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David Vaughan has described Ashton as the founder of the English style of classical ballet. This lecture was about the nature of style, how it can be identified, whose style it is, and where it comes from ­ quite apart from the question of Englishness.

Most ballet textbooks concentrate on technique rather than discussing choreographed style or the effect of training on style. Over the years, better and more scientific methods have been introduced into training, but these systems alter not only classroom movement but also performance practices and, perhaps unwittingly, choreographic style. Classroom teaching has a major effect in standardising and possibly distorting the style in which past works will be danced and new work created. This 'classroom effect' can blur the difference between the work of one choreographer and another.

Some academics frown upon the notion of style, in that it suggests something fixed. On the contrary, style is a fluid concept which is adjusted by dancers and it provides a useful framework for discussing a choreographer's work. Style comes from numerous sources: in this case, Ashton's own artistic heritage, his training and aesthetic values, the dancers with whom he choreographed, and their training systems.

In trying to analyse style it is important to look at movement rather than just steps: Morris described using methods based on Rudolph Laban's work to analyse the patterns described by the limbs around the body and movement qualities.

Ashton's classroom knowledge came largely from Marie Rambert. She herself had been initially inspired by Isadora Duncan (and took lessons from Duncan's brother Raymond), then went on to study with Jacques Dalcroze. It was not until aged 25, when she was co-opted by the Ballets Russes to assist Nijinsky with Sacre, that she started to learn ballet in depth from Cecchetti.

Another vital source for Ashton was Bronislava Nijinska whom he encountered in 1928 when dancing for the Ida Rubinstein Ballet. A major characteristic in class and choreography was movement that flowed without stopped poses. Ashton often said that he owed everything he knew about dance movement and choreography to her. There are direct references to Nijinska's work in his own, but also elements from her style in the way in which movements are generated from the torso rather than the limbs, his phrasing, and his way of linking steps one to another.

His passion for Anna Pavlova whom he saw aged 13 is well known. He was particularly impressed by her use of the feet and her ability to draw the audience's eyes to them. Effects of this can be seen in many of his solo dances, especially those he made for Antoinette Sibley. (The famous 'Fred step' comes from Pavlova's 1913 Gavotte.) He also revered Tamara Karsavina: in particular he said that she taught him how dancers should use their eyes ­ something that Fonteyn later used to effect.

Ashton loved Isadora Duncan's deep theatricality and fluid movement. She had a stage presence that could manipulate an audience by just standing still or joyously running about. There were also strong influences on him from the commercial theatre world. This is most obviously seen in Facade. He liked dancers to have a relaxed upper body and to ground their weight so that movement was low and seemed effortless, like Fred Astaire. This can be seen later, especially in work made for Anthony Dowell. Another particular influence here was Buddy Bradley, the great African-American tap dancer, with whom Ashton worked on several reviews in the 1930s. One of Bradley's characteristics was the use of polyrhythms ­ different parts of the body following different beats.

Choreographers only exist through their dancers and Ashton allowed them considerable freedom when working with him. Dancers are however "victims of their training², in, Morris said, a "non-pejorative" way. Training started to become formalised in Britain during Ashton's early professional years. In the 1920s there was an influx of Russian emigré dancers, some of whom set up their own schools. Other landmarks were the establishment in 1920 of the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing of Great Britain (later the Royal Academy of Dance) and, in 1922, of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (Cecchetti Society). By the early 1930's the Rambert school was active, as was Ninette de Valois, following a mixture of Russian, French and Italian methods.

Teaching from these varied sources was very different and their syllabuses agreed on very little: the RAD was mainly aimed at teachers, whereas the Cecchetti Society, and Rambert and de Valois schools were aimed at dancers. Different trainings influenced a dancer's performance style, taste and abilities, but most of the British dancers with whom Ashton worked early in his career had trained in a variety of traditions. This was advantageous for him, as dancers trained in an open fashion were likely to be more amenable to choreographic innovation. (He was never fully at ease with dancers such as Nureyev and Makarova who had been schooled in an authoritarian discipline and had fixed ideas about how things should be done.)

By the 1950's British training was more standardised. Students at the Sadlers Wells Ballet School (³Madam's syllabus²), starting at aged 10, emerged with fast footwork and a flexible upper body: Anthony Dowell, Antoinette Sibley and Lesley Collier are examples, though the corps de ballet and soloists would have been shaped in the same way.

Was there an ideal physical type for Ashton? Looking at the dancers he admired and worked with, his aesthetic accommodated a range from the small and ethereal Pavlova (his ideal female ballet dancer) to the more rounded Duncan (his ideal mover). The male dancers with whom he worked came in all shapes and sizes. It is evident that body appearance was not a major factor in choosing dancers.

