If you missed the Royal Ballet’s new production of Swan Lake earlier this year, but still yearn to see what is probably the world’s best-loved ballet, then run along to the London Coliseum where the St Petersburg Ballet Theatre is dancing its own version of Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece.

It is certainly not the best production you will see, but there is still much to admire in this company’s staging, and if you have not seen the ballet before, this is a good introduction. The costumes are pretty (though some of the women’s headdresses look cumbersome) and the sets are serviceable, but I miss a staircase in Act III – it adds to the drama if Odile and Rothbart make their entrance and exit this way.

Irina Kolesnikova, the company’s leading ballerina, danced the challenging dual role of Odette/Odile at the performance I saw. Here is a rare and exotic bird indeed: arms curving upwards and backwards, her Odette looks more in pain than sorrow at her plight. More suited to the predatory Odile, Kolesnikova portrayed her with flash and glamour. I have never seen the famous fouettes in the Black Swan pas de deux executed with such speed, but what a shame about the bows and applause mid-coda – it breaks the tension and is a horrible habit with Russian companies.

Denis Rodkin was a fine Prince Siegfried, with lovely elevation, and Sergei Fedorkov made an incredibly bouncy Jester, dressed like the Joker in a pack of cards. The Act III character dances were a mixed bunch: the Czardas and Mazurka fared better than the Spanish dance, which was underpowered and could have done with more foot-stamping. The Neapolitan was particularly weak, but can anything surpass Ashton’s snappy choreography as seen in the Royal Ballet’s version? I doubt it.

The lakeside scenes worked well, with the Little Swans precise and neat and the corps providing a pretty backdrop. But I have a problem with the ending – the climax of Tchaikovsky’s music screams tragedy and not the happy conclusion we are presented with here.

The St Petersburg Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake is at the London Coliseum until 2 September. Click here for further details.