The story is told that Ashton had once advertised for a new housekeeper, and when he was interviewing applicants, he said to one woman who seemed a promising candidate that he didn't really mind how well she cleaned and cooked, 'but I have to be loved'. Love is clearly the subject of most of his ballets, however lightly treated, and it is important to him to be loved not only by those around him, but by the dancers he works with and the public he works for. As Maude Lloyd said, "He made a friend of you when he worked with you, drew it out of you, even leaned on you.' In a similar vein, Suzanna Raymond of the Royal Ballet observed that the warmth of human feeling in his ballets reflects Ashton's friendly relationship with his dancers. There can be no doubt in Ashton's mind of the love of the dancers of the Royal Ballet when he goes in to rehearse one of his ballets, nor that of the audience when he takes a call after a performance.
Frederick Ashton and His Ballets by David Vaughan. 1977. Page 403.
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