Another choreographer related to the background context of Giselle..Sir Frederick Ashton

Sir Frederick Ashton, an English choreographer, was born on September 17th 1904. For most of his child hood, he lived in Peru. Frederick was a very important choreographer in England, he re-staged Giselle after Marius Petipa. 


He had no intention of becoming a dancer, until he set eyes on his idol - Anna Pavlova. He said "She injected me with her poison". Anna Pavolva was a Russian Ballet dancer. She trained and danced with Marius Petipa and Enrico Cecchetti and had a touring career. Enrico Cecchetti influenced Frederick.


Frederick went to school in England to complete his education - 1924. He was working in an office when his brother who was a professional ballet dancer offered to pay for his training at 17/18 years old. 


He therefore studied Ballet in secret with Leonide Massine. He continued training with Leonide as well as Marie Rambert. Marie Rambert was the person who discovered that Frederick had unfortunately started his training too late in life in order to become a performer. She then cleverly manoeuvred him to choreography. He choreographed his first Ballet in 1926; 'The Tragedy of Ballet'. Frederick danced with Ida Rubinstein Company in 1927 but also studied choreography with Leonide Massine and Bronislava Nijinska. Whilst dancing in Paris, Frederick found anew idol to replace Anna, Bronislava Nijinska. Bronislava was also russian, like Anna. She was petite, strong, had a very successful caerer and was a sister of Vaslav who was also a Russian Ballet dancer.


He then returned to the Rambert Company 1928. After finishing choreographing, he became a director. Sir Frederick Ashton passed away on August 18th, 1988.