The Royal Ballet review: This celebration of Frederick Ashton is a luscious treat

Dancers at the Royal Opera House look happily at home, dancing with assurance and pride

Marianela Nunez and Matthew Ball (Helen Maybanks)

The Royal Ballet’s celebration of Frederick Ashton is a luscious treat. It shows different sides of the company’s founder choreographer, from the chic of Scènes de ballet to the romantic drama of A Month in the Country. And the dancers rise to its challenges with delight.

Created in 1948, Scènes de ballet is a classical setpiece with a dash of New Look glamour: the corps de ballet wear pearl chokers with their tutus. Ashton, who had become fascinated by geometry, weaves his dancers into brilliant, sharp-edged patterns. Heads nod, bodies dip, and movement chases through a group of dancers in a rippling wave. The ballerina role has a touch of mystery, her arms floating and curling like perfumed smoke. Sarah Lamb dances with bright presence and expansive upper body. Vadim Muntagirov is assured and elegant as her partner.

A Month in the Country, from 1976, shows the explosive effect of a handsome tutor in a 19th-century Russian household. Marianela Nuñez is heartfelt as Natalia Petrovna, an assured married woman whose life is turned upside down by passion. Dancing with Matthew Ball’s tutor, she’s all fluttering feet and luxurious arms, floating into abandon as he lifts her. Ball is alert and spontaneous.