The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre deserved top marks for their exhilarating performance of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker at the Congress Theatre on Wednesday.
They did full justice to the musical score with exceptional dancing, orchestration and scenery.
Set pieces included the Nutcracker Suite, the Flower Waltz, the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and the Pas de Trois, beautifully danced by Anna Samostrelova, Dmitry Rudichenko, Ekaterina Geraskina, Dymchik Saykeev, Ruslan Nurtdinov and Astgkh Ogannesyan.
The story is based on a German children’s fairytale. On Christmas Eve Clara is given a Nutcracker doll, and dreams it is really a prince, who has to fight the Mouse King before travelling with her through the Snow Queen’s kingdom and the land of sweets. Clara finally returns to her home realising it has all been a dream – or has it?
Anna Samostrelova and Dmitry Rudichenko were delightfully expressive and graceful as Clara and the Prince.
The high standard of choreography was matched by the excellent direction of Konstantin Tachkin and the musical expertise of conductor Vadim Nikitin. It all added up to a triumphant return to Eastbourne of the St Petersburgh Ballet, who are also performing The Sleeping Beauty tonight and tomorrow.
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