The introduction from Following Sir Fred's Steps - Ashton's Legacy, the published proceedings of the conference on the choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton and his work, held at Roehampton University in 1994, and edited by Stephanie Jordan and Andrée Grau.
Following Sir Fred’s Steps
Introduction
What would Ashton have said if he’d known that there was to be a conference about his work? According to Anthony Russell-Roberts, Sir Fred’s nephew, and administrative director of the Royal Ballet, he would probably have said, ‘How deeply boring and I don’t know why anyone should spend money on such a thing. But... I’m thrilled.’ That was his way, perhaps, of giving us his blessing for Following Sir Fred’s Steps!
The initial idea that there should be some kind of festival or gathering to celebrate Ashton’s work came from Alastair Macaulay. It would, after all, have been Ashton’s ninetieth birthday in September 1994, and there was a strong feeling in the air that it was time to make a new assessment of this choreographer’s work, and to respond to the need to capture the memories of those who worked with him. The understanding of the Ashton style is easily lost, and likewise his works easily disappear from memory (although many have been recorded in Benesh Movement Notation since 1960 - see Appendix I). Indeed, many of us felt that we should address these problems as a matter of urgency. It emerged, happily, that his birthday was also being marked at this time by revivals of a number of his works, in Britain and abroad, and also in numerous publications and radio and television presentations. The role of our conference was to promote a special intensity of new thinking about Ashton, and at the same time to develop a range of new source material upon which future dancers and writers might draw. This was to be a unique collaboration between higher education, the two Royal Ballet companies, and the Society for Dance Research.
The conference opened with a pre-performance panel at the Theatre Museum, down the road from the Ashton programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, followed by a packed weekend at Roehampton Institute. It turned out to be a weekend full of love for Sir Fred, of generosity, fun and surprise. For me, it was particularly important to consider the radicalism and dangerous sensuality of the choreographer, as well as his wit, humanity and grace. David Vaughan, our opening speaker, was quite right to sound his warnings that we should look after Ashton’s work a good deal better and show more of it; but, thanks to our contributors, so many challenging, fresh ideas emerged from the conference that an energy towards positive action developed naturally. Many of us discovered that there was much more to celebrate in Ashton’s work than we would ever have believed. Clearly, there was no question of the relevance of Ashton today.
The conference also became an occasion for crossing many boundaries: the professional ballet world and academia, dancers and writers from several generations, Ashton enthusiasts from many different fields, including scholars, critics, notators, teachers, dancers and musicians. There were also many different kinds of presentation: lecture-demonstrations, papers, workshops, interviews, panel discussions and film screenings. Some contributors too demonstrated the particular value of moving across traditional territorial limits. Both the teacher Richard Glasstone and ballerina Katherine Healy gave academic papers, and Shelley Berg and Jill Beck, both academics with practical dance backgrounds, demonstrated a passionate involvement in reconstruction. Our audience was generous too in contributing information and asking provocative questions - quite often answering questions from the stage too! We welcomed people from many countries as well as from Britain (America, Australia, Canada, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Spain and Sweden). I shall not forget the special contribution of Alexander Grant, who was there throughout, and who not only had his own interview slot, but also spoke eloquently and regularly from the floor. Sadly, we missed the presence of Michael Somes, who was to have led the session on his revival of Enigma Variations. At the time of the conference he was already seriously ill. That marvellous final session, however, led by Sir Peter Wright, was flooded with memories of him.
But Following Sir Fred’s Steps is only the start. I hope that there will be many further collaborations between the ballet and academic worlds. For the immediate future, there are already a number of reverberations stemming from the conference: the possible development of special training classes in the Ashton style, the reconstruction of lost works, the recovery of old film footage, and so on.
Certainly, I am delighted to offer this book as a document of the conference. It contains accounts of the practical sessions, transcriptions of the panels, as well as the papers, some of these slightly developed from their original form. There is, of course, no substitute for the dancing that featured so strongly during that weekend. It is hard for me to single out only a few examples: Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell, exquisite movers themselves, while coaching the pas de deux from The Dream; the fascinating Solo Seal variations danced by students from the English National Ballet School and introduced by Pamela May; not to forget Monica Mason’s teaching of a solo from Birthday Offering and Katherine Healy’s illustrations of her own paper on Romeo and Juliet. Nevertheless, I am confident that the book will serve as a useful source for both Ashton practitioners and writers, and will be of interest to the many other Ashton lovers around the world. I hope that it will provoke more writing and more thinking about this wonderful choreographer’s work.
Stephanie Jordan
Conference Chair
January 1995