Everything about the Latvian National Ballet is attractive. With a Russian dance pedigree stretching back to the 1920s, this company has survived war and change, emerging in recent years as a well-rounded touring troupe, delivering classics for conventional tastes.
The company's new Swan Lake premiered a year ago. With some adjustments by artistic director Aivars Leimanis, it captures the essence of Petipa/Ivanov's 19th-century choreography with businesslike vigour. In standard kit - white tutus and little feather earmuffs - the two dozen Latvian female dancers steal the show as the lakebound swans, just as they are meant to: in time, in step and dead serious.
Margarita Demjanoka as top swan Odette is brisk but lovely, shivering her wings as she turns to her newfound love, Prince Siegfried, and away from evil magician Rothbart. As the Prince, Sergei Neikshin lacks gravitas, but he takes all leaps and bounds comfortably with an easy, winning smile. Ringolds Zigis's Rothbart has just enough melodramatic menace to keep the the dark side threatening until the bittersweet end.
In act three, Demjanoka deftly makes the famous switch from heroine Odette to baddie Odile, Rothbart's daughter, who is the image of the swan princess. Whipping up vixen-like speed, she whirls through those famous fouettés with narrow-eyed devilishness.
With three painted backdrops and a trunkload of frothy costumes, this company travels light. The set is not so much minimal as minimum. It works its magic all the same. Designed with a 1950s costume-drama look - Marie Antoinette eating cake with Audrey Hepburn in an English country house - the court scenes are shot with lilac silk, pink roses and chartreuse ruffles that lend suitable contrast to the black and red of Rothbart's players and the virginal white of the swans. With the bonus of a lively orchestra, this full-size, well-drilled production is a classic worth seeing.
· Ends tomorrow. Box office: 0141-332 9000. Then touring to London and Belfast.
