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For those who collect ballets, like lighthouses or steam trains, the historical “must see” was ‘Le Halte de Cavalerie’, a light, breezy, comic romance about the mayhem caused when the cavalry billets in a Tyrolean village. It was made by Petipa in 1896, to music by Armsheimer, for the benefit performance of his daughter, Marie, to mark her twenty years’ service as a Mariinsky dancer and performed by her, Pavel Gerdt and Pierina Legnani (along with Sergei Legat and Kchessinska’s brother, Jozef). It was first revived in the Soviet Union in 1968 and came into the Mikhailovsky’s repertoire (then known as the Maly Ballet) seven years later. I mention all of this because the programme is peculiarly silent on the origins of a ballet that has been rightly hyped because of this history allied to the fact that it is only now premiering in Britain, more than a century later.

It has been worth the long wait. This is ballet full of joie de vivre and mischief in the same mould as ‘La Fille mal gardée’, ‘Gaité Parisienne’ or ‘The Bright Stream’, but shot full of delicious Petipa choreographic chains and patterns. The central romantic pair, Peter (Anton Ploom) and Maria (Anastasia Lomachenkova) were delightfully matched and their pas de deux was, to British eyes, a charming new variation on the many Petipa duets that we already know and cherish. Comic support was provided very effectively by Olga Semyonova as the village’s good-time girl, Teresa – we know she isn’t a “good” girl because of the red boots she wears – who loses Peter but gains a Colonel, another slapstick turn for Andrei Bregvadze.

The divertissements were truly a bonbonnière overflowing with the most delicious, and unusual, confectionery, starting with ‘The Fairy of Dolls’ (possibly a mis-translation for ‘The Fairy Doll’, a 1903 ballet by the Legats to Joseph Bayer’s music, but I could be wrong). This was another brief, funny love triangle for Sabina Yapparova as the porcelain doll, courted by two mischievous Pierrots (Maksims Podosenov and Eremeev), both trying to displace the other in more and more outrageous movement with huge leaps and one-armed handstands. This was followed by a very rare sighting of Pavlova’s ‘Dragonfly’ (a tiny solo she made for herself in 1915) and performed here by Anna Zhuravlyova, leading into an extract from Perrot’s ‘La Esmeralda’, which is based on Hugo’s novel ‘Notre-Dame de Paris’. Kchessinska declared that Esmeralda was her favourite role and following in these footsteps was Ekaterina Borchenko, who certainly had pretty feet but only, I’m afraid, one expression. This impression was confirmed later in the ‘Paquita’ extract where the prettiness and precision of her steps was offset by an almost permanent open-mouthed, teeth-clenched display of effort.

Next came the seafood course, ‘Ocean and Pearls’, an “underwater” divert that has grown out of Alexander Gorsky’s 1912 version of ‘The Little Humpbacked Horse’, a ballet I have yet to add to my “Lighthouse” list. It was another chance to see the delightful, lyrical dancing and soft landings of Andrei Yakhnyuk, who especially impressed with his seemingly effortless ability to recover from a slip that would have seen many dancers on the floor. ‘Spring Waters’, by Asaf Messerer, to music by Rachmaninov, looked to become the crowd’s favourite with its powerful lifts and headlong dives. Marat Shemiunov is a tall and charismatic dancer: one of few I suspect who is capable of the strength needed for Messerer’s lifts and catches, culminating in an overhead, one-handed lift, running off-stage. However, his general partnering is always betrayed by too much effort showing in his face and, whilst he has the showman’s knack of musicality, finishing every move with a flourish of hand and facial expression, his technique suffers in some notable respects. This could not be said of his partner, Irina Perren, who has been a pleasure to watch all week.

The audience’s favourite was quickly displaced by the unannounced addition of the well-worn ‘Le Corsaire’ party piece, danced – as it always has to be – spectacularly by the Mikhailovsky’s leading duo, Denis and Anastasia Matvienko. Denis has taken the modern trend of wrapping his following leg around with an extra twist into a new league of just about every turning jump: in his variation, it didn’t quite work but the two consecutive barrel turns in his coda had extraordinary final flips that brought an audible gasp from many in the audience. Poor Anastasia struggled in the end to match her husband’s fireworks but it was certainly an explosive addition to an already packed programme, which was topped off by the concluding scene from Mazilier’s ‘Paquita’, led by Borchenko and Shemiunov and well supported by Lomanchenkova, Yapparova and a charming corps de ballets.

London has grown used to a summer season from either the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi (and even both) in this decade and, in the absence of either in 2008, we could be forgiven for thinking of this first-ever visit from the rejuvenated Mikhailovsky as being a small consolation. In the event, they have delivered the most varied programme possible in less than a week to prove that Russia is home to more than just two great companies. It has taken them 175 years to come here for the first time but I hope to see them back soon, perhaps even for longer - ‘Spartacus’ and all!