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Sir Frederick Ashton 1906–88, British choreographer and dancer, b. Guayaquil, Ecuador. He studied dance in England with LEonide Massine and Marie Rambert and staged his first work there in 1926. He joined what was later to become the Sadler's Wells Ballet (now the Royal Ballet) in 1935 as chief choreographer, and later became associate director and then director of the company. His mature works are noted for their lyricism, quiet charm, and precision. They include abstract ballets, such as Symphonic Variations (1946), short dramatic works, such as Daphnis and ChloE and Tiresias (both 1951), and full-length traditional ballets, such as Cinderella (1948), Sylvia (1952), Ondine (1958), and The Dream (1964). His last major works as a choreographer were La Chatte MetamorphosEe en Femmo (1985) and Fanfare for Elizabeth (1986). He also appeared as a dancer in comedy and character roles.
See biographies by D. Vaughan (1977) and J. Kavanagh (1997).
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