautifully as possible. Insofar as it does this, it will express his most profound sense of values and thus be likely to concern itself with matters of more permanent significance than topical issues. He should deal with that which is spiritual and eternal rather than that which is material and temporary."Ashton (1959) in Ballet Annual, quoted by D Vaughan Frederick Ashton and His Ballets (1976)http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2010/mar/02/dance-frederick-ashton
fredrick Ashton was a very famous choreographer, he started training late - at the age of 17, and it was marie Lambert which made him change to choreography rather than being a dancer. He loved Pavlova which influenced his choreography largely. He regularly choreographed at rambert and his firs major work was les rendezvous. He then focused alot on the dancer Margot Fonteyn, his dancing was much influenced by folk and pantomine. However in it you could clearly see the influences from pavlova, nijinska and isodora duncan. Ashtons sexuality came out in his work alot, and his biography often played a wide part in his performances. In all his pieces, there is a move which is known as the fred step- a signature move which was influenced by pavlova. His quote - shows that his dances had deeper meaning and he expressed emotions in his pieces. He likes his pieces to be beautiful and a "work of art".
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