Frederick ashton emerging choreographer 2026 
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Frederick Ashton Emerging Choreographer 2026 

On Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 May, our 2nd Year students participated in the annual Frederick Ashton Emerging Choreographer performances, held at the Upper School Linden Studio Theatre. 

Named for the Founding Choreographer of The Royal Ballet, Frederick Ashton, this event invites students to develop and present their own choreography under the guidance of Choreographic Course Coordinator & Tutor Mikaela Polley. The 15 student choreographers also worked with Production and Theatre Technician Daniel Philipson and Wardrobe Supervisor Anja Mlakar on lighting and costume design to bring their work to life.  

This marks the final event of the year in the Ninette de Valois Choreographic Programme. The Programme is an integral component of our students’ academic and artistic education, providing a platform for our emerging artists to create and explore and allowing them to develop their expressive instincts alongside their technical training.  

Special guests Stina Quagebeur, English National Ballet Associate Choreographer, and Marcelino Sambé, Principal with The Royal Ballet, joined as panellists and provided individual feedback to the young choreographers. 

Multicultural fusions 

Blue light filters the stage and dancer. The male dancer wears white trousers and no shirt with short white gloves. He twists his torso toward the camera, left arm bent 90 degrees across his chest and right elbow bent up, with his hand curving around his chin and the front of his face.
Still Speaking
A male dancer lunges slightly to the back, extending his right arm downstage to hold the hand of a female dancer mid grand jete, her legs in an oversplit. The female dancer wears a flowy white dress with her dark brown hair flowing behind her in waves.
Umbra
A male dancer in black trousers, white long sleeve top, black vest, and white shoes holds a female dancer in a fish lift. The female dancer curves her left arm in front of her and her right arm extended to the side. She wears a red flamenco-like skirt and black long-sleeve top with a red flower on the side of her bun.
Un Café Literario
The scene is tinted in a deep purple-pink light. A female dancer balances in arabesque in a black sleeveless dress, her left arm extended above her and her right hand to the side. A male dancer lunges towards her holding her waist. He wears a white sleeveless shirt and black trousers.
Danzón

An overarching theme across several choreographies was incorporating influences from a range of cultures. Minjun and Juliet turned to family histories for creative stimulus. Minjun’s Still Speaking, performed by Emiliano and set to Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Swan, incorporated American sign language and poetry and drew inspiration from Emiliano’s mother, who works as a language therapist. Juliet’s Umbra is a love letter to her grandfather and Western cinema. 

Emiliano’s Danzón blended classical ballet with the Cuban national dance, which is also popular in his home country. ‘I grew up watching and admiring danzón, and it inspired me to create this piece where I merge both of my worlds together through my own movement language,’ he said. 

Green-yellow light illuminates the backdrop and the floor. Two dancers pose intertwined center stage. The male dancer faces stage right and curves his body over his left leg, extended to the front with his foot flexed and heel on the floor. His right leg is bent slightly to the back. He wears a black vest and red trousers. A female dancer holds onto his neck and leans backwards in front of him. Her back arches and her head gazes upwards. Her legs are extended front and down to the floor, with her feet on a diagonal releve. She wears a white vest and red flowy trousers.
Swarasa

Spanish student Cesar and Indonesian student Krysante also incorporated elements of their home cultures in their works. Cesar presented Un Café Literario, based on the intellectual movement in Madrid in the early 20th century. He learned the Escuela Bolera dance style and integrated it into a classical ballet foundation. Victoria, a student from fellow Music and Dance Scheme institution The Purcell School for Young Musicians, provided live accompaniment. Krysante’s title, Swarasa, combined two Indonesian words: ‘suara’ (voice) and ‘rasa’ (feeling), meaning ‘the voice of emotion in the heart.’ Her dancers appeared in couples as a series of romance-filled vignettes. 

