Enter. Sir Frederick CLIVE BARNES writes : The Royal Ballet
programmes at Covent Garden last week marked the end of a ballet epoch. For thirty-two years, first as the Vic- Wells Ballet, then the Sadler's Wells Ballet and, finally, the Royal Ballet, the company's pro- grammes had borne the legend, 'Director: Ninette de Valois.' Now for the first time the company is under entirely new management, and they read, with an almost startling finality, `Director: Frederick Ashton.'
In fact, the management is not as entirely new as all that. Sir Frederick Ashton has been asso- ciated with the company as principal choreo- grapher since 1936, and he assures us he is unlikely to make any sweeping changes. It is an appointment, however, that is both logical and unusual. Logical because no one in British ballet commands greater respect than Ashton—not even the great Dames, de Valois and Rambert, themselves—and no one knows more about the workings of the Royal Ballet. Yet, as British ballet's foremost creative artist, it might be ex- pected that Ashton would have wanted to stand above the fray and get on with his own job of choreographing ballets.
While at the moment he still has the look of a man who has had greatness thrust upon him, he is likely, contrary to what people first believe, to prove a tough director. Almost his first act was to move the Director's office from Covent Garden to the Royal Ballet School in Baron's Court, 'where the real work is done.' He perhaps has rather stronger convictions about the need for modern ballets than his illustrious pre- decessor, and almost certainly the trend under his control will be towards a new kind of balance in the ballet repertory.
The one niggling doubt is whether the run- ning of the company will divert him from his own career. Ashton is, together with the Ameri- can Balanchine, the greatest of practising choreo- graphers. No single aspect of the Royal Ballet is more vital than that he should continue to practise comparatively undisturbed.
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