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Covent Garden regulars feel at home in "Operan", the Swedish Royal Opera House: a beautiful old building; first-time visitors looking lost, wondering which route through the maize will lead to their seats; the royal box with a worse view of the stage than what you get from the proletarian section; and unfortunately also an auditorium with almost as many bad seats as good ones. The big difference is that good seats only cost half of what they do at ROH, and, since the performances are hardly ever sold out, you can get them even on short notice.

The Swedish Royal Ballet are certainly capable of putting up a good performance of the classics, but they seem to prefer short runs of more modern works. Maximising ticket sales clearly isn't a factor when they decide their program, and I'm sure the dancers and other personnel much prefer it this way. Still, I have a feeling that some sections of the potential audience would like more opportunities to see traditional works, and then of course there are always those random visitors who have decided to come to ballet, and are then sorely disappointed and confused when there isn't even one white tutu at sight...

This was the first time I have seen Peer Gynt, so I prepared by reading Ibsen's play and listening to the "soundtrack". That turned out to be a good thing: the score isn't the familiar Edward Grieg classic, but a highly chromatic and in places almost atonal composition by Russian Alfred Schnittke. It is music made to order, and with a vast range, from popular theatre tunes to quiet minimalism. (It was around this time that Schnittke almost died of stroke.) It is beautiful music, but at least in my case it took a bit of advance listening to get into it.

Reading the play doesn't guarantee perfect understanding of everything that happens on stage. It's also necessary to know that in addition to the real Peer Gynt there are at times seven "aspects" of Peer Gynt cruising around the stage. Also, John Neumeier has changed the second act quite a bit from Ibsen's original. It is fast and entertaining, and certainly helps to keep the audience awake before the only, and very late, interval. Then the stage can be cleaned and everyone can get ready for the more contemplative third act and epilogue.

The choreography offers variety for the dancers, from traditional figures to modern. There are ballerinas en pointe, and ballerinas rolling on the floor, foaming at the mouth. Probably a good fit for the Swedes, then, reflecting the range of their repertoire. Of the dancers I was particularly impressed by Nathalie Nordquist as Solveig, although, I freely admit, partly for reasons unrelated to her dancing ability.

I'm not suggesting that people should travel to Stockholm to see this ballet (if you do, don't forget to check out the Dance Museum near the Opera house), but, should a suitable opportunity arise, it is well worth seeing, even if you happen to have a more classical taste.