Kevin Mackenzie's choreographic emendations to Swan Lake are highly successful. They give Siegfried more to do in the first scene, and they provide a wonderful showcase for the exquisite talents of Daniil Simkin as Benno. Simkin's outstanding ability was one of the chief eye-openers of this handsome production, with its magnificent sets and the opulent talents of Michele Wiles, David Hallberg and the fine corps de ballet all riveting one's attention throughout.
      Purists, of course, might wish for more of Petipa's original to be left untouched. But the truth is that Petipa's stretches of mime can turn to longuers for a principal dancer; in standard Swan Lakes there is nothing for Siegfried to do in the long opening scene but to look magnificent. This, by the way, Hallberg eminently does: he has such legs and feet, such breadth of motion to his pacing and port de bras, such aristocratic mien, that he is a quintessential ballet prince. Mackenzie brings him into the action early, and the whole benefits greatly from it.
      There is something markedly robust about the corps de ballet and Michele Wiles to any eye accustomed to the slips who float about the Covent Garden boards. The ABT corps is wonderfully schooled, with great technique, and there is a precision about the performance, a sense of thoroughness in rehearsal and preparation, which impresses. Michele Wiles is a ballerina of immense aplomb and confidence, strong in her lines, and capable of fire; in Act III she and Marcelo Gomes's von Rothbart steal the show as Simkin stole Act I.
      The abiding memory will be Daniil Simkin. He is very small, and looks extremely young: but what a dancer! Presumably because he weighs nothing and has the tensile strength of steel wire, his every jump and gesture is close to perfection. Yet he can lift without appearance of strain, and support two dancers, one on each arm, in the evolutions of the dance, as if he were handing out feather pillows. It is the superb accuracy of his dancing, his neat, compact, perfect lines, his swift lightness, which is stunning. This is a dancer to enjoy, an exhilarating presence.
      The American Ballet Theatre gave its audience a wonderful evening of dance, wanting one to see more and more of them. For lovers of the ballet this is a Swan Lake not to miss.
AC Grayling