Today we were invited to see My First Sleeping Beauty by the English National Ballet at The Grand Opera House in York.

“The My First…ballets by ENB2 bring your children their first taste of the fantastical and magical world of ballet.

My First Sleeping Beauty is an enchanted world of castles and curses, forests and fairies, created especially for children by award-winning choreographer Matthew Hart. Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous waltz-filled music includes the tune made famous as Once upon a Dream in Disney’s version.

ENB2 is a new touring company featuring graduating dancers of outstanding potential from English National Ballet School in performances produced by English National Ballet.

Children are welcome to dress up as a ballerina, an evil fairy or a Prince. We encourage them to clap and cheer, boo the evil Carabosse, laugh and even try some ballet moves for themselves.”

The production is aimed at children from aged 3 upwards and MissB is only 2 years 4 months at the moment and we’ve never taken her to any shows yet so I was a bit nervous and intrigued to see how we would get on. I needn’t have worried, from the moment we sat down she was entranced!

The great thing about this production is that the audience is encouraged to boo, clap and cheer so I didn’t have to worry about MissB sitting quietly for almost 2 hours. Admittedly her “I want a wee on the toilet mummy!” didn’t quite fit the storyline but she really got into the story. From the first dance MissB started clapping spontaneously and was eagerly stood up watching the dancing. She shouted “Go Away” at the evil fairy (Carabosse) and pointed and clapped with delight when the Lilac Fairy appeared.

I kept glancing at her face throughout the show and she looked awestruck bless her. I really didn’t think she’d manage to sit through it all as you can’t expect a two year old to have a long attention span but we made it almost to the end (we left 5 minutes before it ended as she started getting a bit restless).

My only issue with the day was that the theatre was far too hot and MissB was absolutely boiling bless her. My husband was silently melting next to me. Luckily ice cream in the 20 minute interval helped to cool us down. Maybe it’s a ploy by the theatre to sell more ice creams ;)

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The production is aimed perfectly at younger children, the dances aren’t too long, the story moves along swiftly and the narrator keeps the audience involved and helps the story unfold. As an adult watching the show, I found it beautiful, the costumes and dancing were amazing and to be honest I’d never opt to go to the ballet personally but I found this production absolutely brilliant. I’d recommend it to any parents of wannabe princesses or ballet dancers. I think it’s a great introduction to ballet. I’ve just been lying in bed with MissB before she went to sleep and she was telling me all about her lovely day and the dancing and the ice cream bless her. She really has enjoyed herself!

My First Sleeping Beauty is currently on a national tour and you can find details of where it is appearing and how to buy tickets on their website.