Kolesnikova has the ability to meld each sequence of steps into a seamless continuum, the liquid movement of her arms evoking the swan into which she has been transformed.

With unhurried grace she completely inhabits the choreography of Odette in Act 2, yet in Act 3 she becomes, with equal conviction, the temptress Odile, sent to trap Siegfried into foreswearing his love for Odette. Technical demands are effortlessly surmounted and the 32 fouettés, one of the role's particular challenges, are reeled off with imperious ease.