The Nutcracker, English National Ballet, London Coliseum, review At the end of this first night of The Nutcracker, English National Ballet (ENB) 's artistic director Tamara Rojo walked onstage and announced that Vadim Muntagirov, the young Russian who had just danced the role of Prince, was promoted to the title of Lead Principal. This new star ranking, also accorded to Muntagirov's partner in the performance, Daria Klimentova, and a handful of others sounds rather like a declaration of intent by ENB, a way of drawing attention to the stellar quality of its top dancers. If so, the company has every right. Its artists currently display such serene confidence that one would think they were bathed in infinite munificence, not struggling for survival. Similarly, everything about this Nutcracker - Wayne Eagling's production, revived for a third year - bespeaks assurance, certainty, money no object. The show is crucial to ENB's finances - it simply cannot afford to fail - but its triumph is that it has an air of absolute artistic integrity, rather than a desperate urge to please. It has, too, the Nutcracker magic: the fairy dust, the wonderment. I thought so a year ago, and I now think it even more. The first act party is rich with detail. The mouse fight, which usually induces a sense of let' s-get-this-over-with, is actually rather gripping. The dance of the Snowflakes, a complexity of sharp forty-five degree angles, is exquisite. And Eagling's central concept - which turns Clara into a woman early on, and the second act into a dream culminating in a pas de deux with her fantasy lover - seems to me perfectly convincing. The choreography given to the adult Clara and her prince is quick, clean and ecstatic, and Klimentova and Muntagirov danced it not quite to perfection, but to something more driven and dazzling. Her cut glass limbs give a weighted, sculpted quality to her every line, while his immaculate classicism and joyous, springy elevation become ever more delightful to behold. The remarkable Muntagirov now has two partnerships of the highest quality, with Klimentova and with Rojo herself, who dances on Saturday. Working with this level of artistry is a spur, and the company danced with distinction. Ksenia Ovsyanick (wafting fluidly through her Mirlitons dance), Lauretta Summerscales and Alison McWhinney (leading a much-improved Waltz of the Flowers) all shone. Annabella Sanders, as the young Clara, had a charmingly individual stage presence. Finally, Peter Farmer's designs look divine. Recommended, as you may have gathered. Until 5th January 020 7845 9300. www.ballet.org.uk