A leggy blonde bombshell is about to detonate in a theatre near you.
Her name is Irina Kolesnikova.


...Last Monday`s performance of Tchaikovsky`s The Nutcracker was the company`s only London date and not only did Kolesnikova pack the Albert Hall with eager fans, she turned in a performance of such megawatt radiance I swear, as I left the Hall, Albert was blinking on his memorial.


Mind you, at 5ft 10in on the flat and with limbs that blur into the horizon, playing Clara, the little girl who falls in love with a Nutcracker Doll and ends up as the Sugar Plum Fairy with a flesh-and-blood Prince, is a tall order.


No matter how discreetly she joins the other children in their Christmas party revels, she cannot help but look like the goddess Diana leading her flock of girlish huntresses.


You first get a hint of what is simmering beneath the party dress when, to an interpolation of a musical suite by Tchaikovsky, Kolesnikova dances a new pas de deux choreographed by company teacher Svetlana Efremova at the close of the first act. Utterly synchronized with her partner, Dmitri Akulinin, the lyrical pair dance with the romantic fluidity and lovingly produced technique that gives St Petersburg- schooled dancers such harmony and stature. And it is in the Kingdom of Sweets that this remarkable dancer, aged 24, finally stamps her considerable authority on the evening.


The power of her on-stage presence more or less eliminates those lesser dancers surrounding her and such is her projection she appears to be dancing merely feet away and only for you.


Kolesnikova`s interpretation of the, by now, infamous Sugar Plum variation is masterly.Instead of ladling out spoonfuls of sugar, she dances with a captivating concentration.


As a whole, the production shows artistry and quality with, as its backbone, a corps de ballet of individual artists groomed into a whole that proves deeply satisfying to watch.»