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Like Darcey I have been to Edinburgh many times but seen very little dance there and none at the Festival Theatre... a first for all of us!

The theatre is spacious and modern on the outside but retains the feel of an old theatre on the inside. The stage seems ideal for dance and it is becoming the Dance Theatre in Edinburgh, indeed the Kirov are scheduled to dance there in May 2000.

The show opened with the pas de deux from Balanchine's Agon. I have only ever seen this on video and it is even more amazing in the flesh. The control from both Darcey and Adam was amazing with Darcey drawing a gasp from the audience at one point. It was also great to see Adam dancing again and he coped very well with some of the tricky moves.

Next brought Sarah and Inaki dancing the Act 1 pdd from Manon. This is one of my favourite pdd and was performed beautifully. It has the longest kiss in ballet in it and Inaki and Sarah definitely went for it and were very passionate ( ...I hope Adam wasn't watching this bit).

Pavane just moves me every time I see it. When the curtain went up the person next to me said "Oh my god that's beautiful" before any movement occurred. No cascading Lilly but it didn't need to be there to have the audience hooked as you could hear the sharp intake of breath as Darcey started to bourre across the stage towards Adam who looked splendid in black. The height of Darcey's jet still amaze me (after all these years) especially as her landings are so soft. Adam coped with the lifts very well although you could see him straining a little at some points.

The first half finished with The Nutcracker Act II pdd. Belinda Hatley and Bruce Sansom (replacing Jonathan Cope) danced this with great enthusiasm and style. It was a pleasure to see Bruce dance so beautifully and clearly and I only hope the rumours of retirement are not true. Belinda was her usual gorgeous self and seemed to be enjoying herself so much that she nearly knocked Bruce over when she threw herself onto his shoulder !

The second half started with Darcey dancing a solo from Carmen which was choreographed by William Tuckett . Previously seen on TV (Lesley Garrett's show) it seemed better on the stage - no silly camera shots. Only one problem - its too short (about two minutes long) and the audience didn't seem to know that it was finished. Adam and Inaki stood on stage giving Darcey two hunks to flirt with but this just seemed to confuse the audience as Inaki went off near the end and Adam presented Darcey to the audience. I'm still not that convinced about the choreography but it was danced well .

Matthew Hart (replacing Johnny) and Sarah danced Cry Baby Kreisler with great panache and humour. The expressions on Matthews face were great and Sarah played her straight part to perfection. Even the moving piano didn't seem to put them off and they got a great reception. Amazing what you can do with a piano!

The Two Pigeons was next and brought a quiet stillness to the auditorium. I had only ever seen this on TV and it didn't hold my attention then but it definitely did on stage. Perhaps it was because Adam was showing his chest but I would like to think it was because it was beautifully danced by him and Belinda.

Darcey got the tutu out for her last piece - Le Corsaire pdd with Inaki. Inaki coped well with the choreography and although he doesn't jump as high as Teddy he put in a good performance. For good measure Darcey put in a few doubles and triples in her fouettes and finished with the customary big grin.

The finale was a new piece specially choreographed for all the dancers by William Tuckett (music by Michael Torke). Back to black outfits for all - Trousers and t-Shirts for the guys and all in ones for the ladies ! Pretty fast and furious this piece had different combinations of dancers at different times. One highlight was Adam and Sarah dancing together with huge grins on their faces. The piece finished with five dancers going off the stage to leave Darcey in the middle. I thought this worked very well and brought an upbeat ending to the evening.

The audience didn't want them to leave the stage and there were many curtain calls. The dancers definitely enjoyed themselves - Belinda said It was fun and all the dancers were really pleased with the reaction so much so that they were talking about moving up to Edinburgh permanently!

Listening to conversations about how much people enjoyed the show and what a pleasure it was to have dancers of that calibre in Edinburgh reminded me of just how fortunate I am that I have more opportunity than most to see Adam, Belinda, Bruce, Darcey, Inaki, Matthew and Sarah dance.

Haste ye back