1948 – Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella by Sadler’s Wells Ballet

Danced by Sadler’s Wells Ballet in 1948 to music by Serge Prokofiev in designs by Jean-Denis Malclès, Cinderella was the first full-evening ballet made by a British choreographer. It shows Frederick Ashton’s continuing synthesis of the classicism of Marius Petipa with his own particular use of épaulement and the torso. The title role was created by Moira Shearer but became associated with Margot Fonteyn (for whom it was intended). The ballet also featured the remarkable double-act of Ashton and Robert Helpmann as the Stepsisters, performances much emulated but never equalled. The choice of the recently composed score by Prokofiev does much to counter the widely held view that Ashton shied away from ‘modern’ music; it inspired him to provide a choreographic match to the music’s quirkiness. The first cast also included Pamela May and Michael Somes.