The Road to Les Patineurs
When you watch Frederick Ashton's Les Patineurs, dancers glide, spin, and sweep across the stage as if skating on ice. But long before Ashton, performers used roller skates to bring skating into theaters, skaters brought theatricality onto the ice, and opera borrowed from both. No ballet is created in a vacuum, so follow the timeline below to discover the fascinating exchange between skating and ballet—and the hidden history behind Les Patineurs.
Watch the 1978 version— American Ballet Theatre (ABT) on Dance in America
1818 — Early Theatrical Roller Skating
Performers in Berlin use early roller skates onstage to imitate the gliding movement of ice skating, bringing the illusion of skating into theater.
1849 — Le Prophète
Composer Giacomo Meyerbeer includes a spectacular skating ballet in his opera Le Prophète, performed on roller skates to create the illusion of dancers skating across a frozen lake. Music from this skating ballet would later be used in Frederick Ashton's Les Patineurs.
Denys van Alsloot Skating Masquerade, or Carnival on Ice at the Kipdorppoort Moats in Antwerp. Year: 1620
1849 — Les Plaisirs de l'Hiver, ou Les Patineurs
Choreographer Paul Taglioni creates a separate ballet centered on winter and skating, with music by Cesare Pugni. This earlier ballet would later inspire Constant Lambert's idea for a new Les Patineurs.
1854 — L'Étoile du Nord
Giacomo Meyerbeer premieres another opera, L'Étoile du Nord (The Star of the North). It is not a skating work, but music from the opera would later be used by Constant Lambert alongside music from Le Prophète for Ashton's Les Patineurs.
1860s — Jackson Haines
American ballet dancer and skater Jackson Haines brings ballet technique, music, spins, jumps, and theatrical expression in his performances while skating.
Jackson Haines - Figure Skater
1860s–1870s — Ballet Enters Figure Skating
1860s–1870s — Ballet Enters Figure Skating: Haines's approach spreads through Europe, helping establish a new style of figure skating that combines athletic skill with ballet-inspired movement, musicality, and theatrical performance.
Ice skating rink in Lafayette Park. 1890
1930s — Constant Lambert
British composer and conductor Constant Lambert discovers an old program for Taglioni's 1849 Les Patineurs and is inspired to create a new skating ballet.
Austrian skater Liselotte Landbeck in 1933.
1937 — Les Patineurs: Frederick Ashton
Ashton creates his famous skating-inspired ballet for the Vic-Wells Ballet. Lambert arranges music from Meyerbeer's Le Prophète and L'Étoile du Nord, while Ashton transforms the movements and appearance of ice skating into ballet choreography.
1946 — American Ballet Theatre Les Patineurs
American Ballet Theatre becomes one of the first major companies outside Britain to perform Ashton's Les Patineurs, presenting its own production with scenery and costumes designed by Cecil Beaton.
1950s–1980s — Les Patineurs Around the World
Ashton's ballet spreads beyond Britain, with productions by touring and ballet companies in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, and Turkey, demonstrating how widely the work became part of the international ballet repertory.
Pamela House and Ronny Robertson, performers in Maple Leaf Gardens' Ice Capades 1955. Photo: Toronto Public Library.
1978 — American Ballet Theatre on Dance in America
American Ballet Theatre performs Frederick Ashton's Les Patineurs for the PBS television series Dance in America, bringing the famous skating ballet to a national television audience.
1987 — The Sleeping Beauty: A Ballet on Ice
Choreographer Lar Lubovitch creates a full-length version of The Sleeping Beauty performed on actual ice by figure skaters, showing the reverse of Ashton's approach: instead of ballet dancers creating the illusion of skating, skaters perform ballet on ice.
1990s — Ashton's Les Patineurs Continues
Joffrey Ballet performs Ashton's Les Patineurs, adding the work to the American company's Ashton repertory.
2000s–Present — Ballet and Skating Continue to Influence Each Other
Ballet technique has become deeply embedded in modern figure skating, while choreographers and skating artists continue to experiment with bringing ballet onto ice. The influence now works both ways—ballet inspires skating, while skating continues to inspire dance.
