In the best balletic tradition, thrilling disaster struck at the Royal Opera House last Monday in the first five minutes of a glittering opening night. After five minutes of action the scenery stuck and down came the house tabs, and then, when the big red curtains swished open again, shazam - a star was born.

The ballet was Don Quixote, the company was Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet and the latest sensation is young Maria Alexandrova. Following 9 years of turmoil since the sacking of legendary director, Yuri Grigorovich, the Bolshoi is bidding to reclaim its jewel-in-Russia's-cultural-crown status from its rival, St Petersburg's Kirov Ballet. Former dancer and choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, 36, with an extensive Western experience, is the forward thinking new director, and his secret weapon is 24-year-old, Alexandrova. Mind you little is mysterious about the Muscovite missile as she hurtles on stage as heroine Kitri. She is big in every way; on pointe, taller than her partner Sergei Filin (Basil), and so exuberant a jump she seems to leap out his arms instead of into them. She gambles outrageously with her powerful technique, certain in the knowledge she has us in the palm of her hand.

Though the old Bolshoi's reputation in the West is based on the muscularity of its men, in today's lite version the women lead the way trailing behind a dispirited group of lost heroes. And this 1999 production of a 19th century Hispanic romp loosely linking Cervantes' Don Quixote with village lovers Kitri and barber Basil, has most of the intended classicism filleted out. The pace is unrelenting; Minkus's score is played with the subtlety of the Music Hall and only the vision scene where after his tilt at the windmill, the unconscious Don searches for his Dulcinea in Arcadia, does classical ballet rule. Ekaterina Shipulina as Queen of the Dryads is a ballerina in the grandest Bolshoi style and the female corps de ballet reminds us what Russian schooling is all about. Another flash of the good old days is Yulianna Malkhasyants's scandalously passionate Gypsy Dance; only the Russians can get away with such devilish cheek.

But it is Alexandrova's night. Even with surprising wobbles in the final show case duet, she leaves Filin behind as a boyish supporter as she sweeps to victory and promises much for next three weeks.