The Royal Ballet: La Fille mal gardée - Online Ballet

Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal gardée (The Wayward Daughter) is one of the choreographer's most joyous and colourful creations

Lise is the only daughter of Widow Simone. Lise loves Colas, a young farmer – but her mother has far more ambitious plans, and is determined that Lise marry Alain, the son of a wealthy landowner.Alain seems as uninterested in marrying Lise as Lise is in marrying Alain. Simone persists in making the match until eventually her good nature gets the better of her, and she gives Lise and Colas her blessing.

The ballet is laced with exuberant good humour, and elements of national folk dance, from dancing chickens and a maypole dance to a Lancashire clog dance for Widow Simone, performed with wit and charm by William Tuckett. Osbert Lancaster’s colourful designs heighten the production’s delightful pastoral wit. The ballet's premiere in 1960 was a resounding success and it remains a firm favourite of The Royal Ballet’s repertory.