Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet, Ashley Page

During the time I was a student at the Royal Ballet School in London I really enjoyed being part of the productions at the Royal Ballet Opera House. It was during the late sixties when dancers like Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev were around, and in the productions we were the children in 'The Nutcracker' for example. It was great to rub shoulders with great dancers.

I was given a call about the job at Scottish Ballet during a time when it felt right to join. I was at the Opera House for 27 years, but the chance to refresh a company doesn’t come everyday so it wasn’t a difficult decision to make to move to Glasgow. It was a new challenge.

During the time when I was working with designer, Anthony McDonald, on a new production for the Opera House I had to spend some time in Glasgow. He showed me the city. Previously the only time I had been to the city was as a child when my parents had holidays in Scotland. In those days the city was black and horrible and so we would just drive through it quickly. But when I came back it was ten years after the city had been rejuvenated and awarded the European City of Culture in 1990. I realised I could be happy living in Glasgow; everything just fell into place.

I was here for one year before my wife, Nicola, who is a retired dancer from The Royal Ballet, and our two children, Audrey and Jordon came up. We have a house in Pollokshields, near the Tramway, which is where the new home of Scottish Ballet will be in 2008. We are slowly doing up our house; it has a big garden and we have a dog as well. There are parks nearby. There is a lot of green space in Glasgow and the people here look after them very well.

We've made lots of friends here. It was a wrench for my family to leave London but readjusting was very easy for the children. My daughter goes to a local dancing school and my son plays rugby and swims. We bought a big house so family and friends can visit.

Scotland’s biggest selling point is the countryside, the mountains and lochs. I have seen a lot of the Highlands from being on tour there. But I need to go to the Western Isles; I want to learn to sail while I am in Scotland but because my job is so absorbing I don't get much free time.

As the children get older it’s important to spend more time with them, but it's difficult because of my job. However, I enjoy eating out in Glasgow; Scottish people love their food and they do it well here.

Working in a dance company in Scotland is different to working in London. In the Royal Ballet I was part of a team of people and there were 80-90 dancers. At Scottish Ballet there are 36. But that means we can be light on our feet and we can change direction faster.

Outreach programmes are very important but you can never do enough.  We take our outreach programmes all over Scotland. It’s a chance to spread the gospel and it makes audiences understand it when they see it on stage.

The Scottish population is small, but there is a healthy independent sector for dance; there is Dance Base in Edinburgh and The Space in Dundee. Big theatres carry big companies. But it’s tough to get a good number of audiences in Scotland since there are fewer people in the population. But we’re seeing a rise in box office numbers and that can only be a good thing because it means people are getting away from the front of the TV.

I am most proud of choreographing 'The Nutcracker'. When I came up here I had never done a full-length piece of work. The work I do is abstract and I had never told a story with it. It was a personal gamble for me but it paid-off and the company has gone from strength to strength. We did eight weeks and 50 shows and by the end of it we had become a company and a cohesive group; the new dancers had gelled with the old dancers. I am very proud of 'The Nutcracker', even though it’s not the best piece of work I’ve made. I don’t think it compares to 'Cinderella'.

On the first night of a performance it's hell! I was a dancer for many years and I used to get nervous before I went on stage. But as a choreographer, it's out of your hands; you just have to sit there and watch it unfold. It's hard to let go.

We're in a new phase now; we've settled our issues and money is coming from the Scottish Government to fund our work. We've also got a new home on the horizon. The Tramway is about to be built so it's going to make life a lot easier. If we get it right we'll be entering a new phase where we can push boundaries and tour a lot wider and we aim to tour internationally as well.

Ashley Page OBE

Ashley Page was born in Rochester in Kent and joined the Royal Ballet School in London when he was 12-years-old. He joined the company in 1976 and became a Principal dancer in 1984. Among his achievements Ashley was awarded a Lawrence Olivier Award in 1995 for his piece, Fearful Symmetries, and Scottish Ballet received the Theatrical Management Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance under his directorship.

Related links

Scottish Ballet