Swan Lake / Mariinsky Ballet, dance review: From Russia with a stately swan

​There are some gemlike moments in the Mariinsky's Swan Lake. This is a ballet that was made for the St Petersburg company, after all, in 1895 (by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov), and has remained an important part of their rep ever since.

There's great pleasure to be had from the precision-drilled formation swans, their refined lines and matchy-matchy magic; and also from the calibre of leading lady, Viktoria Tereshkina (replacing an injured Oxana Skorik). Tereshkina, seen earlier this week in Don Quixote, now gets to show off her silken turns and dreamlike control as white swan Odette, and some wicked fouettés as black swan Odile.

Overall, though, this production feels sluggish from the first fall of the baton, making what is already an overlong opening act (bloated by the unnecessary characters of the tutor and the jester) drag just that bit more.

Even when the action gets going there's a pacing problem, not helped by the Russian habit of stopping for bows every ten minutes, breaking either the spell or the momentum, depending on what's happening at the time.

Brit talent Xander Parish, a rare foreigner at the Mariinsky, is an elegant, innocent Prince Siegfried. In this reading he's a boy out of his depth, chasing after unavailable women who give him nothing back.

As Odette, Tereshkina is ice maiden, a distant, alien beauty who needs rescuing (any prince will do). When she reappears as a scarily formidable Odile, Siegfried is her mere plaything.

The irony is, this time Siegfried actually gets the girl, thanks to the Soviet-era happy ending, distinctly lacking in tragedy. It's a grand, stately production with some huge talents, but not so much heart.

Until 7 Aug, Royal Opera House; roh.org.uk