Olesya Novikova, Mariinsky Ballet

She is only a soloist but Oleysa Novikova of the Kirov Ballet has already snatched the roles of an Emerald and a Ruby in George Balanchine’s box-office ballet gem, Jewels. And dreams of taking the Diamond crown.

Perhaps one day she might dance the principal role she covets? "No, I think not," she says wistfully, rolling soulful dark eyes like a child denied the most glittering trinket in the jewellery box. "I am too small to be a Brilliant," which is what the Russians call their diamonds.

Although known for his experimental approach to classical dance and as the founder of New York City Ballet, Balanchine created the Diamonds act of the full-length Jewels in homage to the Kirov’s grand Imperial style.

It was, of course, a cool and regal elegance he was wholly familiar with, having been trained at the company’s ballet school in St Petersburg before joining the Kirov in 1921 where he began to choreograph student works. Three years later he left with three other dancers on a short European tour, was head-hunted by Diaghilev for Ballets Russe and never went back.

Ironically, given its historical ties to Balanchine, the Kirov was one of the last ballet companies in the world to embrace his work. Yet it was also the first European company to stage Jewels in its entirety, performing all three acts in October 1999 at its decadent Mariinsky Theatre home.

Novikova is talking to me there, perched on one of the theatre’s ornate velvet chairs in a dark green and white ante-room to the auditorium. Dark-haired, with a heart-shaped face she talks animatedly of her love of dancing and of touring and of how much she is looking forward to her first visit to Manchester on May 12.

It will be the Kirov Ballet’s second visit to the city accompanied by its orchestra and the programme at The Lowry, May 13-17, includes Jewels with Novikova as an Emerald. Balanchine described the Emeralds section as "the evocation of France; the France of elegance, comfort, dress, perfume."

Novikova, however, will not be drawn on whether she prefers the romantic Emeralds set to a Fauvre score to the dynamic Las Vegas-brashness of Rubies and Stravinsky. Balanchine gave his classical showpiece Diamonds the music of Tchaikovsky. What else?

"I just adore Balanchine; I’d like to do more of his work. Technically it’s difficult and I am really exhausted after a performance but I like it very much," she exclaims. "I would also like to do more new repertoire in general – Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, John Cranko, the more the better. But we consider ourselves to be the capital of classical ballet; we do not do so much contemporary choreography."

Like virtually every dancer with the Kirov Ballet, Novikova is a graduate of what is now the Vaganova Ballet Academy: "I started at the academy when I was 10 years old. I had tried to enter the school twice before but failed. I wasn’t accepted because they said the length of my fingers and toes was not right. I thought I was not talented enough but my own dancing teachers encouraged me to try a third time and I got in.

"It was not easy being a student. The day started around 9am with two hours of classical ballet, followed by academic subjects like mathematics, and then classes such as folk dancing. We finished about 5.30pm but sometimes dance practice went on to 7pm. If you lived far away from the school there was a 90-minute journey to and from school. I was one of those children. It was exhausting."

Novikova has been to the UK a number of times, several visits to Covent Garden and once to Cardiff. "I liked it. I liked the people, the smell, the city and the countryside. Of course when we tour I miss St Petersburg. It is said a Russian person is always dragged back to their homeland.

"But I love to tour because it’s a chance to dance more and to get pleasure from dancing. There are many soloist dancers with the company and not enough performances to go round, so touring gives us more opportunities to dance, and to dance principal roles.

It is really important for me to dance for myself, to dance for my own pleasure as well as for the theatre. My main inspiration is the music; without music life doesn’t exist."