A Tragedy of Fashion

First performed: 1926
Choreographer: Frederick Ashton
Composer: Eugene Goossens
Music Arranger: Ernest Irving
Set and Costume designer: Sophie Fedorovitch
Story: Ashley Dukes

The first performance of A Tragedy of Fashion is generally considered to be the birth of British ballet. It was performed in a six-week run by The Marie Rambert Dancers as part of the revue ‘Riverside Nights’ at the Lyric Hammersmith, London. The four dancers had the main roles, with actors from there playing the parts of the dressmaker’s two customers.

Frederick Ashton was born in 1904 Guayaquil, Ecuador to British parents, and was brought up in Lima, Peru. Childhood experiences of tango dances at colonial tea parties and the ceremony of Spanish Catholic mass both influenced his choreography as an adult, but it was a performance by the ballerina Anna Pavlova that made him decide, at the age of 13, he wanted to become a dancer. Due to family resistance, he was not able to begin his training until the age of 20, by which time he was living in London and working as a clerk. He was accepted as a pupil by Leonide Massine, and then when Massine left London, began studying with Marie Rambert. She encouraged him to try choreography, and A Tragedy of Fashion was his first attempt. During the 1930s, Frederick Ashton worked with both Ballet Rambert and the company of Ninette de Valois as a dancer and a choreographer. The company of Ninette de Valois evolved into the Vic-Wells Ballet and eventually The Royal Ballet. Over the course of his career, Frederick Ashton choreographed over 100 ballets for companies in the UK, Europe and the US, and was Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet for seven years when Ninette De Valois retired in 1963.