The Joffrey Ballet returned to New York last week to participate in the Ashton celebration. “In the old days,” writes Tobi Tobias, “even when you weren’t feeling much admiration for it, you often still felt affection for the engaging personalities of its dancers and the troupe’s overall feisty spirit. My own happy acquaintance with several Ashton ballets comes solely from their Joffrey Ballet productions. Looking at Les Patineurs, A Wedding Bouquet, and Monotones I and II this past week I could only wonder, What happened? Not one of the stagings was as good as it should be—and had been.”