Ashton's "Symphonic Variations"

A real jewel of Ashton's masterpiece. The sublime beauty of Symphonic Variations lies in its almost ascetic approach to aesthetics (lines, costumes, stage designs, and even storylines/ scenarios), stripping ballet down to its "bare essentials"—the purity and nectar in the interaction between music and movement.

About this ballet:

There was originally a rather complicated scenario, which Ashton gradually simplified during the long rehearsal period until there was virtually nothing left. Many people, if pressed, would admit to seeing some vestige of a 'winter awakened by spring' idea; and Ashton once agreed with someone who said, 'it's about the morning of the world' - but equally you can just see it as these people dancing to this music, and providing us with a glimpse of heaven.

The ballet grew from Ashton's love for the music - César Franck's Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra - and there is, again, much to be said about how he uses the music, particularly about the different ways in which the choreography responds to the piano and to the orchestra. But again, you don't need to know all this to appreciate how the dancing seems to grow out of the music, looking - like all great choreography - as if Ashton had discovered the steps rather than inventing them.

Sophie Fedorovitch's backcloth is the perfect setting, matching and enhancing Ashton's choreography in its simplicity and elimination of every unnecessary detail. She uses a light clear green with a dozen or so black lines; as William Chappell, himself a designer, described it, 'She creates boundless space and controls it gently by the few dark graph lines.' Ashton and Fedorovitch were close friends and worked together often - 'Symphonic Variations' is the most perfect of their collaborations.

(*Information above is taken from ballet.co.uk.)

Click here to watch Symphonic Variations: The Ballet, with introductions and rehearsals in the fourth (final) video of this playlist. Dancers: Steven McRae, Roberta Marquez, Federico Bonelli, Belinda Hatley, Laura Morera and Ludovic Ondiviela. Royal Ballet, Covent Garden, 2007.