Landmarks: Unmissable Ashton

Three milestone works created over three decades – experience the choreographic imagination of Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton, the master craftsman who defined British ballet in the 20th century. Les Rendezvous is a delightful succession of dances following a group of friends who meet in the park. Created in 1933, this was Ashton’s first major ballet for the Vic-Wells company. The post-war Symphonic Variations (1946) is Ashton's radiant celebration of ‘pure dance’. Serene in quality and demonstrating an elegant purity in the marriage between movement and music, the ballet remains an indisputable tour de force to this day. Inspired by the sublime sensuality of Maurice Ravel’s orchestral work of the same name, Ashton turned to narrative in Daphnis and Chloë. This 1951 ballet abounding in pastoral charm recounts the mythical Greek romance between a goatherd and a shepherdess.