Kazakhstan strides onstage in a striking ensemble, all white full-length with a black hem. Haunting operatic music fills the auditorium and she floats across stage like a wraith, costume billowing as she moves.
As she falls to the stage, suddenly as though emerging from a chrysalis she sheds her white exterior and she is wearing a black leotard with black cloth wings which she whirls like a moth. it's hypnotic to watch, she breaks into a smile as the audience applauds.
Miss World contestant, Kazakhstan's Evgeniya Klishina, (center), prepares prior to a rehearsal for the final ceremony at a hotel in the inner Mongolian city of Ordos on Aug 17, 2012. -- PHOTO: AFP