RB ‘Giselle’ reviews ‘Giselle’ reviews Cojocaru in reviews Rojo in reviews Wildor in reviews Last year of RB reviews This review also on Artsworld

Cojocaru is 19; she was born in Bucharest and came to the Royal Ballet via the school and company in Kiev. She abandoned the principal roles she was dancing there to join the corps de ballet of the London company, but this obscurity was extremely temporary. In less than two seasons she has rocketed up through the ranks, and after her second performance of Giselle she was made a Principal Dancer - the youngest since Darcey Bussell was promoted at the same age. Obviously the management sees her as a future star, and her Giselle shows why.

Tiny and dark, and appearing even younger than her real age, Cojocaru starts with the advantage of looking the part to perfection, and as the carefree village girl of the opening scene she was completely charming, with the technical challenges of the role giving her few problems. But Giselle is a huge test of a dancer's acting ability as well, with the famous mad scene after her lover betrays her being perhaps the most famous dramatic passage in all ballet. It's a scene which can take a lifetime to perfect, but I was greatly impressed by the way Cojocaru tackled it: many new Giselles try too hard, packing in every gesture and emotional reaction they can imagine, but this one took a very simple - almost minimalist - approach, reliving her lost happiness through just a few, half-remembered steps and already achieving a strong emotional effect. In the second act, when Giselle's ghost tries to protect her repentant lover from death at the hands of the vengeful Wilis, some of her dancing had a linear beauty which was quite breathtaking.

It does no service to such a young dancer to imply she is already among the 'greats' of her profession, and I wouldn't wish to imply that her performance was faultless: she must know herself how much work lies ahead if she is to earn a permanent place at the top. Experience will bring her more stage presence, and work will develop the flow and phrasing of her dancing, to move it beyond a series of beautiful shapes into a visualisation of the music. Anthony Dowell is taking a gamble on promoting her at such an early stage, but from this performance I'd say history will show he was right.

Cojocaru was fortunate to be making her debut partnered by another of the Royal Ballet's most successful imports, the Danish Johan Kobborg. Technically he's a very fine dancer indeed, but rather than just showing us the steps he can use them to convey emotion - much more important in a ballet like Giselle. Equally important, he's a strong partner, and in the second act he made Cojocaru look so light we could believe she was indeed a disembodied spirit There was fine dancing, too, from Marienela Nunez and Ivan Putrov in the Peasant pas de deux in Act, two more names to watch for the future; more sadly, a brief solo from Sara Gallie, a feisty, attractive dancer, was one of her last appearances before she retires.

There are three more casts still to come, including the Cuban virtuoso Carlos Acosta as Albrecht and company soloist Belinda Hatley in the title role, completing a run of performances as exciting as any the Royal Ballet has shown us for many years