Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks are so together it's almost unreal. While one answers questions, the other nods, agrees, embellishes and supports. Just occasionally you might discern a slightly different emphasis here or there but it's never anything of consequence and one gets the clear feeling that they think of themselves as a team and not at all individually.

They have been together ever since dance school, have grown up together, matured together, skipped countries together and won audiences hearts together. So perhaps there's no surprise at their closeness and how pleasant to behold it.

"I think its so special when we go out on stage and look in each others eyes. It's like Romeo and Juliet, I really enjoy dancing with Agnes." Tom

Tom arrives first for the interview, beaming, brim full of enthusiasm and a little apologetic and concerned at being late (he wasn't!): have I been waiting long, have I had a coffee? We get to the ENB kitchen and Tom does everything - how much milk?, helps me to sugar. Such care and thoughtfulness are unexpected but they confirm the universal view of those who know him that Tom is a very, very, nice man.

While the coffee is being made some gets spilled on the front of the kitchen unit's. Tom immediately gets a cloth and wipes it down, screws up a corner and works it into all the nooks and crannies. I'm not sure how many other people would do such a thorough job in a communal kitchen, indeed some of the evidence of other upsets was still there. It seems to sum up an approach to life of doing things properly and well. Or perhaps I'm just reading too much into the spilling of some coffee.

But it's the same when we get to the studio for the interview: Tom unstacks and arranges the chairs, are they ok like this?, or like this? More chairs emerge ready for Agnes and one for the cassette recorder. This all happens so swiftly, one hardly has a chance to contribute. As an interviewer, I've never felt so pampered and cared for. An exceedingly nice man indeed. And Agnes also - she arrives all blond and big smiles. The whole interview is great fun, with a lot of laughing and smiling as they reminisce about all that has happened to them.

They were both born in Estonia but with Russian mums. Somewhat at odds, Tom's first language is Russian but Agnes's is Estonian. They were both in the same year at ballet school and first danced together at 13, in the Nutcracker as it happens.

"So we've known each other a long time" {Tom}. However the different languages meant that the class was split so I'm afraid the "Together and in Love since 13" headline cannot be; things really came together later:

"after 5 years we kind of met properly. Before that I remember him as young boy!" {Agnes}. Since then they have never really looked back or at others:

"So far we enjoying each other" is the way Tom sums it up, with much laughing, and total agreement from Agnes.

In their final year they danced the lead in the school's graduation performance of Coppelia "We had 8 months to do it... and that's how our friendship grew" {Tom}. Achieving this level was not necessarily expected in their earlier years at schools and they both candidly admit that each was second to somebody with more potential. But their discipline and dedication and others' more uncertain commitment brought them to the very top of not just the school but the world. They are so obviously passionate about ballet, but of course you could not exist at this level if you were not!

Tom initially joined the main Estonian company. His first role was Albrecht in Giselle, which must have caused a bit of a stir amongst the more established principals. Meanwhile Agnes was off to Moscow to get some final experience at another school. When she returned and joined Tom they danced Swan Lakes and Romeo and Juliets together. That they had such marvellous talent and that they were allowed to demonstrate it is amazing. Can you imagine anything like this happening in the UK?

The thing that changed their life was entering the Jackson, Mississippi competition. Jackson is held every only every 4 years, indeed the last one was held only a few months ago. Their teacher thought they should go, but a lot of nimble footwork was need to make it happen. Back in 1990, Estonia state regulation was everywhere and there was nothing in the shops. If there was, then you needed coupons to buy it and the KGB was still a fact of life. Worse, in dance terms, Moscow decided who might enter international competitions and things generally got fixed according to politics rather than who might be best at dancing. So they avoided all this by slipping out through Finland and making their own way to the USA.

"When we arrived there all Russians, and KGB people were like thinking and saying.. 'How you be here, what you doing here?!'. And we were just quiet, play stupid and didn't speak. And it was so scary because we didn't know our value or anything. We thought if we get to the second round we will be so lucky. And then we got to the second and then the third and we were just like wow!" {Tom}

True to form they got excellent points for their classical work but less in the modern sections which they hadn't really done much on.

"But in the end we still we won the best couple prize and then Tom won the third prize for boys. I mean nobody could believe it when we came back. Everybody was just so surprised". {Agnes}

While at Jackson, they had quite a few offers, or rather their teacher did because they could not speak English. Ivan Nagy (the previous ENB Artistic Director) made the first offer after the first round. "I want to have them and I want to be first!" is the quote. Other more lucrative

"It's always little ups and downs but I think at the end of the day it's really a great enjoyment to know somebody so well. And you can show your very own feeling instead of acting." Agnes on working togther.

offers also came along. They couldn't make up their mind and in the end we have their teacher to thank for them coming to London; they were advised to come here because it is an international cultural centre. One wonders if quite the same advice would be given now.

Arriving at ENB and London "was a big shock for us" {Agnes} "that there was the two of us was a big help and we learned that people think differently and some play games. It took a long time for us to understand who is real, who is not. But it's good we have each other" {Tom}.

They knew nobody and could not speak English, despite having studied it for several years at School:

Agnes: "We knew stupid words"
Tom: "Like cat and dog"
Agnes "and bread and butter! Things like that. And we couldn't even ask 'How are you'!"

