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I can honestly say that I have truly enjoyed all the performances of Swan Lake I have seen this season. The performances have ranged from excellent to awesome.

The corps in all the performances I saw was absolutely immaculate and they and the coaches deserve fulsome praise for their achievements.

As I’ve already done three long posts on specific performances, I’ll just concentrate on various new casts I have seen and the little things that have given so much pleasure.

In Sunderland I finally caught new principal Matthew Lawrence as Siegfried, partnering (at short notice) Natasha Oughtred. I think the short notice they had explained my feeling of a lack of connection between them, while their individual dancing and acting were superb. Matthew looks more mature and he has modified the interpretation of Siegfried to match this. He plays the role more as a Prince Charles/Prince Albert than say Prince Harry – and it works. He’s a lovely dancer, superb partner and strong actor. Natasha showed the makings of a great tragedienne in the white acts (very frail and vulnerable) and was lively in Act 3. I believe she will really grow in the role in coming years. Her second performance that I saw with Matthew at the Lowry showed much more of a connection between them and was terrific.

BRB are certainly making Matthew earn his living! I saw him in Plymouth and the Lowry with Gaylene Cummerfield – they are superb together. Gaylene makes a fragile Odette and a crisp and flirtatious Odile. She makes terrific use of her eyes. At the Lowry he also opened the week partnering the magnificent Nao Sakuma. They had a terrific spark between them and overall the performance was magical. With his characterisation, I could definitely imagine him expecting Benno to squeeze his toothpaste onto the brush!

We were very fortunate to see Jamie Bond partnering Natasha Oughtred at one performance that was sheer magic. Jamie just seemed to inhabit the role of Siegfried; he is one of those dancers who can bring out the pathos in any role and I enjoyed his thoughtful and multi-layered interpretation.

Jenna Roberts and Tyrone Singleton were another much anticipated cast. Was it worth the wait – yes it most definitely was! Since I first saw Jenna in Belfast in February she has grown into the role. She has found new depth within the character and has a good contrast between Odette and Odile. What can I say about Tyrone – if anyone was ever born to dance Prince Siegfried it was him. He has such a regal presence; he is solemn rather than melancholy at first – mourning his father and worrying about taking on the leader’s responsibility. He is polite and distant in the ballroom scene (until Odile arrives) and utterly devastated in Act IV. His dancing is immaculate, particularly his leaps which he lands silently. They are an excellent partnership.

There were two very special performances at the Lowry with Dominic Antonucci giving his last two performances in a leading role. On Wednesday afternoon we were treated to an emotional rollercoaster as he danced with a magical Ambra Vallo. His final performance on Saturday night was with Nao Sakuma and you could see the joy with which they danced together. Both these performances have left me with a wonderful memory of Dominic in leading classical roles. Fortunately he is still dancing in the rest of the company’s rep.

Over the various performances, I also saw three new Bennos as well as the ones I mentioned in my earlier posts. Joseph Caley is growing in stage presence all the time and is a virtuoso dancer. Aaron Robison just radiates enthusiasm and joie-de-vivre and what a leap he has. Matthias Dingman is another lovely dancer, who over his three performances grew into the role and gave a subtle interpretation of a young servant/friend trying to cheer up his melancholy master. He looked totally devastated when he rescued the Prince’s body from the lake as the performance ended. All three of the dancers interacted well with their respective Siegfrieds and enhanced my overall enjoyment of the performances.

During this run of Swan Lake one of the highlights for me has been the Neapolitan Dance and the acting of the dancers when their princess has not been chosen. All the dancers I saw do this look as though they have had a great deal of enjoyment acting out the story and I thank all of them for the pleasure they have given me.

All the cygnets have been immaculate throughout as have the leading swans.

As ever, it is the little things that please and at one performance I just noticed Samara Downs face (as one of the Spanish dancers) as Siegfried is declaring his love for Odile. She turned to look at the disgruntled Neapolitan dancers with such a look of triumphant malice that it took my breath away – wonderful stuff.

I can’t believe this run of Swan Lake has ended and I hope we are not waiting too long before it returns to the rep. Meanwhile we have the delights of Symphony Hall and the mid-scale tour to look forward to.