Dance by Rupert Christiansen

Bolshoi Ballet at the London Coliseum

Moscow's jewel, the Bolshoi Ballet, is making a welcome return to Britain after several years' absence. The company has undergone drastic changes of personnel and structure, and things now look set for further improvement under the directorship of its former star, Vladimir Vasiliev...

For all the excellence of individual passages... one magical factor: the Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili in the title role.

I won't mince words: hers was some of the most technically perfect dancing I have ever seen - exquisitely graceful alignment and phrasing, pirouettes turned dead - centre, impeccable, smudgeless footwork.

This was a demonstration of classical style at its purest, without exaggeration or faking, and it's hard to find the superlatives with which to describe it.

She was nobly supported by the handsome Sergei Filin and the rubber -legged Dmitri Belogolovtsev. But, frankly, nobody else got much of a look -in when Ananiashvili was on stage.

Hers was artistry I felt privileged to witness.