Cromer Pier's Pavilion Theatre played host to an enigmatic performance of Swan Lake this evening (Saturday) when the Vienna Festival Ballet Company returned to the town with the much-loved traditional ballet.

The story centres around Prince Siegfried (Richard Hackett), who, while out hunting, meets a flock of swans led by a queen, Odette (Ryoko Yagyu), who is under the evil spell of a magician, Baron Rothbart (Jeppe Jacobsen).

The prince falls in love with the queen and tries to free them all. However, the magician has a few tricks up his sleeve and leaves the audience wondering if everything will turn out well.

The show was filled with imaginative and glamorous costumes with simplistic, yet beautiful sets all alongside the dancers from the Austrian company.

Founded in 1980, the company's aim is to provide the great classical ballets to theatres nationwide, and tonight they brought to life Tchaikovsky's music, while leaping their way through the heart-wrenching performance with spectacular skill on the theatre's quirky stage.

This was an upbeat production of Swan Lake with one of the stars of the show dancing as an exuberant court jester (Francesco Bruni).

But the highlight came with a predictable yet perfect ending where Odette and Prince Siegfried get rid of Rothbart instead of jumping to their deaths in the lake, leaving the audience with a warm feeling only a happy ending can give.