Swan Lake at the Aotea Centre

By BERNADETTE RAE

The Royal New Zealand Ballet, our national ballet company, usually excels in the more contemporary works in its repertoire, but in this Swan Lake it knocks the socks off the most classical of all the classical ballets.

From a stunning pair in the principal roles to the youngest dancer in the corps, Auckland's opening-night performance was simply wonderful, breathing warmth, passion and spine-tingling life into one of the best-known dance stories of all time.

It is an exquisitely dressed production with sets and costumes by Kristian Fredrikson, and the Auckland Philharmonia gave Tchaikovsky's most beautiful ballet score a rich and resonant reading.

But at the heart of Swan Lake is the feted and fated couple, Odette and her Prince Siegfried. They came to electric life on this occasion, thanks to Japanese guest artist Yurie Shimomura and Royal New Zealand Ballet rising star, Alex Wagner.

She is a tiny but passionate dancer, with a thrilling technique and a strong dramatic flair, equally believable as the lovelorn Odette and the black imposter Odile.

He more than matches her charisma, looking every bit the prince but able to make us feel his passage from royal ennui to passion, from despair to noble resolve. He can not only leap but also float through the air.

Together they are stunning and give this Swan Lake such a strong heart one longs to see what the other two couples, in alternative casts, might do in the roles.

Patrick Migas was a spirited and super-flexible Jester on opening night, and Richard Longbottom a powerful Rothbart, symbolising the new strength and elegance of the company's male dancers.

Newer faces also shone through in the ranks of the swan maidens with Rachael Robertson, Rebecca Tait and Rosemary Martin joining Natasha Purcell in the celebrated and beautifully danced cygnet quartet. The lines and formations in the bigger dance scenes are also picture perfect, crisp and clean.

But it is not technique alone that makes this Swan Lake shine - it is the way technique, tradition and dancers combine to carry the story and give it meaning.

It is a triumph - and will be all the way to China.