Moscow City Ballet. TCHAIKOVSKY'S ballet, Sleeping Beauty, is a timely post-Christmas offering - just the right tonic to blow away those January blues.

It may not have stopped raining in Manchester and Bolton since God knows when, but last night we were treated to some wonderfully sunny dancing, this talented Russian troupe charting the course of the ballet's fairytale plot through to the individual bravura displays of the final act.

The story is simple enough: Princess Aurora (Natalia Shelokova) is fatally cursed as a baby by the wicked witch Carabosse (Gulam Poladkhanov), is pricked on the finger when she is 16 by a poisoned spindle, but escapes death thanks to the Lilac Fairy (Irina Trotsik) and falls with the rest of the Royal court into a 100-year-old sleep until Prince Florimund (Mikhail Ronikov) revives her with a kiss, and they all live happily ever after.

All the principals dance to the manor born, with athleticism, poise, great skill and that indefinable something only Russian dancers can bring to the classical repertoire, although Shelokova had a slight slip at the end of one of her solos in the second act.

The Corps de Ballet was a pleasure in itself, their ensemble work being excellent and the fairy tale dancers of the final act gave some brilliant performances.

This was traditional ballet at its best: colourful costumes, ornate if not lavish sets and full-blooded dancing.

Sleeping Beauty is repeated tonight (7.30pm) and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker runs until Saturday (7.30pm), with a matinee on Saturday at 2.30pm. JOHN GRIFFITHS

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