The power of love 

Two photos are side by side. On the left, bright red light illuminates the image. The female dancer is in a diagonal split on pointe, her arms bent above her head. The male dancer bends his left leg and extends his right on the ground while holding the female dancer's waist. He wears a long sleeve black shirt and black shorts. She wears a black strappy leotard and black tights. On the right, icy blue light illuminates the stage. A female dancer is mid-renverse, her left leg in attitude back and her right arm raised in 5th. She wears a black leotard and black tights with skin tone pointe shoes.
Philautia
A female dancer in a deep red dress leans far to the side on pointe, held above the floor by three male dancers with four more male dancers trailing behind her, arms reaching towards her. The male dancers wear black trousers with a mix of white long-sleeve and black short-sleeve tops. The stage is dark, with the group illuminated by a white spotlight.
Medusa Effect
Two dancers are centre stage with one dancers offset to stage left. Centre, a male dancer stands in a parallel second position with a slight plie, holding a female dancer with his left arm under his knees and his right arm around her waist. She holds her left arm around his neck and touches his right hand with her right. They gaze intently at each other. Her wavy dark hair falls loosely down her back. She wears an oversized, long-sleeved white shirt and beige trousers and socks. He wears a white long-sleeve shirt, grey loose trousers and beige socks. The male dancer offset from them kneels widely on the floor, arms falling to the floor in front of him. He is slightly hunched and dejectedly watches the couple.
Tangle
A soft, warm orange light illuminates a dark stage. A group of male dancers in beige long-sleeve shirts and black shorts surround a female dancer in a warm-toned light orange leotard. She is held aloft by one of the men in a torch lift. Her left leg is straight down with a pointed foot, and her right leg is in a parallel coupe position near her ankle.
What Remains

Relationships and love were also prevalent themes throughout the afternoon. Yasmim’s Philautia centred self-love. She described her work as ‘an exploration of love not as a romantic ideal but as an existential processs of self-recognition and acceptance.’ Conversely, Léo explored the desire for external sources of love with Medusa Effect, a high-energy work demonstrating the loss of power and vulnerability in relationships. Clovis explored romantic relationship dynamics in Tangle, a tension-filled love triangle juxtaposed with fluid partnering and warm lighting that shifted to a stark cold light when conflict rose. 

Jorge focused his work on a less tangible form of relationship: life and death. What Remains was an atmospheric, evocative imagination of human existence. He said, ‘A vision is proposed where existence does not end but disappears.’ Small lights attached to the dancers’ fingers illuminated the foggy stage like fireflies, symbolising life and energy between entities. 

A dark stage is illuminated with a soft wide spotlight over two dancers. Both wear black suits and socks with a white undershirt, like business people. The female dancer is downstage right, kneeling on both knees with her right knee slightly more forward and her left leg slightly extended back. Both arms reach energetically forward, but her torso stays upright. The male dancer stands just behind her in a wide, off-kilter lunge with both legs bent, left leg forward. His torso leans back but his head tilts towards the woman. His arms are bent forward, his right arm held by his shoulder and left arm down by his hip.
Peace with Honour

One final relationship emerged from the group: political power plays. Set to a recording of Richard Nixon’s address to the nation in 1973, ending the Vietnam war, Soren’s Peace with Honour featured Krysante and Luca dancing in a tumultuous, aggressive duet. Dressed as politicians in boxy suits and ties, the piece ended with flashing strobe lights as they shook hands, emulating the performance of politics in the press. 

