The Nutcracker, Royal Festival Hall, London

For a company founded in 1929, the Moscow Stanislavsky Ballet look awfully young. The dancers are eager and energetic, but still raw. There isn't the polish or assurance of a company style to hold them together.

The name suggests a dramatic emphasis, the company's old connection to the Moscow Arts Theatre and Stanislavsky's famous acting "method". In fact, this Nutcracker, credited to Vasily Vainonen, rushes over the ballet's plot, avoiding mime wherever possible. Dancers look adrift in character roles. The grandmother of the party scene is surely no older than the girls playing little-boy guests. Her age is represented by a crinoline, and she moves too lightly inside those heavy skirts.

Dancing grandmothers needn't be old. But they should play their roles fully, and they should be part of an onstage world. This production never quite creates one. Steps and drama are non-specific, and the company's cheerful dancing isn't enough to lift them.

When Drosselmeyer gives his goddaughter, Masha, the Nutcracker doll, they both dance on without suggesting the doll cracks nuts: Tchaikovsky's score rattles in vain. Under Georgy Zhemchuzhin, the Moscow Stanislavsky Orchestra provided soupy violins and tentative brass.

Masha falls asleep and dreams that her Nutcracker becomes a handsome prince, but the transformation doesn't have much impact. Even the designs, by Vladimir Arefyev, can't decide between streamlined and lavish.

The first act is framed by cut-paper squares that could be Christmas cards. At the Stahlbaum Christmas party, guests in lightweight Regency costumes dance on an almost bare stage: no backdrop and hardly any furniture. The second act is no longer a kingdom of sweets but a characterless Fairyland. The set is hung with strings of wire cages, perhaps minimalist Christmas decorations, and the National dancers all wear pompoms.

The ballet's magic is shaky. Drosselmeyer does conjure dancing toys for the party, but it looks skimped when you can see the soloists' feet as they sneak in behind his cloak. Transformations are on the thin side - this is surely the first Nutcracker to feature a shrinking Christmas tree.

The dancers look happier in the dances of the second act. National dancers pounce on their roles, but the steps are repetitive: men jump forever, women jump on pointe. Footwork tends to be rugged. The corps de ballet waltzes of snowflakes and flowers are tidily drilled and attentive.

As Masha, Natalia Krapivina holds fire until the grand pas de deux. Once in a tutu, she dances with stronger feet and more authority, quietly partnered by Georgy Smilevski. The choreography is a very long way after Ivanov.

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