It tells us something about the Royal Danish Ballet's relationship with Don Quixote that their attractive sets and costumes by Jens-Jacob Worsaae have just been brought out to adorn their third different production in 25 years. They've tried the Grigorovich version and the Nureyev version and discarded both of them; now they've moved on to the one Alicia Alonso made for the Ballet Nacional de Cuba. That doesn't give the impression of a company that feels at home in the ballet, and I can't say I'm surprised. They're famed, of course, for their relaxed virtuosity in August Bournonville's classics and you might think that would mean they could bound through Don Quixote with equal ease, but in fact the two are a world apart both in style and in feeling. Bournonville insists that the difficult is made to look easy, Petipa - here at least - wants us to know just how difficult it is; and it must be hard for the dancers to change their whole style of presentation at the same time as meeting the technical challenges.

Their latest version is not a particularly good one. Alonso's intentions were admirable - to find a stonger story-line than usual and especially to emphasise the importance of Don Quixote himself - but as so often, what reads well in the programme notes doesn't come over on the stage. When the Cubans themselves played this in London a couple of seasons ago the general opinion was that it was a disappointing affair redeemed by some astonishingly brilliant dancing. The Danes just can't match them at that level (I doubt anyone else could, either, except for the Bolshoi of course) but there's a lot of interest, and considerable pleasure, to be found in watching a company try to find its own solution, which in this case seems to be to turn into a demi caractere ballet rather than a purely classical one.

On the plus side, the ballet looks far better in Worsaae's designs than it did in the Cuban version, which has undistinguished decor and costumes even when you allow for that company's lack of money to spruce them up occasionally. A few changes have been made, I believe, to Worsaae's original costumes but the only one I could be sure of was the substitution of long tutus for short ones in the dream scene. His colour palette is less vivid than in most of the productions I've seen - a touch of northern coolness to temper the Spanish heat - and the women's costumes are really very pretty.

As far as the actual performance is concerned, one thing that really surprised me was that the character roles seemed very subdued, even underplayed. I'd expected the company's famous mimes would really have gone to town here, but even Poul-Erik Hesselkilde as Gamache was a foolish old man rather than a big comedy number. On the other hand the entrance of the Toreadors - one of my favourite moments - had just the right dash and arrogance, with six of the company's best young men catching the mood perfectly. A seventh, Sebastian Klobborg, danced Espada - slim and elegant but so far missing the sublime arrogance the role needs. His girl friend, Mercedes, was Gudrun Bojesen, very glamorous in a beautiful dress and much more outgoing than I've seen her before. In the dream scene Rebecca Labbé danced a nice Amor, mercifully avoiding cuteness and blessed with quite the prettiest costume I've ever seen for this role. Kizzy Howard, who's been given some big opportunities this season, was the Queen of the Dryads: she's not got quite enough technique for her big solo at present but she does have real quality - in a little sequence with Don Quixote she looked for a few moments like a genuine ballerina.

Thomas Lund seemed to me rather unexpected casting for Basil: his talents and the requirements of the role didn't seem a very good match. He doesn't do boyish charm any more and is developing a more grown up characterisation which could turn out well, but unfortunately he injured his hand in the first act and presumably had to put most of his effort after that into just getting through the partnering. The entree to the big pas de deux had to be cut altogether, so although his solo was elegantly done, the last act fell a bit flat. It must have been a difficult evening for Lund's Kitri, Tina Højlund, as well. She too isn't the most obvious choice for her role, but the approach she's worked out - an older, more self-aware girl than the usual teenage flirt - works well in this context and I'd like to see her again on a more fortunate evening.

I can’t add much to Jane’s wonderfully descriptive review. I agree with her summation of the overall feeling of the Danes doing the ballet.

I’ve got to say that I was a bit miffed to realise we would be seeing “guest performers” at this performance but my miffiness turned to real pleasure and excitement when I looked at my cast sheet and realised that the guests were none other than Anette Delgado and Joel Carreno, whom I had enjoyed so much in Giselle in Paris last summer.

All the dancers on the stage looked as though they were having a lot of fun with this ballet, even though the style is different to their norm. Sebastian Klobborg really tried to give a flavour of toreador’s arrogance as Espada and Amy Watson as his Mercedes was very flirtatious. Yao Wei was brilliant and regal as the Queen of the Driads. The entrance of all the toreadors was one of the highlights of act 1.

From their first entrances Anette Delgado and Joel Carreno commanded the stage. I could feel a big silly grin spread across my face and it stayed there throughout the performance. They were magnificent. Anette was all flashing eyes and flirtation as Kitri and she has a formidably strong technique. Joel was boyish charm and enthusiasm as Basil; his dazzling smile filled the auditorium. These roles, such a contrast from their magnificent portrayals of Giselle and Albrecht, cemented my opinion that they are wonderfully strong actors as well as being such brilliant technicians. They meld all facets of their performance to make well-rounded and believable characters and they dance with such obvious enjoyment.

Having seen the Cuban Ballet perform this version in London a couple of years ago, I was ready for the spectacular one-handed lifts in Kitri and Basil’s duet in Act 1. It was lovely hearing the gasps of amazement from the audience, which was really abuzz with anticipation. One of the things I like about these dancers is that they do the party tricks with enjoyment and panache but not in a way that overshadows the action or the other dancers. I would still love to know how they achieve the gravity-defying leap into the fish-dive in the grand pas in Act 3. Some of the audience actually gave a standing ovation to the grand pas, something I have never seen before in all my years of ballet-going.
This was a really enjoyable performance, full of joie-de-vivre. The entire audience was on its feet at the end, and all the dancers were applauding these two wonderful guest artists. We floated out of the theatre on a cloud of elation.