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As soon as the curtain rose, it became apparent that I needn’t have worried. Lewis and her choreographic assistants have managed to produce a Giselle which includes the youngsters all the way. She has also added in music from other of Adam’s ballets to extend the running time so that everyone has a chance to dance.

By setting the story in an English country estate in 1912 (where Giselle is governess to the children, and Albrecht becomes Albert, a gentleman who disguises himself as a footman in order to gain access to Giselle), the cast of characters is expanded to include cooks, butlers, maids and children in addition to the usual villagers and huntspeople. I was impressed at how this idea was manifested by the choreography (for the children in Act 1 by Dominic Marshall). There were dances for the very young ones in which their excellent coaching was evident; no thumping landings here, just softness, togetherness and concentration. The children were cleverly included into many of Giselle’s solos as well; they were almost like the chorus from a Greek tragedy, commenting through gesture on what was happening in the narrative unfolding on the stage.

Although professional dancers take the main roles, Giselle really came alive when the youngsters were onstage. In Act 1 Harry Wood and Dominic Vaughan Sibanda as the two grey-clad butlers performed a duet with beautifully executed jumps: they had just the right height, timing and lightness of landing, with gorgeously pointed feet and upper body carriage. This was better than I’ve seen on some professional stages. They might have taken their cue from Matthew Powell’s fleet-footed Hilarion.

In Act 2, Lewis has added some wood nymphs to assist the Wilis in their gruesome task of dancing to death any unfaithful man who enters the forest at night. At the beginning of the act, to extra music, there is a procession of visitors to Giselle’s grave. This makes dramatic sense and also gives us another chance to see the younger dancers from Act 1 once more. As darkness falls, they disappear and the wood nymphs arrive. Trevor Wood’s choreography for this group of six young girls affected just the right balance for the different ages and abilities of the group. Again, the dancing here was cohesive and heartfelt, and these girls looked very convincing as Wilis-in-training.

The Wilis were among the highlights of this production. They were led by a frosty, vengeful Myrtha (danced with attack by Alex Newton, last seen in William Tuckett’s Pinocchio at the Linbury), ably assisted with chilling dedication by her two lead Wilis (Rachel Teeling-Smyth and Cecilia Watts). Emma Lister’s choreography for the Wilis again struck the right balance between the original steps and those changed here to accommodate the non-professionals’ technical abilities; the girls rose to the challenge and, for the most part, won.

The scenery, although not lavish, worked well, and the costumes reflected the ambiance of pre-war Edwardian England.

On what was sometimes a very crowded stage (I would have loved to have seen this on a larger one), there were one or two little dancers who caught the eye, if not for their dancing, for their personalities. What everyone on that stage had was commitment, joy and a feeling of pride. These young dancers had every reason to feel proud of their achievements, as do Janet Lewis and her team. Here’s to the next ten years of EYB.