Frederick Ashton

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"Cinderella" ballet — features Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann as the two Ugly Stepsisters (DVD cover)
"Cinderella" ballet — features
Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann
as the two Ugly Stepsisters (DVD cover)

Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (Guayaquil, Ecuador, September 17, 1904 - Eye, SuffolkOctober 18, 1988) began his career as a dancer but is largely remembered as a choreographer.

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 knew he would become a dancer.

In 1919 he went to England to attend Dover College and then to study under the famous Leonine Massine and established a working relationship with the ballet troupe belonging to Marie Rambert and Ninette de Valois. Rambert discovered Frederick'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. His version of La Fille mal gardée was particularly successful. He worked with Margot Fonteyn among others. His broad travesti performances as one of the comic Ugly Stepsisters in Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella were annual events for many years.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Major works

[edit] External links

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