Henry Danton, who has died aged 102, was the last survivor of the six dancers who created Frederick Ashton’s ballet masterpiece Symphonic Variations in 1946. This was Ashton’s first creation for the stage of the Royal Opera House. He filled the work with a flow of movement, challenging his dancers’ stamina and drawing on their individual skills.
Danton’s interest in ballet was aroused by seeing Léonide Massine’s Jardin Public performed by Wassily de Basil’s Ballet Russe at Covent Garden in the 1930s, and particularly by the idea of a statue coming to life, but he did not start training in ballet until he was 21.
