MATTHEW Bourne’s name is synonymous with exciting, exhilarating dance, writes Times Theatre critic Kerry Black.

He takes the classics, shakes them up with a dash of rock’n’roll and Hollywood and sends them pirouetting out to new audiences. I was fortunate enough to see his Cinderella a few months ago in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and this week the same venue plays host to his Swan Lake.

Famed for it’s chorus of male swans, this show offers so much more.

In the opening scenes, the costumes are heavily influenced by Dior’s New Look with fifties style dresses; the entire cast are dressed in black and white with occasional flashes of regal red, apart from the lilac bedecked queen.

I particularly loved her hair, which is surely a direct nod to Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein. Instead of the classic Odette/Odille role being played by a prima ballerina, here the commanding Will Bozier struts his stuff in the dual role of The Swan and The Stranger.

Like a leather trousered Bill Sykes, he snakes the stage, charming all around him. Meantime the Prince (sympathetically played by Dominic North), bored of his royal duties yearns to escape and be at one with the swans as he falls in love with their leader. The swan scene in particular is emotional, passionate and powerful as the stage is filled with a pulsing, thrusting, glistening male chorus like no other!

There are great flashes of comedy throughout, from the Barbie pink bimbo girlfriend, to the royal groupies in headscarves and hoodies, to the amazing corgi, not forgetting the stripper with her (or is it his?) fag and fan! The dance styles range from tango to flamenco with even a Fosse inspired Frug style number in the Swank Nightclub. In a nod to all the great Hollywood musicals there is even a “Ballet within a Ballet” featuring a glittering array of fluttering butterflies and the mandatory dying principal!

With Bourne’s long time Set and Costume Designer Lez Brotherston and Tchaikovsky’s soaring score, this is emotional, erotic, sexy and seductive. A ballet to sizzle your soul. Was it all a dream or is it a white coated step into madness? Go and make your own mind up, before it flies over the horizon.

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake is at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh until Saturday October 20, nightly at 7.30pm, plus matinees, call 0131 529 6000 to book for the ballet event of the year!