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The first Ashton Bill is centred on The Two Pigeons but starts with 4 pieces only one of which I'd seen before: Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Always a crowd pleaser it's silliness seduced again though it can be even greater when older hoofers have a go - like Wayne Sleep and Graham Fletcher in Dash a couple of summers back.

The other 'odd' piece was Five Brahms Waltzes in the manner of Isadora Duncan - in its non-dancerly abandon it reminded me of rhythmic gymnastics to a degree and one wonders just how accurate a depiction it is of Duncan. Certainly Molly Smolen seemed to inhabit a different era and the skipping and trailing of a long scarf looked very quaint even if it did cause such a stir among audiences when she originally danced.

I tend to think of Ashton as not so into pas de deux (pdd) where the ballerina is swung and manipulated at high level by and around her partner - goodness what a mouthful. Try again... somehow to me Ashton always seems to be about openness in pdd and not perhaps so much of the close dramatic athletics of MacMillan and later choreographers. I'm sure there must be countless examples of where this does not hold true in the more usually seen repertoire, but somehow I was amazed by some of the lifts and movements in Voices of Spring and A walk to the Paradise Garden. In the former Robert Parker swings Ambra Vallo several times around his neck and there are other high level antics as well. Parker and Vallo are a game and spunky pair but even though this was the last night of the run, it still looked a little under rehearsed and it's a tricky piece anyway.

A walk to the Paradise Garden was more intense - good grief shades of MacMillan even - and featured a straight upside down lift not unlike the one Bintley used in Tombeaux to such great effect. And there is another terrifc, levitation almost, lift that quietly astounds. Both these pieces come from the 70's - late in Ashton's career and he would seem to be picking up on the more intense choreography of the younger generation at that time. Although a little ragged at times it was good to see these works brought back.

We got back to 'normal' Ashton with the two acts of The Two Pigeons. Created in 1961, a year after La Fille mal gardee, it has a similar sentimental approach in which, after a few worries, all ends happily and true love wins through. It's much less often seen than Fille but both the Royal Companies are bringing it back - for which a hearty hooray.

I saw the second cast of Monica Zamora and David Justin. Zamora is an accomplished actress and a dab hand at comedy timing - that and the simple perfection of her dancing wafted you along and told you everything you needed to know about the plot. Justin is a good dramatic partner, if not so strong technically.

The sentimentality reaches its peak in the choreographic miming of pigeons and in two real pigeons being used live on stage. And of course one always wonders if the pigeons will behave - which they certainly did on Monday.

The only part that drags a little is some of the gypsy dances: perhaps they are a bit too long or possibly they were not performed with sufficient attention grabbing umph. That aside, my heart strings were tugged and if only for a while one escaped to a land where love overcomes all obstacles. It's perhaps not life as we know it, but give me the Ashton view every time.