Cinderella @ EFT

As the final Christmas show from Scottish Ballet under the artistic direction of Ashley Page, Cinderella offers an opportunity to assess how far the company has come in the past decade. In the years preceeding Page, Scottish Ballet were often regarded as a spent force: the introduction of contemporary work was greeted with disdain and the more popular shows, such as The Snowman, were an unsatisfying mixture of kitsch and classicism.

Page's signature style  - a mixture of Russian theatricality, precise and spectacular technique from soloists, awkward moves that sit outside of the traditional ballet canon - informs Cinderella, without losing much of the festive magic that makes the Christmas show an annual draw. The finale, which indulges a taste for the macabre and pulls the story back into fairytale brutality, jibes against the comedy and charm of the first two acts: yet elsewhere, Page successfully balances the old and the new, using the pas de deux of Act Two to conjure romance even as the dancers move past traditional ballet postures and steps.

There are still weaknesses within the company - the corps des ballet is still ragged in formation - but the spectacular show of the soloists more than compensates. Certainly, this Cinderella avoids the mawkish sentimentality of the pantomime, indulges Page's ability to merge set and choreography into a seamless whole, allowing the score and dancers to transport their audience into a world of beauty and elegance.