His autobiography was called Man of Tomorrow, his work was progressive and he was regarded as an artistic visionary. Yet ironically when Peter Darrell, the founder of Scottish Ballet, passed away in 1987, he had made no arrangements for the running of his company. Which accounts, in part, for the state of flux in which it found itself in for more than a decade.

But with Ashley Page, its new artistic director, the company is looking fresher, more confident and glamorous. In celebration of what would have been Darrell’s 75th birthday year, Page has incorporated one of his predecessor’s finest works into Scottish Ballet’s spring programme. Set to music by Mahler, Darrell’s Five Ruckert Songs was choreographed in 1978, when Paul Tyers, now assistant artistic director at Scottish Ballet, was still dancing with the company.

The spring programme forms the next step in Page’s masterplan. Having unveiled his new dancers to the public last September with an eclectic mixed bill, Page then unleashed his monumental Christmas show, The Nutcracker. Both proved that while Page’s remit is decidedly modern, the backbone of his work is deeply rooted in classical technique.

These are still testing times for Scottish Ballet. Its old guard fan base has yet to fully embrace Page’s new direction, and word hasn’t quite filtered through to potential new audiences that Scottish Ballet is an exciting prospect worthy of investigation. Given that a ballet company’s ability to balance the books depends on its Christmas show, there were sighs of relief all round when Nutcracker was a roaring success. Reviews were favour-able and audience numbers high.

Whether the spring programme will enjoy such pleasing box office returns is questionable. Mixed bills are a notoriously hard sell, regardless of their content, something Page is aware of but keen to redress. “Personally, it’s what I’d like to see and it’s what the dancers want to do,” he says.

But re-educating an audience who can’t see past Giselle and Swan Lake is quite a challenge — will Page keep plugging away in the hope that eventually Scottish audiences will become more adventurous? “It’s what George Balanchine did at New York City Ballet,” he explains. “His audiences were reared on a diet of mixed programmes, so they came to expect that and didn’t need full-length ballets, they got that elsewhere. And a lot of companies come here and do the classics, Northern Ballet Theatre do their story ballets, so Scottish audiences do get that. Part of the reason I was brought in was the powers that be wanted something relevant to today’s audiences and tastes — they wanted to be up to speed with where dance is going.”

There are two main reasons for going to see a dance company — the performers and the work. For years Scottish Ballet coasted along at a hardly remarkable level. Now, Page is handing audiences exciting choreography and dancers who present it in the way it was intended.

Alongside the Darrell piece, the spring programme features the work of George Balanchine. Born 100 years ago, Balanchine revolutionised the dance world with his unique brand of neo-classical ballet. Performed in simple leisure clothes, The Four Temperaments is a beautifully crafted study of mankind’s various “humours”. Inspired by the medieval belief that human beings are controlled by four basic moods, Balanchine explored what happens when they shift out of balance.

Meanwhile, in a bid for Anglo-American symmetry, Page has brought back New Yorker Stephen Petronio’s MiddleSex Gorge, plus three of his own works on the bill.

Page is hoping that his hot new line-up of dancers will bring enthusiastic crownds. “It’s a very attractive, glamorous company now,” he says. The unifying factor is their ability to embrace different choreographic styles, as one punishing rehearsal blends into the next.

Having witnessed first hand the plethora of directors and dancers who have passed through Scottish Ballet’s studios over the past 17 years, Tyers is well placed to comment on the new regime. And on what Darrell would have made of Page’s sweeping changes. “I think he would have loved it,” he says. “The new works Ashley has brought in, the new ideas, the way he approaches movement. And he would have loved the feeling of the company really achieving things.”

Scottish Ballet’s Spring Programme is on at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, March 31-April 3; Edinburgh Festival Theatre, April 14-17; Eden Court, Inverness, April 29-May 1

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