Mary Brennan

When Scottish Ballet premiered David Dawson’s radically re-imagined Swan Lake in 2016, there were talking points aplenty. He’d stripped out classically familiar tropes - no tutus, no Rothbart casting spells, no Royal panoply. Instead, the central encounter between a misfit Siegfried and an other-worldly Odette gained nuanced intensity, with Dawson’s physically, riskily, fierce duets bringing them together in touching distance of possible happiness. That it ends with Odette betrayed and Siegfried bereft, touches us to the core: 19th century myth acquired everyday humanity.

Split seconds… That’s all it took for the accident to happen. The aftermath, however, remains ongoing

Chunky Jewellery ,Tramway, Glasgow, four stars

Artistic Director and Cinders! choreographer, Christopher Hampson, had long been reflecting on the male/female stereotypes that still prevail in many ballets and fairy tales.

‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall… Surprise, surprise folks! The Man in the Mirror has stepped out of the customary frame and is now our glittery-garbed narrator and an ongoing part of the action alongside Elaine C Smith and Johnny Mac.

A stoatir of a change has come over Aganeza Scrooge since she first manifested at the Tron in 2012. Back then, panto-meister Johnny McKnight not only wrote the mischievous fun’n’pun-filled script, he donned Aganeza’s lurex frock and peerie heels to Dame it over Dickens’s hard-bitten meanie.

We now have a Dame in the buoyant shape of May McSmee (yer man Allan Stewart) formerly Hook’s cook. That piratical Hook was eaten by a crocodile, wasn’t he? But this is panto remember - and Grant Stott, like Stewart, is a long-established mainstay of Edinburgh’s seasonal entertainment, so the croc found him hard to swallow and now Hook’s back to parry patter and punchlines with May McSmee.

The young lives of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers were tragically blighted by the warring rivalries of their powerful families. Fast forward to a time akin to our own, with Matthew Bourne’s radical re-working of that narrative now isolating troubled teenagers in the Verona Institute where strict regimentation - and controlling medication - erode any hint of individuality or rebellious behaviour. Conformity seems the goal here, regardless of any personal or emotional needs.

A desire to challenge preconceptions about dance, and what we expect from it, underpins this bold new double bill from Scottish Ballet. Choreographers and dancers alike have opted to sidestep familiar styles and explore other directions in movement and creativity. There are surprises on-stage!

Something old, something new, something borrowed… but all of it danced with a bravura ease that wowed the audience, leaving old hands and newbies alike utterly enraptured, applauding loudly and cheering wholeheartedly. Hurrah, indeed!