The Ashton Celebration.

THE ASHTON CELEBRATION LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL, METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE NEW YORK, NY, JULY 6-17, 2004

Sir Frederick Ashton utilized ballet vocabulary as naturally as Sir Lawrence Olivier spoke Shakespearean verse. He understood its inflections, nuances, phrasing, and witty play, as well as its emotional resonance through comedy, tragedy, and, above all, poetry. More than any other choreographer, he forged a quintessentially British style tinged with an indispensable dose of humanism.

Despite the absence of some of his greatest masterpieces, like Symphonic Variations and The Dream. Ashton's special genius shone through, and audiences witnessed a forty-year span of style and classicism through the companies that now represent his ballets. The celebration also provided glimpses of the Joffrey Ballet in New York (after a woefully long ten-year absence) and The Royal Ballet, with its new wholly international look.

Enigma Variations hadn't been seen in the U.S. since The Royal Ballet's tour in the 1970s with a cast that included Anthony Dowell and Antoinette Sibley; one wondered if it would hold up with modern casting. But the revival of this gem by the Birmingham Royal Ballet, a steadfast and loyal repository of Ashton's ballets, could qualify as a full fledged celebration in itself. Stocked with eccentric British personalities, the ballet is based on a single event in the life of composer Sir Edward Elgar: the arrival of a telegram announcing the acceptance of his composition Enigma Variations by a famous conductor. The characters weave through the garden-party setting like a dream, dancing exquisitely etched monologues and conversations. Joseph Cipolla and Silvia Jimenez as Elgar and his wife provided a restless undercurrent, tempered by Victorian manners. Both Rachel Peppin as Winniffed Norbury and Elisha Willis as the young Dorabella lent perfect Ashtonian grace through their cultured port de bras and fleet footwork, respectively. And Pierpaolo Ghirotto, as Elgar's friend A.J. Jaeger, contrasted his grounded comradeship with the vision sequence of Lady Mary Lygon, rendered lyrically by Victoria Marr. Attention all ballet students: Try to see this ballet in your lifetime.

The two Pigeons, presented by the Birmingham troupe, may at times seem overripe for today's audiences with its corny story about a young artist who leaves his girlfriend to cavort with gypsies, only to return as the prodigal son. But the partnering of the principal couple conveys a host of emotional responses: longing, disappointment, jealousy, and the joy of reconciliation. Robert Parker and Ambra Vallo, in different casts, conveyed their youthful passion.

Because of the care Robert Joffrey gave to his productions, Ashton trusted him to stage his ballets in the United States. That care showed richly in Monotones I and II, a supreme distillation of Ashton's style in the form of two pas de trois to Erik Satie's haunting score. The first trio, all lunar mystery, complements the sublime second section, a study in pure ballet blanc classicism with a poignant subtext of a paradise lost. The Joffrey dancers mastered the challenging adagio work, especially the latter group: Michael Levine, Valerie Robin, and Samuel Pergande.

Unfortunately, the Joffrey at times tends to oversell its performances, as in Les Patineurs. The corps de ballet of skaters strayed toward yanked movement and frontal smiles, while the pivotal Blue Skater, Masayoshi Onuki, was far too green a performer to carry the focus. Deanne Brown and Julianne Kepley provided the right spirit, however, with their unforced virtuosity.

A Wedding Bouquet, an unlikely collaboration with Gertrude Stein as lyricist and Lord Berners as composer, is Ashton at his most capricious. Set at a French wedding (although the oddball characters are unmistakably British), the ballet plays on Stein's nonsensical lyrics, jauntily recited by Christian Holder, via the antics of a skirt-chasing bridegroom whose past catches up with him. Veteran Joffrey dancer Deborah Dawn delighted as an out-of-control lush, while Willy Shives and Emily Patterson grasped the burlesque humor of the gigolo and his clueless bride. Best of all was Maia Wilkins, the bitterly jilted mistress, lifted from an Edward Gorey cartoon, who is relegated to holding the flashgun during the wedding photo.

Two early works, Dante Sonata and Scenes de Ballet, revealed Ashton in his experimental mode. The former, a response to the rise of fascism in 1940, rides Franz Liszt's score with simplistic representations of light and darkness, the Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers awash in expressionistic overkill. Ashton choreographed Scenes de Ballet in 1948 for Margot Fonteyn and Michael Somes, but his intently literal rendition of Stravinsky's irregular rhythms worked against him; Balanchine knew that Stravinsky's pauses also allowed for choreography. Nonetheless, both works exhibited masterful touches in shaping group formations.

The Royal Ballet's repertory program included a smorgasbord of divertissement and Marguerite and Armand, a rickety Fonteyn/Nureyev vehicle that even Sylvie Guillem couldn't jumpstart. The Voices of Spring duet showcased Leanne Benjamin in divine daredevil mode, while Darcey Bussell was all too scarce during the festival, appearing only in pas de deux from Birthday Offering and The Sleeping Beauty. With her exuberant movement, spot-on technique, and breathtaking phrasing, Bussell embodied the Ashton ideal--a perfect British rose in full bloom. J.C.

The K-Ballet, founded in 1998 by former Royal Ballet dancer Tetsuya Kumakawa, made its U.S. debut with Ashton's Rhapsody, created in 1980 for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier. This has always been an underrated masterpiece, with the male role one of the strongest Ashton ever created. The company made the error of using the vulgar 1995 designs by Patrick Caulfield. Kumakawa, partnering Viviane Durante (also formerly of The Royal Ballet), proved flashy but ineffective, and the whole company, particularly the sorely tested male ensemble, failed to do anything like justice to Ashton's intricate, plotless expressionism.--C.B.

FOR MORE INFORMATION www.lincolncenter.org