A MYSTERY benefactor last night pledged to save Scottish Ballet's Christmas production as the company fights for financial survival.

The announcement came as the Musicians' Union and Equity pledged support to the dance company, which faces possible closure if the Scottish arts council next month votes to drop a #571,000 grant.

Scottish Ballet's planned Christmas show, The Magic Lamp, had been put ''on ice'' after a bid for a #300,000 lottery grant to stage it was lost.

The company's marketing director, Lucy Shorrocks, said last night the production, details of which are to be announced today, would now go ahead and Scottish Ballet was ''overwhelmed'' by the generosity of the benefactor.

Meanwhile, delegates at the Musicians' Union's annual conference in Winchester backed an emergency motion deploring the SAC's dance panel's recommendation to withhold funding from Scottish Ballet.

The union's executive will now give its support to moves to restore the ballet company's finance. In addition, it believes merging the Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet orchestras by November is unacceptable and that supposed savings from such a move are unsubstantiated.