DANCE

Russian-born ballerina Natalia Makarova did indeed share a London stage with her former company, the Kirov Ballet, Saturday night, marking the first time a Soviet dancer who has defected was allowed to perform with his or her former company. Makarova, once injured in a 1984 performance of the musical “On Your Toes,” danced the White Swan pas de deux from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake.” The announcement that the stage reunion would go ahead caused the British Broadcasting Corp. to agree to change its prime-time Saturday-night television schedule so that the performance could be shown live. Makarova, interviewed on the BBC before the performance, said she was feeling “emotional ecstasy” at the prospect of dancing with the company with which she grew up. “I’ve been sad all these 18 years,” she said. Oleg Vinogradov, the Kirov’s artistic director and choreographer, said on BBC television that the decision to allow her to dance was not a political one.