She's the real seductress of this act, in her showy, Goyaesque emerald and black dress, with a reptilian train. This dance is so spectacular it rather blocks out the rest of the company, because nothing stops Helmy when she is in full charge, like an express train steaming over the stage. Then come Neapolitan, Hungarian and Polish dances. Everyone is dressed in high-fashion, perfectly finished costumes milling about at the blackbird's party. She herself is in the most beautiful costume of all, not black but peacock luminous.
Brilliant colours shine through the black glitter dust of the skirt.
Nilly Atalla shines and fizzes like a missile. The climax of this part of the show used to be when the Prince, in spite of the Queen Mother's violent disapproval, declares his wish to marry the black one from the wrong side of the Swan Lake. Blackie's mother was, after all a common duck, which everyone knows. It is a feat every great classical ballerina once had to perform if she was dancing both Queens. Things became a trifle rough for the Queen Mother, and then the whole thing stopped in a cloud of pink smoke.