10 replies to this topic

[leonid]

It is sad to report such news regarding David Ashmole, a charming man with an engaging personality. He was a former principal with the Royal Ballet, and the Australian ballet. It is reported that he was diagnosed with cancer only three months ago. In recent times he had been active as a ballet teacher. At the London Studio Centre, he was Assistant to the Director, Head of Boys and taught Pas de Deux.

I must have seen him dance more than a hundred times and he was successful in a number of leading parts and was always elegant with a very good technique that was smooth and well suited to prince type roles.


Obituary: http://www.smh.com.a...90729-e1go.html

[Alexandra]

I was very sad to read this. David Ashmole was the first Colas I saw, when he was a young dancer with the Royal, and I remember him as having a very gentle, CLEAN technique. I can imagine he would have been a model for young dancers.

[Helene]

What sad news:  so young and so fast.

[Alymer]

Helene, on Jul 30 2009, 02:33 AM, said:

What sad news: so young and so fast.

It is indeed very sad, but I believe he was in a great deal of pain.  He was a beautiful dancer and a nice person.

[rg]

can't recall where i acquired the attached photo, scanned now for BT, but the year '73 is handwritten on the back by me, perhaps to note the date of acquisition.
in any case, this is how i remember David Ashmole - pictured here in the Leslie Hurry-designed production of the Royal Ballet's SWAN LAKE.

Attached Files

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[bart]

His youthfulness in the second photo is magic.  It led me to the Royal's performance database.  He danced Waltz (Act I) and Pas de Quatre (Act III) in this production of Swan Lake from 1971 to at least 1974.  (What a marvelous resource this database is !)  

http://www.rohcollec...n...14138&row=4

[volcanohunter]

How very sad it is to hear about this. When the Australian Ballet visited the Met in 1990, he performed Albrecht in Giselle and Crassus in Spartacus. Unfortunately, I didn't see either of those performances, but I was very favourably impressed by his musical responsiveness in the company's film of The Sleeping Beauty. His vision scene is particularly excellent. May he rest in peace.

[EAW]

bart, on Jul 31 2009, 07:28 PM, said:

His youthfulness in the second photo is magic.  It led me to the Royal's performance database.  He danced Waltz (Act I) and Pas de Quatre (Act III) in this production of Swan Lake from 1971 to at least 1974.  (What a marvelous resource this database is !)  

http://www.rohcollec...n...14138&row=4

I saw him in the Pas de Quatre and remember clearly his unaffected clarity and beauty of line.  As these photos partly show, he exemplified a high standard of English male classicism.  Very sad news.

[Jane Simpson]

Ashmole danced the Red Knight in Checkmate in the performance available from VAI, and there's an extract from it here. (The Black Queen is Margaret Barbieri.)

[leonid]

Jane Simpson, on Sep 4 2009, 11:05 AM, said:

Ashmole danced the Red Knight in Checkmate in the performance available from VAI, and there's an extract from it here. (The Black Queen is Margaret Barbieri.)

Thank you Jane I saw the performance but had not seen the film.

[Rosa]

Very sad news.

Wasn't he with the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet as well? I seem to remember him in a book about Sir Peter Wright staging Swan Lake for that company in the 1980s -- I think he did the role of Siegfried.