The Imperial Russian Ballet Company's Festival of Russian Ballet is more than two hours of pure, unadulterated delight.
With my fellow reviewer for the night being my nine-year-old daughter, I had been slightly concerned she may struggle to follow the story of Don Quixote in the first act, being more accustomed to clearer story lines in previous ballets she had seen such as Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty or The Nutcracker.
My fears were unfounded however, and we both loved this first act of the night.
There could be no doubt of the talent of either of these two dancers as they performed a partner hold that seemed to defy the laws of gravity, with Seveliova wrapped around Bekzhanov's body, her head mere inches away from the floor.
As always, Nariman Bekzhanov is impressive to watch. His seemingly effortless and repeated double-jump turns in the air had the audience gasping, as did the equally talented Lina Seveliova's fouette's en pointe - I lost track of how many of these she did.
There could be no doubt of the talent of either of these two dancers as they performed a partner hold that seemed to defy the laws of gravity, with Seveliova wrapped around Bekzhanov's body, her head mere inches away from the floor.
While this version of Don Quixote is a condensed version of the classic, it still has all the drama, suspense and fantastic rhythm of the full length version.
Yehven Spiridonov's Don Quixote is scene stealing at times, providing fantastic comic relief to this tale of forbidden love.
Act Two was the dark and brooding Bolero. This piece is mainly about the layered, structured corps work, and it was hypnotic to watch. There can be no doubt that every single dancer in the Imperial Russian Ballet Company has true talent, with not a single miss-step throughout this technical piece that relied on each and every dancer being exactly in sync with the next. Anna Pashkova's Godhead was absolutely beautiful to watch when she danced during this piece, and her majestic descent down a human staircase was perfectly executed.
Act Three changed the pace again with a fantastic smorgasbord of different performances.
The hilarious and clever Dance of the Horses (inspired by the Melbourne Cup) was brilliant. Choreographed by the company's founding artistic director Gediminas Taranda it is great fun to watch and had the audience laughing from the start.
Another modern piece. Runaway, was one of the highlights of the third act for both myself and my fellow reviewer. Soloists Irena Gharibyan and Sergey Kheylik were beautiful to watch in this piece, choreographed by Kheylik to the electronic dance music from Swedish group Galantis.
Finishing with Can Can Surpize was a sensible choice, as the energy and rhythm of this final dance left the audience clamouring for more.
Mayela is the perfect choice to put front of house as she clearly loves people as much as she does ballet.
The only low note in the whole performance was the music, which at times was tinny, due to being canned as opposed to a live orchestra.
One final high note has to be, especially when you are nine years old, the opportunity to meet one of the dancers, in this case, the beautiful and friendly Mayela Marcos. A member of the corps de ballet, Mayela is not only on stage during the performance but also at front of house, selling Russian souvenirs and signing programmes during the intervals as well as before and after the show. My daughter was thrilled to be able to meet her. Mayela is the perfect choice to put front of house as she clearly loves people as much as she does ballet.