Agnes continues "the class and everything was so different, it was so much faster and we didn't really understand what they were talking about. Then we had to learn like Nutcracker, Les Sylphides and something else in like one month, which we never done. We had like 6 months to learn Swan Lake so it was like so much pressure, just do it and nobody to speak to. It was quite pressure, quite an experience. It was really scary in the beginning."

While they might not have found settling in so easy, the audience immediately started picking up on their classic stye and Tom particularly is always described as the danseur noble personified.

They eventually settled in at ENB, learned English and saw Derek Deane arrive "he knows how to push people..." was said with some affection (others would probably be more tongue-in-check). And they did all the classics more than a few times before deciding that a change would be nice.

They joined Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) and clearly the prospect of working on new things was what excited them. It was, though, not a happy year, with Agnes being injured for a lot of it, and while BRB was a nice friendly company "it was not the right place for us. It's a different environment for us. I think you get used to one place" {Tom}.

The new work did not really take off and one gets the feeling that working with Bintley was not particularly rewarding. The partnership between dancer and choreographer did not seem to happen, with Bintley having clear ideas on what he wanted and Tom (the non-injured one at hat time) wanting to contribute actively. In this respect, they enjoy working with Derek Deane who is seen as more open and happy to take criticism indeed. There is no animosity about BRB, just an acceptance that it's horses for courses and it did not work out this time.

While at Birmingham, they started to think about doing more freelance work and having a little more control over what they are doing:

"We want to still go travelling, that's what we want to do because we started, and one year is not really enough. And everywhere we've been they want us to come back! Hopefully (more) people will know more about us." {Agnes}

But they also like ENB and are back as resident guest senior principals, about which Tom says "it's good to be back. We feel like our roots are here. It's a long time and we love London as well". So they have stability and freedom ( at least part of the year anyway). The one thing they still don't have yet is something new and a choreographer to work with.

Agnes: "we really want to have something new for us. All this classical stuff is fine but, now I feel like we should start doing something modern."
Tom: "not completely (modern), without, you know, shoes."
Agnes: "but something different!"

"I'm sure every dancer sometimes wakes up or goes to sleep and says why am I doing this? I want to stop! But the thing is to continue. Maybe to step back and have a little rest, but keep knocking on that door." Tom

Of course if you want something done you might consider doing it yourself .. and Tom has thought about making some choreography, but somehow something more important always seems to come up:

Tom: " ..it's not easy - you always have to do so many things.." Agnes: "especially now because we are not so young in a dancers career. So basically the 5 years coming we have to just go for it. We have to do what's best for us. So we can't really waste any time, we really have to..... go for our dancing more and hope that there is no injuries." Tom: "Not enough time, I want to do so many things, and there is not enough (time). it's so frustrating."

Of course there are existing roles that they would like to do. Agnes would die for Manon or Onegin... or Theme and Variations. More Balanchine would certainly be appreciated. With 5 different versions of Sleeping Beauty under their belts one can appreciate their quest for more variety.

We talk about some of their existing roles. Both enjoy Romeo and Juliet and physically enjoyed the latest in-the-round (Albert Hall) production by Deane: "You can act a lot. Rudolf's was so busy, there wasn't any moment to stop, you were just busy all the time. Your face didn't have any part in the ballet basically."

Agnes says she likes Giselle, and Tom with a sly laugh says that he was not going to even mention it - for them it goes without saying and is almost part of the wallpaper. Physically and emotionally Albrecht in Giselle is the killer part for Tom. And for Agnes? "Beauty is pretty tough" which must count as one of the larger understatements a ballerina can make. But there's more:

"Beauty is like nightmare after you've done 2 acts and you are already exhausted, but the crowning pdd is in the last 10 minutes. So you have to wait through all those little silly dances and you kind of don't have energy anymore but you know it's coming.... So it's kind of fighting with yourself all the time; 'I have to do it'!"

I also broach the question of dancing with different partners. Yes it's nice to dance with others and it's possible to learn new things with the right person. But they get upset by people who try to impose a rigid view that life partners don't give the best performances together. This is tosh, and they feel that in many roles their knowledge of one another only adds to the performance. So what happens if there is a terrible row just before taking the stage?:

"There is not enough time, I want to do so many things, and there is not enough (time). It's so frustrating." Tom.

"Occasionally we have little fights but it's nothing. But it's mostly to do with stress and when we used to do millions of Nutcrackers at the Festival Hall. I think that's when it was happening. We were also at a different age and we have out of that. I think now we can talk and we understand each other. We have an agreement not to say anything to each other on stage." {Agnes}

I have to end by talking about their most recent gala - it was called SuperGala, given in Japan and arranged by Igor Zelensky, and included a list of international stars including Darcey Bussell. Here is what Hiromi, our Japanese correspondent had to say about Tom and Agnes:

"Schubert's Impromptus (ch. by Derek Deane)
danced by Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur

The piece was originally choreographed for Antoinette Sibley and David Wall with costume designed by Anthony Dowell. I loved this piece best of the night. Beautiful two presence and choreography was just along with the music. I think Oaks and Edur are most wonderful when they dance together, their body lines and musicality make very different creation than when they dance individually. This piece was very suitable to show their dance quality. Many ballet fans around me said this was very wonderful, beautiful, like seeing the music. Hope we have another chance to see this piece again." {I have left Hiromi's English as is. It's not perfect but somehow it conveys more in the original}.

Word of Tom and Ag continues to spread and they will become far better known yet. That they are so nice, lovely and charming is a joy - as is the fact that you can see them dance with ENB somewhere near you. So don't blow it and miss them.