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The programme had advertised itself as reflecting the 'five decades of Her Majesty's reign' or somesuch, but apart from a piece from Ashton's 1956 'Birthday Offering', and his 1963 'Marguerite & Armand' there was nothing to whatsoever to nail it to her Maj., who sat in the Royal box resplendent in blue and managing a tentative smile from time to time. Sadly, the two Royal ladies who had a real love of ballet, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, are no longer with us and the Royal Ballet is - perhaps for the first time in its history - without true royal support.

These considerations aside, this gala was enjoyable. Ashton's 'Birthday Offering'opening, led splendidly by Bussell & Cope was difficult to judge from the big screen for the reasons I've explained, but seemed regal enough to the Glazunov score.

Forsythe's 'Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude' followed, and here I was struck; I hadn't much liked it the first time I saw it, but this time I loved it - the dancers were sleek, thrilling and fast - Jenny Tattersall was absolutely stunning in her solo, just ripping into the choreography with obvious ease and enjoyment , and Miyako Yoshida and Zenaida Yanowsky, with their respective delicacy and glamour, did just as well. Edward Watson and the very promising Brian Moloney were the two men and I grow more impressed with Watson every time I see him There is something about the control and precision of his dancing which makes it quite unique, and beside that is the fact that he is devastatingly attractive, with his calm pale face and distinctive red hair - a real star in the making. Sylvie Guillem and Nicholas Le Riche brought the house down next with 'Marguerite & Armand'. This piece suffered the worst of the technical gremlins for the big-screen viewers; it seemd to me that almost the first one-third of the piece was lost in a thick grey haze with only vague silhouettes of the dancers visible. But when the lights did come up, what a performance we had from the two stars! This piece could so obviously be hammy, what with its emoting, breast-beating, coughing and weeping etc, but somehow Guillem and Le Riche made it moving.

Duato's 'Remanso' came next, and I still don't like it, despite the inventive choreography and the fluent easy dancing of the three participants - Jonathan Cope, Roberto Bolle and Edward Watson. I find the passing of that pesky rose between the three men both camp and coy and it reduces 'Remanso' accordingly, however well-danced it is. (It's only fair to say, however, that my non-ballet companion loved it best of all).

The Don Quixote pdd brought the first half to a close. This 'prawn cocktail of the ballet gala menu' as a critic once described it, was sparklingly dashed off by Carlos Acosta (the crowd adored ) him and Marienella Nunetz, whose flashing feet all but left speed blurs on the floor. Great stuff.

The Onegin ballroom scene (Act lII) opened the second half with Mara Galeazzi's Tatiana dancing that heartbreaking pas de deux with Christopher Saunders as Gremin, her husband. This was truly beautiful and I think it's the best I've ever seen Mara dancing. In fact, everyone looked good in the piece. And then the highlight (for me), the pdd from Christopher Wheeldon's 'Tryst' with Bussell and Cope (which the RB had the cheek to suggest, in the announcing credit flashed on the screen, had been 'specially composed to honour the Queen's jubliee' or some such wording) I liked Tryst the first time around, this time I simply adored it. This complex, sinuous and intimitate blending of two bodies reminds me very much of Balanchine's 'Agon' but is an infinitely warmer and more human piece Bussell's movements were liquidly smooth and calm, almost voluptuous and she took such pleasure in them that she conveyed her pleasure to the audience - what 'artistry' is surely all about. I couldn't imagine a better partner for her than Cope - he was wonderful.

Alina Cojocaru and John Kobborg were weightless and seamless in Tudor's 'The Leaves are Fading' a romantic piece which I love but which I know others find rather twee and sentimental. I would argue that with a mere change of design this would be a worthy piece to keep in the RB's repertoire.

A disappointment followed - Ivan Putrov was positively dull in his Bronze Idol solo from Bayadere. A dull Bronze Idol? Surely that's a contradiction in terms? But, for whatever reason, Putrov danced this brief solo politely and correctly but without a hint of sparkle - I found myself thinking wistfully back to Kumakawa's razzle-dazzle in the role, and I'm no Kumakawa fan.

Bussell was once again on stage, this time in the balcony pdd from MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet, partnered by the handsome Roberto Bolle. I've never thought her an ideal Juliet, but she was extremely touching in that most swooningnly romantic of pdds. And Bolle, of course, was your ideal dishy Romeo. Mats Ek's strange and wonderful 'Carmen' was the finishing item, and I cursed myself for nothaving bothered to see the whole thing when it was on. As performed by Guillem, Cope, Massimo Murro and Yanowsky among others it was a tough, funny, dirty and very theatrical experience. From the moment you saw Guillem lying with her legs akimbo, you knew you had to put all thoughs of clasical purity out of your mind. Eks is a man of the theatre rather than a true choreographer, but he keeps the dancers moving in such an inventive way that he can fool you into believing that what you are watching is dance. Guillem's swaggering, cigar-smoking Carmen and Jonathan Cope's flashy, trashy pelvis-thrusting Escamillo were both delightful and Massimo Murro's put-upon Jose was memorable. This 'Carmen' was an ideal choice to close the gala evening.

I can't finish without mentioning Deborah Bull's lucid and helpful commentating on the event - she addressed the piazza crowd without notes, and generally kept us informed of what had happened or was about to happen both inside and outside the house. What a player!