In the following essay, Stephanie Jordan elucidates the method and meaning of the music selected for Frederick Ashton’s “A Month...
At the Koch Theater, it is fairly easy to catch a ballet version of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” set...
Frederick Ashton’s much-loved “Rhapsody” is perhaps epitomised by the scene in which six male dancers hold the lead aloft and...
The final programme of the Royal Ballet’s Spring/Summer season sees the company perform a mixed bill of work by their founder choreographer, Frederick Ashton. Including two of his narrative works, one comic (“The Dream”) and one tragic (“Marguerite and Armand”), as well as the first piece he created for the Royal Opera House stage (“Symphonic Variations”), it’s a bill that pays homage to this admired choreographer. While there are times where the age of these works feels noticeable, the programme is, nonetheless, an enjoyable close to the season.
In summarizing Sir Frederick Ashton’s oeuvre in 1961, celebrated critic Clive Barnes writes, “For all this his ballets are best...
Together, “Asphodel Meadows” and “The Two Pigeons” compose an impressive double bill.
