"I told Matthew (Bourne), 'You probably don't know how much I've waited for this day. I've wanted to do this work so much that I've almost been chasing you around' — and now my dream's suddenly come true, I feel like I'm floating on the clouds."

Marcelo Gomes was a picture of joy when I spoke to him in Japan in February just after he'd been chosen as one of three dancers who will rotate the lead role this summer in a new, Tokyo-only production of the world- famous ballet "Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake."

Back then, Gomes was over for a short tour with the American Ballet Theatre, with whom he was delighting audiences as he pulsed with expression in the star role of the noble Prince in "The Nutcracker" and burned passionately with ardor as Le Chevalier des Grieux in "Manon."