History

Emma Ashfield was a première danseuse in William Thompson‘s ballet troupe at Her Majesty’s Theatre, later resident at Covent Garden.

She joined the corps de ballet of the troupe at Her Majesty’s Theatre in 1879 and was promoted to coryphée in 1881. The year of 1881 marked her first featured rôle, as La Moldave (one of the variations in the Pas de Cinq) in Thompson’s celebrated revival of The Corsair with Isabella Velluti as Médora. She was not initially cast to dance this particular rôle, but understudied various rôles in the ballet. However, Thompson was dissatisfied with the original danseuse’s performance in rehearsals, and so cast Ashfield in the rôle. 

Ashfield appears to have impressed Thompson with her performance, as the following year in the 1882 revival of The Fairies’ Goddaughter, he cast Ashfield as Caroline in the Pas de Cinq, in which she danced a variation. The rôle that was arguably her big break would also come in 1882, resulting from the rivalry between Velluti and Marguerite Lemoine, the other première danseuse.

When Thompson was invited to revive Ondine in 1877 at Her Majesty’s Theatre, he did not believe that the première danseuse of his troupe at the Linden Theatre, Marguerite Lemoine, was quite right to portray the titular nymph. Thompson instead approached Velluti and asked her if she would be willing to take on the rôle. Velluti accepted, marking the start of Lemoine’s dislike for Velluti at having overshadowed her. Indeed, Thompson continued to cast Velluti in lead rôles and Lemoine in secondary ones, save Giselle in 1879 (where Lemoine was on a leave of absence) and The Five Senses in 1880 (where Lemoine danced the lead rôle). 

In 1882, The Fairies’ Goddaughter was to be revived for Velluti and Marco Spada was to be revived for Lemoine. Uniquely, Marco Spada had two principal ballerina roles as opposed to one, as the rôles of Angela and the Marchesa had been respectively created by Carolina Rosati and Amalia Ferraris at the ballet’s 1857 première. As Lemoine and Velluti were the two premières of Her Majesty’s at the time, it was expected that Lemoine (as the ballet was revived for her) would dance Angela and Velluti the Marchesa.

However, Lemoine refused to share the stage with Velluti in what was supposed to be “her” ballet if Velluti was not subordinate to her. Thus, she decided that she would like Ashfield to dance the rôle. Her exact reasons for doing so are still unclear to us today, but Thompson seems to have been receptive to the suggestion and Ashfield was cast in the rôle. Though the production of Marco Spada was not as successful as either Lemoine or Thompson had hoped, it succeeded at putting Ashfield in the public eye and demonstrating that she could carry (even if shared) a dramatic rôle. As a result, Ashfield was promoted to sujet at the end of the 1882 season.

1883 saw Ashfield dancing the rôle of Catarina in the revival of The Buccaneers and again sharing the stage with Lemoine in the revival of The Devil to Pay, where Lemoine portrayed the rôle of Mazourka and Ashfield the Comtesse. The following year in 1884 Lemoine danced her final season with the troupe and The Devil to Pay was to be again revived for her benefit. However, Lemoine did not end up dancing all the performances in the rôle, but decided to leave London a month earlier than scheduled to return to France on urgent business. Before she left, Lemoine proposed Ashfield, rather than Velluti take on the remainder of her performances, citing Ashfield’s success in Marco Spada. Ashfield received good reviews for her portrayal of Mazourka and for her portrayal of Kathi in The Vivandiere (which she also debuted that year).

Lemoine’s departure meant that a position as première danseuse was open, and Ashfield was promoted to première by Thompson in 1885. She continued to expand her repertory of rôles with the titular rôle in Giselle in 1885 and Lise in The Wayward Daughter in 1886. She also created the lead rôles in the creations of Thompson’s so-called “middle period”: Sarah in The Amphitrite in 1887 and Élodie in The Fairy of the Forest in 1888.

In 1888, Ashfield sustained an injury during a rehearsal. This meant that she could no longer dance her rôles, and so it was arranged for Ivy Gregson to cover her rôle in The Fairy of the Forest and Mary Butler to cover her rôle in The Amphitrite. Thompson instructed Ashfield to rest and recover for the 1889 season, where he was planning to revive a major work for her.

The major revival that Thompson had planned for Ashfield in 1889 was the grand ballet Faust, where Ashfield was to portray the rôle of Marguerite. However, it soon became apparent that Ashfield’s injury had diminished the finesse of her technique, though Thompson continued to arrange the ballet around her abilities. The revival was a great success, with critics praising the choreography and luxurious mise-en-scène. However, Ashfield’s performance received mixed reviews, with some critics praising her dramatic acting and portrayal of the rôle with other critics lamenting the notable diminishment of her technique. Ashfield did not dance the entire run of performances, withdrawing partway through (on the advice of her doctor) and handing over the rôle to Joséphine Decoin, a guest danseuse for whom Thompson had revived Diavolina. Faust was re-billed as Ashfield’s benefit performance (as were the terms of her contract) and she officially retired from the stage.

Ashfield would later marry and have a daughter.

Rôles

• La Moldave in The Corsair (1881*)
• Caroline in The Fairies’ Goddaughter (1882*)
• Marchesa in Marco Spada (1882*)
• Catarina in The Buccaneers (1883*)
• Comtesse in The Devil to Pay (1883*)
• Giannina in Ondine (1884)
• Mazourka in The Devil to Pay (1884)
• Kathi in The Vivandiere (1884)
• Giselle in Giselle (1885)
• Lise in The Wayward Daughter (1886*)
• Sarah in The Amphitrite (1887)
• Élodie in The Fairy of the Forest (1888)
• Marguerite in Faust (1889*)

Created rôle in new ballet

First London revival, new production*