A celebration of Ashton works
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This year is the 120th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Ashton, the British choreographer who played a major role in the history of the Royal Ballet. His distinctive vocabulary – speedy footwork, sweeping bends of the torso – is recognised as the quintessential “English style” and his ballets are regularly performed throughout the world.

These include full-length works, such as the joyous La Fille Mal Gardée, Cinderella and Sylvia, as well as shorter masterpieces including A Month in the Country, Enigma Variations, and the luminous Monotones II. This month sees the start of Ashton Worldwide, a five-year international festival celebrating the work and legacy of the man, during which many of his works will be performed.

The festival kicked (or should that be jetéd?) off with the Sarasota Ballet at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, dancing a number of Ashton’s shorter works. Founded in 1987 by Jean Weider Goldstein, the company, now under the directorship of Iain Webb and Margaret Barbieri (both former Royal Ballet dancers), specialises in dancing Ashton pieces.

Opening night saw the dancers in Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, Dante Sonata and Sinfonietta and gave the audience the opportunity to assess these rarely seen works. Valses Nobles et Sentimentales, first performed in 1947, is a pretty piece, well suited to the small Linbury stage, but lacking in any real substance.

Things got meatier with Dante Sonata, which was created at the height of World War Two and dealt with a symbolic battle between good and evil. Danced barefoot, with the women with their hair down, the ballet has a modern feel to it, showing the huge range of Ashton’s creativity. Bodies writhe en masse, heads are clutched in grief and pain, two dancers assume crucifixion poses: it must have meant a great deal to the audiences in the 1940s, but now looks a tad melodramatic.

The evening concluded with Sinfonietta, created in 1967. I could detect Balanchine-type spikiness in the first part and in the following slow movement it was easy to spot direct links to Monotones II (made two years previously), with its complicated lifts and other-worldly feel. Even the costumes bore a close resemblance to the earlier (and much better, in my opinion) work. A lively tarantella finished the ballet off, and credit to this young and enthusiastic company for completing this exhausting finale with panache.

On the main stage at the Opera House, the Royal Ballet opened its own contribution to the festival with three more familiar works: Les Rendezvous, The Dream and Rhapsody – the latter two make regular appearances in the repertory.

Les Rendezvous, first performed in 1933, is a short work based on the idea of friends meeting in a park. On opening night the lead was danced by Marianela Nunez, all liquid arms and quicksilver feet. Isabella Gasparini was articulate and precise in her dances – what a joy it is to watch her dance – and the women looked beautiful in costumes designed by Jasper Conran.

A scene from Lez Rendezvous, The Dream and Rhapsody, part of Frederick Ashton Celebrated by The Royal Ballet @ Royal Opera House (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

The Dream followed – Ashton’s distillation of Shakespeare’s play into one hour of dance. In turns comic and romantic, it works well (though the first scenes were a little dark). Francesca Hayward and Marcelino Sambe were imperious as Titania and Oberon. The final pas de deux was exquisite as she melts into submission in his arms. Wonderful too, to see the originators of the roles – Dame Antoinette Sibley and Sir Anthony Dowell, both now in their 80s – take the stage at the end for a bow. The audience went wild.

The evening concluded with Rhapsody, set to Rachmaninoff’s famous piece. Anna Rose O’Sullivan managed the rapid footwork well but Taisuke Nakao lacked presence and attack in the main role. Memories of Baryshnikov (and Steven McRae) are hard to erase.

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