by Julia Rosica | Aug 16, 2017 | Profiles, TBT
Sir Frederick Ashton first choreographed the Voices of Spring pas de deux on Royal Ballet stars Merle Park and Wayne Eagling in 1977 for a ball scene in Johann Strauss II’s operetta Die Fledermaus. The lively duet is a favorite in galas and mixed bills these...
by Julia Rosica | Jul 26, 2017 | Profiles, TBT
We’ve all dreamt of it: dancing a romantic pas de deux with your real-life love interest. Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg have done it countless times as one of ballet’s most beloved on- and offstage couples. In this immaculate 2003 performance with The...
by Amy Brandt | Mar 8, 2017 | Company Life
They say that pigeons mate for life—perhaps that’s why these birds naturally symbolize the young lovers in Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Two Pigeons. In these two clips from a 1987 performance in Pisa, Alessandra Ferri and Robert LaFosse—then...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Sep 29, 2016 | Company Life
Nadia Nerina and David Blair in La Fille. Photo by John McKran via ROH. How would you like to see the opening night cast of Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée—yes, from 1960—perform the ballet’s ribbon pas de deux? Nadia Nerina...
by Hannah Chang Foster | May 4, 2016 | Company Life
Photo by Nobby Clark/Arena PAL via The Royal Opera House on Flickr. Sir Frederick Ashton created his 1980 ballet Rhapsody in honor of Elizabeth The Queen Mother (mother of Elizabeth II) for her 80th birthday. I’d say this serene, elegant pas de deux is fit for a...
by Carrie Seidman | Apr 14, 2016 | News
Have a question? Send it to Pointe editor in chief and former dancer Amy Brandt at askamy@dancemedia.com. Sarasota Ballet artistic director Iain Webb approached Tony Dyson—owner of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Enigma Variations—about obtaining...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Jan 20, 2016 | Company Life
I love Prokofiev’s somewhat dark musical compositions, his way of twisting graceful melodies in unconventional, dramatic ways. This is particularly apparent in Cinderella. Prokofiev’s sonorous score, combined with Sir Frederick Ashton’s nuanced...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Aug 19, 2015 | TBT
When New York Times dance critic Alastair Macaulay first saw The Royal Ballet’s Lynn Seymour and Sir Anthony Dowell in Sir Frederick Ashton’s A Month in the Country, he was “thunderstruck.” Reflectively, he wrote, “I’ve still never seen feet so...