A very warm welcome from the audience to the company on stage set the scene for the first of three-much anticipated nights at Liverpool's Empire.

The venue is ideal for ballet - from the grand to the more compact touring companies. I saw my first ballet here when I was 11 - all those decades on the magic never-fades.

Anyone wanting to be introdcued to ballet can do no wrong watching this inspiring group of artists.

The critically-acclaimed Russian State Ballet of Siberia are in town - part of a mammoth UK tour and they certainly have a lot of friends here as the sold-out theatre showed.

The RSBS are presenting three major works: Romeo and Juliet, The Snow Maiden and Swan Lake - each ballet stamped with their trademark vitatlity and verve.

They opened their three-day festival (for that is what it feels like) with a suitable classic for Valentine's Day - a truly mesmerising Romeo and Juliet.

There are no lush stage sets but back projections of old Renaissance Verona where William Shakespeare's Montagues and Capulets get on each others' nerves to put it mildly.

One sword fighting scene between warring Mercutio and Tybalti stood out for its stark, atheltic intensity. This multi-layered disection of love and death tells the story with depth in under two hours - a remarkable feat.

Intricate lighting created just as much atmosphere as do two simple but symbolic flaming torches either side of the vast stage.

The period costumes as with all RSBS productons are first class aided by swords and goblets.

Throughout, the stage was awash with colour - vivid red and blues when the mood allows making quiet an impact on the senses especially during the grand masked balls.

But it is the pulsating, dramatic, highly-charged and whimiscal choreography along with Prokofiev's score that make this ballet one of the most enduring.

The 24-strong Orchestra of the Russian State Ballet and the 30-in number-company with top-notch youthful solosits and corps de ballet provide passion, humour and pathos in equal measure under artistic director Sergei Bobrov - quite an achievment for a company created in 1981 and who continue to sparkle with innovation and enthusiasm.

When our two lovers met in a single spotlight their romance escalated in leaps and bounds. Romeo lifted more than her heart as she in chiffon glided with grace.

A quartet of jesters and a comical nurses made their mark but a highlight of the production was the sinister, silent choir of the menacing Heralds of Death masked and in funereal black - an almost cinematic experience.

Globe verdict: Heart-warmng and heart-breaking

Tonight - Tuesday: The Snow Maiden

Wednesday: Swan Lake

Tickets from the Empire box office 0844 8717615