It was 20 years since America’s national classical ballet company had visited this country, and they were in fine form in an intelligent production of Swan Lake.

Unusually, the overture is used for a prologue in which we see von Rothbart, in handsome human form, making advances to Odette, but then metamorphosing into an evil creature – think Gollum in a cloak of water-weed – the change made possible by the use of a second dancer. He roughs her up as he casts the spell that turns her into a swan. Effective; but his clutching a large stuffed swan at the end of this sequence brings a smile rather than adding to the drama.

Now we move on to Prince Siegfried’s birthday party, set in a sunny garden, with courtiers and peasants mingling in a happy celebration. All goes well here, with an impressive pas de trois featuring Danil Simkin, the possessor of a terrific jump, with Sarah Lane and Isabella Boylston. Amazingly, Prince Siegfried’s old tutor is the legendary dancer and choreographer Frederic Franklin, still sprightly at the age of 95, though he is spared the little dance when the girls usually make the tutor tipsy.

David Hallberg makes a noble prince, and there is a nice touch at the end of Act I, when he has a solo expressing his loneliness. Usually this is performed alone on stage, but here the men and women remain, turned away in self absorbed couples, oblivious to the prince’s feelings, and adding poignancy to his predicament.

However, the production is left rather flat by Michele Wiles in the leading role. A tall, rather cold dancer, not greatly gifted with musicality, she can cope with the difficult choreography, but is unable to convey either the fragile vulnerability of Odette or the irresistible sex-appeal of Odile. While this was a perfectly respectable performance, I am surprised that a company of such distinction did not give this important first night to a more charismatic ballerina.

There are nice touches again in Act III. Siegfried actually dances with the foreign princesses, instead of just looking at them, and appearss really sorry to be turning them down. However, they cheer up pretty fast when a very macho von Rothbart (Marcelo Gomes), now looking like a pirate in his Sunday clothes, shows off with a big solo and asks them to dance. Probably sizing them up for his troupe of swans! Despite my reservations, this is a top-class company, and you can still catch them in the exotic romp that is Le Corsaire.