Ashley Page (1956-). British dancer, choreographer and director
Ashley Page was born in Rochester, Kent in 1956. After studying dance locally he joined The Royal Ballet School in 1968. After graduating in 1975 he joined The Royal Ballet’s education group, Ballet for All, moving to The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in 1976. This was an exciting and formative time for his choreographic future as the two great British choreographers of the 20th Century, Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan, were both still active and creating. Page not only danced in a vast repertoire of existing works, but he created roles for both Ashton and MacMillan, as well as a new generation of gifted choreographers such as David Bintley and Michael Corder. Most important, Richard Alston
became a mentor for Page during his development as a choreographer in the late 1970s
and 1980s. Page’s breakthrough as a choreographer came in 1982, when he won the
Fredrick Ashton Choreographic Award for young choreographers. Ashley became a principal of The Royal Ballet in 1984, the same year that he created his first work for the company, A Broken Set of Rules. The title of this work could be argued to reflect Page’s approach to his choreography. He then created a number of works in collaboration with Gaby Agis for Dance Umbrella in 1984 and 1985.

Page continued to dance, but choreography was his passion and in the following years before he left the Royal Ballet in 2002, he was to produce works both in Britain with The Royal Ballet and Rambert Dance Company, and internationally at Dutch National Ballet, among others. He became artistic director of Scottish Ballet that year, a post he held until 2012. Page, noted for his collaborations with composers and designers, was capable of many styles and approaches as well as being interested in pushing the boundaries between the classical and the contemporary techniques. His familiarity with a range of dance genres stood him in good stead for the diverse opportunities he now has in the world of opera and dance, both directing and choreographing.