David Dougill reviews

THE BOLSHOI’S RAYMONDA

...At the Coliseum, the Bolshoi's latest programme offered us Yuri Grigorovich's 1984 production of one of Petipa's late (1898) works, Raymonda, which doesn't appear often in the West...

...The medieval - style designs are handsome, and the company acts with a committedly old - fashioned manner that isn't out of place. Mark Peretokin is beefily villainous as the saracen, and Sergei Filin - of splendidly smooth virtuosity - suitably moral as the hero.

Nina Ananiashvili magnificently commands the huge dancing role of Raymonda - such an outpouring of jewelled variations from old Petipa; immaculate in shaping, phrasing, musicality - nothing ostentatious. In short, the art of a real ballerina.