by BBC South Yorkshire's Margaret Burgin

The most performed ballet in the world has done rather well for itself over the last hundred years. Back in 1877 its Moscow premiere was greeted with scathing reviews.

Like many lovers of dance I've seen Swan Lake several times.

An embarassment of swans

The ballet has even spawned two endings over the years: a happy fairytale one and a more logical tragic one.

Margaret

There was the arena version in the round from the English National Ballet and Raymond Gubbay which boasted 70 swans.

Then there was the version made popular by the last scene in Billy Elliot - that's the one with the male swans devised by Matthew Bourne.

Not to mention the famous 1960s film with a comparatively youthful Rudolf Nureyev and a more mature Margot Fonteyn.

The ballet has even spawned two endings over the years: a happy fairytale one and a more logical tragic one.

Just in case my views were becoming jaded, I took along Cathy, a colleague who had never been to a ballet before.

Predictable

This performance from the St. Peterbsburg Ballet proved, for me, to be fairly predictable.

It was technically good on the whole but there were one or two slips from the principal dancers in the more difficult parts of Act III. Anna Podlesnaya, as Odile, did manage the famous 32 fouettes - although I have to admit I didn't count them.

But she did slip once or twice and Siegfried (Dmitry Akulinin) had a couple of missed landings too.

the costumes were very traditional and they demonstrated that particularly Russian foible of adding just as much glitter, gold and silver as possible.

Margaret

Cathy noticed this too and she observed that the stage looked as if it were too small for them.

She was probably right. It was their first night in Sheffield, and although the whole company were accomplished dancers there were one or two spatial problems, which indicated that they didn't quite have the measure of the Lyceum stage.

All that glitters

Typically for a Russian company, the costumes were very traditional and they demonstrated that particularly Russian foible of adding just as much glitter, gold and silver as possible.

I thought that some of the costumes, particularly those for the ethnic dances in Act III, were really over the top. But Cathy said that the costumes and sets were wonderful and just what she had expected.

We both noticed that, although the the sets were sumptuous, the swans magical and the orchestra accomplished, some of the drama was missing.

I've seen some productions of Swan Lake where you really feel the eerie enchantment of the tale and where Siegfried and Odette really are in love.

I found that I really couldn't quite believe in the love story.

Margaret

Cathy noticed that many of the principal characters seemed to lack emotion and I found that I really couldn't quite believe in the love story.

However the theatre was full and the audience really did enjoy their ballet, especially the little girls with adoring mums in tow.

So if you are happy with the music the glitz and the traditional fairytale (and yes this one does have the happy ending) then this is for you.

But if you want drama and passion with your dance, then book ahead to see the Northern Ballet Theatre when they visit the Lyceum in April.

Swan Lake was performed by St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, at Sheffield Lyceum on 19th Jan 2004.