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The Sleeping Beauty is a gorgeously colourful production by Vladimir Malakhov after Petipa - Vladimir Malakhov danced himself as Prince Desire and the wonderful ballerina Polina Semionova danced his Princess Aurora. Beatrice Knop danced an assured Lilac Fairy accompanied by 5 extremely competent fairies. Carabosse was danced mischievously and wickedly by Ronald Savkovic. The stage sets and costumes designed by Valery Kungurov are just lovely and I adored the way they lowered a rose adorned trellis "cage" over Aurora when she falls asleep it was truly magical. Polina Semionova performed a stunning Rose Adagio it was just incredible and her balances were fabulous and she received richly deserved applause. I like the addition of the gems Diamond, Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire to the final Act which I have not seen elsewhere. The corps de ballet danced beautiful waltzes and polonaise. Malakhov's staging is different and really lovely and if ever anyone has a chance to see it do please go! Standing ovations greeted the curtain calls and this was one of the best performances I have been to in a while (inc the Kirov!!).

The Balanchine evening was a totally different night. I have rarely seen a corps de ballet so together and in synch as in the performance of Serenade it was a truly amazing sight. Shoko Nakamura played the "late ballerina" with style and elegance. Apollo then followed and we saw the debut performances of new ballerina Elisa Carrillo Cabrera as Calliope and Mikhail Kaniskin debuted as Apollo. I have only seen Apollo once before with Carlos Acosta as Apollo alongside Darcy Bussell - a bit of a difficult one to compare but it held its own. Next followed a delightful performance of the Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux with Corinne Verdeil and Marian Walter, they made a lovely couple and it was a beautiful performance by two really lovely dancers. Marian Walter performed some superb jumps, soaring high in the air, which drew him applause from the audience.

The finale was Ballet Imperial with the lead danced by Vladimir Malakhov and Polina Semionova again - need I say both were wonderful again and do deserve their "traumpaar" nickname. Beautiful costumes stood out against a plain back drop and Gaela Pujol, Elisa Carrillo Cabrera and Maria Seletskaja danced beautifully along with Rainer Kresntetter and Dinu Tamazlacaru and the corps de ballet.

Overall the Balanchine Evening was very good - all the better as well as my ticket was a mere €20 and I had a brilliant stalls seat with a great view!! I'm not sure anywhere in the UK would offer quite such good value for such top notch dancing. I left the Deutsche Oper on both occasions very satisfied and can but highly recommend Staatsballett Berlin.