Le Corsaire is a barnstorming three-act extravaganza created in Imperial Russia for a cast of hundreds dancing one or two performances a week.I can assure you prancing about in tights has nothing to do with it. Only guts, stamina and discipline can get you through the hundreds of non-stop performances these artists have faced from December last year to mid June on their tour.Choreographer Marius Petipa’s high jinks include beautiful slave girls, rascally pirates, shipwrecks and a bumbling Pasha (Michael Coleman) who gets all the women.The top female attractions are Gulnare (Ksenia Ovsyanick), who dances well but felt a little removed from the fun and games, and Laurretta Summerscales, who has all the steps under her belt and a happy smile giving us all a warm glow. Her nice, polite approach places her firmly in her native Surrey, eons away from the exotic Barbary Coast.The show, including the irresistible Crystal Costa, wavers without that female thrust at the top. The superb quality of the Act III Waltz by the female ensemble illustrates the superior quality of these dancers.But one memory I cannot get out of my mind is the sensational Cesar Corrales as Ali. I have never seen such speed when turning and apparent hovering in mid-air when jumping as this young man delivers. Could Russian dance legend Irek Mukhamedov, the company’s new Ballet Master have something to do with it?