Last night, the Russian Stanislavski Ballet followed Thursday's fine Swan Lake with an equally good Nutcracker, ideally suited for a young audience.

Artistic Director Dmitry Bryant sev used the excellent Vasily Vaynonen version of the Petipa story, based on Hoffmann's fairy tale of the aftermath of a Christmas party, with the added advantage of Natalija Ledovskaja as the young heroine.

Looking childishly vulnerable and frail, with beautiful hands and feet, she was exceptionally strong technically, appearing to hover in the air on each jete and to return to the ground no faster than she rose from it. With such classical perfection I was glad the famous pas de deux was used for the climax of Act 2, instead of having the ballerina supported by four cavaliers, as is often done by Russian companies.

As the Nutcracker Prince, Victor Dik was a splendid partner and executed his extremely difficult solo with impressive neatness. Anton Domashov's Drosselmeier managed his conjuring tricks with panache and I regret I cannot credit the Harlequin doll for his fine performance since, like most of the fine soloists in both productions, as well as the peerless corps de ballet, he went shamefully unlisted in the highly inadequate programme.

Anna and Anatoly Nezhny's sets were a delight, from the opening front cloth showing the snowy exterior of the Stahlbaum's house as the party guests arrived, to the suggestion of giant fir tree branches showing how Masha (as the Russians call Clara) has shrunk in relation to the mice. And King Mouse appeared in a puff of smoke like a panto King Rat.

Add Tchaikovsky's familiar score, ably played by our National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Georgy Zhemchuzhin, and you have a good show for all the family.

Nutcracker will be repeated tonight, with Swan Lake at both performances tomorrow.