ON THE OPENING night of Swan Lake, St Petersburg Ballet Theatres production of the popular classical ballet at Artscape, an audience member was heard to say: This will spoil us for anything well ever see again.
And that was only at the end of Act Two!
The rapturous sighs of awe and wonder that emanated from the audience with each scene change (enhanced by creative lighting and magnificent sets), outstanding solo and corps de ballet appearances made the standing ovation a fait accompli.
But what would the ballet be without the music?
The Tchaikovsky score is what makes it so special, never failing to give me shivers with the introduc-tory notes of the first waltz. Under the baton of Vadim Nikitin, the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra did a sterling job.


Irina Kolesnikova really is the swan-princess, Odette-Odile.
Her expressive face and limber body is made for this role, giving her every opportunity to demon-strate her incredible footwork, timing, technique and artistic -expression.
Her long legs stretch forever and her soft arms melt on to the floor as she completes her arabesques, and her pirouettes and turns are. as always, spot on.


Artur Martirosian as the Jester and Dymchik Saikeev as Van Rothbart, the Evil Sorcerer, played fabulous character roles and quite frankly outshone Dmitriy Akulinin as Prince Siegfried, who remained expressionless throughout until he smiled for the happy ending.
The pas de trois by Vladimir Jppolitov, Liia Akhemtshina and Anna Podlesnaia was highly commendable, particularly Ippolitov`s solo. The girls were lovely and light of body and spirit.


The superb performance produced by the leads throughout the first two acts, particularly in the ballroom scene in the second, left me waiting with bated breath for the famous dying swan solo in Act Three.
I had forgotten that the choreography and music had been revised for the scene where Siegfried battles with Rothbart to win Odette forever and free her from the forces of evil. What a disappointment when I realised they were performing the preferred Russian style of a happy ending…
Having said that, the full house of ballet fans was clearly not complaining.