There were snowflakes everywhere in the Russian State Ballet of Siberia’s Nutcracker: dancing snowflakes, and snowflakes projected on to the scenery at every possible opportunity. It was not, needless to say, the Siberian ballet’s fault that most of us had seen enough snowflakes to last us several years by the time the company reached Oxford.

So their Nutcracker was faced with the considerable task of restoring magic and glamour to winter, and this it did in shovelfuls (if you will pardon the pun). It’s a traditional-looking production, with more than a nod towards Ivanov’s original choreography, although actually using Vasily Vainonen’s 1934 staging, revised by Siberian’s artistic director Sergei Bobrov. The result is light, bright, and free of the cloying treacle that can affect this ballet. Above all, the staging beautifully complements Tchaikovsky’s matchless score, here played live (hurrah!) and infectiously con brio by Siberian’s own large orchestra, conducted by music director Anatoly Tchepurnoi. The brass playing, in particular, was invigoratingly gutsy.

Wide, happy, and seemingly surprised was the smile on little Marie’s face as she first caught sight of the Nutcracker doll, invented and brought along to her family’s Christmas party by distinguished-looking inventor Herr Drosselmeyer (Alexander Kuimov). Ballet companies grinding out their umpteenth Nutcracker can look tired and routine, but there was no sign of that here, either among the principals or the corps. Dancing was sharp, precise, and light of foot throughout – apart from some curiously heavy-sounding Snowflakes: they wouldn’t have caught out unsuspecting weather forecasters. The army of tall, confident mice, and the Chinese Dance, despatched with dazzling virtuosity by Nadezhda Vlasova, Valery Guklenkov, and Vladimir Tsybenov, were particularly impressive.

Meanwhile Anna Aulle and Yuri Vyskubenko danced radiantly, and with strongly characterised rapport and body language, as Marie and her handsome Prince. With its colourful costumes and swirling set designs (Christina Fyodorova), this was excellent escapist entertainment for a nasty evening.