Frederick ashton biography

That changed, however, after the outbreak of World War II ; his Dante Sonata was a turbulent work with a tragic spirit. Ashton served in Britain's Royal Air Force from to and returned after his discharge with Symphonic Variations , an abstract work that is considered one of his most important ballets. Believing that English ballet had become too literary in its orientation, he created a pure dance work.

The work had its gestation in the midst of Ashton's wartime experiences. Many of Ashton's ballets were large-scale productions that fit fully into the graceful Russian-French tradition in which he had been trained. Another ballet, Cinderella , used the composition of that title by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev and exemplified the fairy-tale atmosphere that has endeared ballet to generations of audiences.

Yet Ashton's dance language was flexible, and he responded enthusiastically to contemporary music. According to Joan Acocella of The New Yorker , Ashton said he was attracted to Stravinsky's music because of its "cold, distant, uncompromising beauty. By the s, Ashton was generally considered one of the world's premier choreographers. Fonteyn remained one of his most frequent collaborators, and the depth of the pair's creative partnership was one of the hallmarks of postwar ballet.

Ashton was knighted in by Queen Elizabeth II. As artistic director of what was now the Royal Ballet between and , he did not let his executive duties interfere with his creativity. In fact, the s were a peak period for Ashton in terms of ballets that became ensconced in the repertories of dance companies around the world. In he took on the difficult task of creating a ballet based on Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations , an orchestral work consisting of a series of subtle instrumental portraits of some of the composer's friends.

Part of the reason for Ashton's professional longevity was his personal popularity in British high society. Never a public homosexual, he nonetheless made no secret of his orientation among his acquaintances. He had a sense of humor in person to match the one he displayed on the dance stage, and among those who enjoyed it was Queen Elizabeth II , whom he once taught to dance the tango.

Ashton could mimic various well-known British personalities including the queen, who, it is said, retaliated with an Ashton imitation of her own when she heard about his routine. After his retirement, Ashton created the ballet Rhapsody for the queen's 80th birthday celebrations in Ashton remained busy in his later years, choreographing more than 15 new ballets in addition to Rhapsody between and His Etude was featured in The Turning Point , a successful ballet film released in Retiring to a country home near the town of Eye in England's Suffolk region, he often returned to London to supervise revivals of his earlier works.

He died at his country home on the night of August 18, ; some sources give his death date as August Ashton's ballets fell into a temporary decline in the years after his death, but as the hundredth anniversary of his birth approached, dance critics raised an alarm about the prospect that his works might be forgotten dance can be written down in notation, but the process of reconstructing them is much more complicated than it is for music.

Clive Barnes wrote in Dance Magazine that the Royal Ballet "has in practice done very poorly" by Ashton, and opined that "the lasting value of Ashton's ballets will stand the test of time if they are not sabotaged by the cruelties of history. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. January 8, This website provides an introduction to Frederick Ashton and his ballets and directs the visitor towards further information about his work.

Choreographers David Bintley and Wayne Eagling also contribute. His choreography shows us the heart of the matter as no-one else has ever done. He has an extraordinary understanding of the human heart and mind, and ability to illuminate them through his own art form". More from this person. View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro.

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Frederick ashton biography

Enigma Variations, Ashton's portrayal of the composer Edward Elgar's feelings of professional neglect, is also a confession of the insecurity he himself was experiencing at the end of his career. He need not have been concerned. A recipient of the Order of Merit - the most distinguished honour of all - Sir Frederick Ashton, in his final years, was a national treasure.

Not only that, he was a court favourite, a member of the Queen Mother's inner circle, accepted and beloved for his unthrusting nature, brilliant wit and incomparable impersonations. And today, although the choreographer will always live on in his ballets, it is the man himself who is greatly missed. Those who remember Ashton's curtain calls will still picture his pit-pattering along the inside of the drapes to stir-up anticipation before he appeared on stage.

Then the slow, regal wave acknowledging the adoration "a la Pavlova", he used to say: first up to the gods, where the true balletomanes sat, then the balcony, grand tier and stalls. Blessed with the common touch, Ashton never lost his degree of humility that was both genuine and tongue-in-cheek.