For sheer technical brilliance the Russian dancers have always had a certain supremacy and this production of Swan Lake by St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre proves the point.


Irina Kolesnikova is the Odette/Odile and with her acting ability allied to her supreme dancing skills she is peerless.


Kolesnikova has it all – her marvelous eyes melt your heart in Act I, and when the prince (this is the excellent Yuri Glukhikh) makes his claim upon her as a lover she sends out curious tremors of fear in the very fine love duet with the amazing solo violin.


Her Odile, all black sequins and menace brought Bravos for a breathtaking set of spins long before the curtain finally descended on this scintillating production.


The St. Petersburg Troupe has gone to town this time with costumes and sets and so the second act ballroom sequence glittered with golden chandeliers and glamorous costumes.


The Czardas, the Spanish and Italian dances, lacked the elegance and sharp edge of Peter Wright’s Swan Lake for BRB. But with the Russians it is the dance skills which are exciting.


The last moments of the ballet (which end happily in the Russian version) were weakened by the lack of a tragic dimension.