Sir Frederick Ashton's choreographic style

Fredericks choreography was known as very graceful. It is known for very distinctive, rounded and controlled arms. He used hip level arabesques. He used something called "Leitmotif", this is a musical term used in theatre; it means 'recurring' for person/place or idea. It is a signature tune for a dancer in Ballet - it happens again and again to help the audience know who is who; almost like a theme tune for a specific character.


1939 saw the start of WW11 which influenced his style dramatically. Post Britain had changed - social class had therefore changed. Frederick's choreography was then based on the social hierarchy and power struggles.  

Romeo and Juliet	Conflict between 2 families at war/rivalry
La Fille Mal Garde	A girl falls in love with a villager instead of a rich boy  - shows social class
The Dream	The Queen and King of the fairies fight for power to be the best – shows power struggles
Giselle	A peasant girl who falls in love with a prince in disguise as a peasant but kills herself because they cannot be together – shows the power of different social classes.

His work became plot less for a while - "symphonic variations" (1946), "Scenes de Ballet" (1948) and "Variations on a theme by Purcell" (1955). After that, he returned to narrative ballet with "Romeo and Juliet" and "La Fille Mal Garde" (1960) that is known as one of the happiest ballets of all time. 


His choreography also showed his interest in Folk dance and acting styles of his younger cast. Therefore his choreography was very story-like with elaborated characters.