Many dancers inspired Ashton and gave him scope to expand his movement repertory. Early on, Alicia Markova undoubtedly appealed to him with her speed and nimbleness. Then came Ashton's collaboration with Fonteyn. This lasted for 50 years (1934 to 1984) from a beginning which was perhaps a bit unpromising, with her rather unformed feet and scant knowledge of épaulement. Fonteyn had a varied training. Starting with George Goncharov (in Shanghai), she had teachers in London from the Association of Teachers of Operatic Dancing before taking class with Serafina Astafieva and then joining Sadlers Wells School. She liked to vary her training and in the 1930s took class in Paris with Kchessinska, Preobrajenska and later with Volkova (credited with strengthening her feet). Throughout her career she exposed herself to different training systems which may account for her apparent ease in moving between choreographic styles, from, for instance, Ashton to Roland Petit.

Fonteyn is remembered for her line, musicality and theatricality. Ashton particularly highlighted three aspects of her skill: intricate upper body movement, her ability to show light and shade (a sort of dance rubato), her expressive eyes. A concern with spatial elements (how the movement moves around the body) and dynamic contrast are key features of Ashton's choreography. An example of this on film comes from Le Baiser de la fée (danced by Natasha Oughtred rather than Fonteyn): rapid sharp foot movements, swirling of the arms and strength and flexibility of the torso. Morris showed further examples from Daphnis and Chloe and Scènes de ballet.

Lynn Seymour is usually associated with Kenneth MacMillan but also made key works with Ashton. Early on she learned tap dancing, then had a Russian teacher, Nikolai Svetlanov, and from aged 15 studied for two years at the Sadlers Wells School. She says that she learned how to express emotion from Svetlanov, but that Ursula Moreton, the mime teacher at the school, taught her expressiveness. Seymour was best known for her pliancy and fluidity. Morris discussed two examples of her work.

In A Month in the Country the work is mainly terre à terre, and a lot of the movement is posing to display her feet, combined with arm and head movements which change with each step. In the (bare-footed) Brahms Waltzes the focus is mainly on her upper body (but the overall effect is quite unlike Fonteyn) and Ashton brings out her capacity for seamless undulating motion.

Seymour was the person who reminded him most of Duncan and the movement in Brahms Waltzes ebbs and flows, and centres mainly on running, and posing with arms curving round the body. Compared to the work that he made for others, there was often intricate movement of the body but little elevation and almost no hops on pointe. She seemed to be able to cope with compound rhythms perhaps because of her tap training.

Antoinette Sibley is especially associated with Ashton, though, apart from A Midsummer Night's Dream, he choreographed fewer complete works for her than for Fonteyn or Seymour. Sibley joined the Sadlers Wells School in 1948, aged 9, and was there for eight years. The syllabus stressed work from the knee down but other aspects were also important. She took mime classes from Ursula Moreton who aimed to create "broad, sweeping, natural movements of the arms and supple use of the hands, wrists and head to convey every possible state of meaning".

Sibley was renowned for her footwork, her needle-like pointes (Anthony Tudor once remarking that she was able to make her feet talk), but she was also capable of quick turns, light jumps, bending, swooping and diving. She described her abundant hops on pointe as a punishment for dancing a step on demi-pointe when in the corps for Ondine. In Dream these hops are light and airy, the sharpness of the feet often associated with contrasting arm movement. Not since Markova had Ashton had a dancer with whom he could explore pointe work with so little restriction.

Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kovbborg in The Dream (2005)
© John Ross

Dowell had long elegant limbs and a particular control and plasticity well suited to adagio movements, but also could cope with rapid footwork and changes of direction as in Dream and Troyte's solo in Enigma Variations. Ashton often seemed to explore the cooler, more 'female' type of male dancing with Dowell, rather than virtuosic passages more typically seen with, say, Alexander Grant. Morris introduced film of Troyte's solo, describing it as a whirlwind of rapidly changing movement with long phrases and frequent changes of direction. {Audience applause followed!} As a contrast, Morris then showed Beliaev's solo from A Month in the Country with its fluid, controlled movement, long phrases, grounded steps.

Ashton incorporated his dancers' characteristics and strengths into his work. From Pavlova's articulate feet to Karsavina's eyes, to Duncan's plasticity, and to the use of polyrhythms in the stage dance of the 20s and 30s, dancers challenged him and altered and added to his style. For today's Ashton dancers there is a very wide range of source material to draw on.

In questions, Morris was asked about the influences of Russian ballet. She responded that in terms of patterns and structures Petipa was very influential, less so in terms of movement. Ashton was not shy of rechoreographing Petipa's work and in Swan Lake he reworked large sections including the whole of the last act. Ashton never saw Fokine's Daphnis and Chloe but he heard about it from Karsavina. For his version he went back to the sources of the story.

His open method of working with dancers was far from unique. Severely prescriptive choreographers like de Valois are less usual. As an aside, Morris told a story of Kenneth MacMillan working with Graham Fletcher on the role of Bratfisch in Mayerling: Fletcher told MacMillan that he had been to see Saturday Night Fever. MacMillan told him, "Do something like that"!

There was discussion about difficulties faced by current dancers. Today's dancers have huge turnout and extensions that work against upper body flexibility and strength. There are also problems with the fast footwork that Ashton demands (Fille, Ondine. Part of this is due to the modern aesthetic favouring dancers with high arches, which are less strong. Ashton was more concerned that the dance should look right than that it should show classroom perfection.