Strength and resilience 

Two images sit side by side. On the left, an intense red light illuminates the stage. Two dancers mirror each other in their poses. The female dancer in the foreground stands on her left leg in a soft plie with her right leg extended in a tendu back. Her left arm is extended low to the back and her right arm low to the front. She turns her head right to look at the audience. On the right, a purple light illuminates the stage. A female dancer jumps in a firebird jump with her arms up in fifth. Both wear long sleeve black turtle neck leotards with power mesh on the sleeves and across the torso. They wear pointe shoes that match their skin tone.
The Rose
The stage is softly lit in a cool white light. A male dancer wears white full body tights that stop at the upper chest with skin tone suspenders over his shoulders. He is in a deep lunge with his right leg forward, bent and very turned out. His left leg is extended long to the back, foot flat on the floor. His left arm bends to grasp the back of his head, and his right arm is extended powerfully to the front, hand spread wide.
The Bravery to Stand Again

Overcoming adversity and finding inner strength emerged among Yuzu, Harry and Lilly’s works. Yuzu’s cast embodied the School’s motto, ‘strength and grace,’ by using a rose as a metaphor for how beauty, strength and protection can work together. ‘I was inspired by women’s ability to keep moving forward even after facing challenges, pressure or judgement from others,’ Yuzu shared about The Rose. 

Harry’s work was inspired by a conversation he had with Foundation and Development Programme ballet teacher Nicola Katrak about showing lived experiences on stage. His piece, The Bravery to Stand Again, was both deeply human and angelic, minimalist yet expansive, a tribute to ‘all the people who have had the bravery to fail and stand up again,’ Harry said. 

The stage is dimly lit, and a yellow-brown muted light illuminates the backdrop. Three dancers stand in a triangle facing downstage left. All wear black sleeveless tops with baggy black trousers and socks. A male dancer forms the point of the triangle, standing on his left leg with his right leg softly extended to the back, his toes still on the ground. He reaches his right arm back to hold the left hand of a female dancer. She stands on her right leg with her left leg extended forward, foot flat on the floor. Another male dancer stands behind both in a wide second position just behind their arms. His arms hang loosely to the side. All look towards the downstage corner.
On the Edge of a Great Precipice

While Harry’s piece explored the aftermath of recovering from failure, Lilly’s On the Edge of a Great Precipice explored how crippling the fear of failure can be. Her elastic, tension-filled choreography was rooted in the anxiety and apprehension of fearing failure before it happens. 

Conceptual experimentation 

Two male dancers wear long-sleeved black mesh shirts and orange shorts. One dancer stands in a wide parallel second position, left arm extended to the side and right arm bent above his head, holding the right hand of the other dancer behind him. The other male dancer is mid-jump facing backstage, his back touching the first dancer's shoulders and upper back. His legs are in a wide second position, feet pointed, and his left arm is extended up to the left.
Glassworks
Four female dancers are illuminated from the back by a white spotlight on a dark stage. Three sit on a bench with their left legs crossed over their right, both feet pointed in pointe shoes. They wear a red, orange and green flowy dress with a v-neck and short sleeves. Their hair is swept into french twists, and they lean to the right while looking up to the left. Their hands are crossed on their knees. A fourth dancer in a pink ombre dress stands just behind the girl on the left of the bench, also leaning to the right and looking up to the left.
Dancing Fool

Finally, Archie and Maria’s choreographies were creative experiments based on their stimuli. Archie’s non-narrative Glassworks centred on Philip Glass’s Rubric score with reactive, playful movement. Archie also explored the dynamics between two male dancers, Sasha and Keenan, and the new partnering opportunities offered. 

Maria’s Dancing Fool closed the programme with musical theatre energy and character. She said, ‘Over the years, I’ve always felt more drawn to creating pieces with a more intense and melancholic charge. This time, I wanted to step out of that comfort zone and try something light, vibrant and full of joy.’ The ladies were dressed in a rainbow of colours with the men in all black. Fedoras, backflips and even a jilted proposal punctuated the infectious joy on stage. 

Congratulations to all students for their effort in producing a spectacular performance, and thank you to the staff and supporters for continuing to provide these emerging choreographers.

Catja Christensen is the Marketing and Communications Executive at The Royal Ballet School and joined the School in 2025. She enjoys interviewing students, staff and guest artists for news stories and crafting eye-catching newsletters.  

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