This is an effective, if robust, telling of the well-known story, with much in it to praise, but also some oddities. The programme rightly credits the work to Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, but there are long sections where the great choreographer and his brilliant assistant are absent. What we see at such times is fine, but why change a masterpiece in any of its detail ?

The success of any Swan Lake depends largely on the quality of its Odette-Odile, and Kristina Terentieva is well equipped both technically and dramatically to deliver the goods. In Ivanov’s ‘white acts’, still containing the original iconic passages, her expressive soft arms and pliable body give a vivid impression of the vulnerable creature who meets a man who may be a possible saviour, but who carries an instrument of death in his hand. Incidentally, I thought this was going to be another of the PC versions around now, where swan is off the menu, and the prince (Terentieva’s husband Alexei, pictured with her) has just gone for a moonlight walk. But no; after a good deal of swanning around the stage empty-handed, he passes close to the wings and, hey presto! he’s holding a crossbow!

Terentiev partners well, and the pair are obviously very used to dancing together, which helps to make this a confident performance. In the fireworks of Act III he copes well enough without setting the choreography alight, while Terentieva, who has the looks and the body of a seductress, makes Odile an irresistible force. Technically she is very exciting to watch, and, when it comes to the famed 32 fouettes, she alternates singles and doubles until about halfway through. Anton Udalov as the jester, full of quirky gestures and faun-like trotting, is a show in his own right. All in all this is a very enjoyable evening, which ends, rather perplexingly, with Odette, Siegfried and von Rothbart all lying dead on the stage.

Today (matinee and evening) you can see this fine company in Coppelia, and on March 5 and 6 they are at the New Theatre, Oxford, with Swan Lake and on March 7 Coppelia.