The Nutcracker, the traditional Christmas ballet, is with us early this year in an enjoyable version by St Petersburg Ballet Theatre. This is a straightforward and unshowy interpretation. Almost nothing of Ivanov's original choreography has survived, and so quite a few choreographers have made their own versions. This one is based on Vasily Vainonen's for the Kirov, with two important duets for the principals by Svetlana Efremova.

At the centre is a very well-danced performance by the company's star, the much-praised Irina Kolesnikova. The difficulty with the role of Clara is that you have to find a dancer who is capable of being a grand ballerina in the dream sequences, but is also believable as a girl still young enough to be thrilled when presented with a doll. Kolesnikova simply looks too mature (and I don't mean old - she's quite young), and is also by far the tallest woman on the stage. Although she acts well enough, the character is not convincing. However as soon as we get to the great set pieces, we have a ballerina of considerable quality, and partnered by the handsome and likeable Dmitri Akulinin (pictured with her), she delivers the goods with a lot of style.

There were nice touches throughout. Drosselmeyer is a quaint dandy dressed in black, for some reason wearing dark sunglasses. He reappears in fancy dress as an oriental potentate to hand out the presents in one of the most effective sequences. Reviewers don't usually bother much with Clara's brother Fritz, but he is played most effectively here by Olga Souvarova, who replaces the usual pain-in-the-backside boy with a character on the verge of adulthood, excited to be dancing with the grown-ups, a real mini-gentleman. The Snow Queen was beautifully danced by Anastasia Khabarova, who showed her versatility when she appeared later as an exotic dancer from the East among the national dances, all of which went well. My chief complaint concerns the way members of the corps de ballet, seated around the stage as an audience for the principals, looked sullen and bored throughout. This detracts enormously from the exuberant mood the dancers are striving to create, and they should know better.

The company is at the Derngate, Northampton (box office, 01604 624811), all next week