Intérprete: Mikhailovsky Ballet

Mikhailovsky Ballet's mixed program at Lincoln Center had something for everyone: an old classic, a showpiece, and a contemporary Nacho Duato work.

The short but intense visit the Mikhailovsky Ballet is paying to London this Easter is showing the high standards the company can reach in both classical and contemporary ballet. In addition to splendid versions of Giselle, Don Quixote and Laurencia, the St Petersburg-based ballet company has also offered two bills with works by its acclaimed artistic director Nacho Duato.

The story may be a bit thin but the quantity of its dancing makes up for it. Laurencia is a ballet little known in the west (though the Mikhailovsky Ballet brought it to London in 2010). Combining the jollities of Don Quixote with the revolutionary fervour found in Flames of Paris, Laurencia is really just an excuse to fill the stage with non-stop dancing.

Forget those photos from North Korea showing the build-up of weaponry. A couple of supersonic rockets were set off in London on Saturday night at the London Coliseum, and the audience is still reeling from the aftermath.

They’re finally here, back in London to wow audiences once again with their scintillating dancing. The darlings of the ballet world, Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev last appeared together in the capital two summers ago, and a few months later sent shock waves like the aftermath of an earthquake around the dance community when they announced that they were leaving their alma mater, the Bolshoi Ba