Review: My First Ballet Sleeping Beauty returns with beautiful production for kids and parents

I think three-year-old Big Girl was pretty pleased with me yesterday. We were heading to Peacock Theatre in the late afternoon, and it turned out two other girls from nursery were going as well and on the way there we met a third who had tickets for another date this weekend.

The big attraction at Peacock Theatre right now is My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty. We received tickets to review the production, which is a collaboration between English National Ballet and English National Ballet School and has returned to London for a second run.

The performance is designed for children aged 3 years and over, and it makes classical ballet accessible to a young audience. The costumes and stage setting reminded me of going to The Royal Opera House, but the production features a narrator, which makes it much easier to follow the story, and it is a shortened version of Tchaikovsky’s music.

I think the narrator was a brilliant addition, and it taught me a lot about how a story is told through dance and movement. Big Girl was captivated by the performance and kept commenting that “it is beautiful” and “I love the dancing.”

This made it awful trying to tell Big Girl we had to leave in the interval after Aurora had fallen asleep. I really didn’t want to leave, and I had to persuade Big Girl to go by getting her a light-up tiara on the way out. The only reason we were forced to leave early was Baby Boy, who I’d had to bring along to sit in my lap since I hadn’t found a babysitter for him.

I’ve promised Big Girl we have to go again when the My First Ballet series returns with Cinderella next year. We both agreed that My First Ballet’s fairy tale ballet production makes for a fabulous mummy-daughter day out, and the beautiful costumes and music made this a memorable event for both young and old.

My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty is on at Peacock Theatre near Aldwych until 10 July

Tags: Ballet, Children's theatre, London, My First Ballet, Peacock Theatre, Sleeping Beauty, Summer