A waddling ballerina is, in most instances, a contradiction in terms, but the Kiev Classical Ballet’s performance of Peter And The Wolf has a delightful waddling (and balletic) duck, alongside a menagerie of animals made famous by Prokofiev’s well-loved score.

The opening introduction to the instruments, each representing an animal and character, is a simple device that allows younger audience members to follow the narrative, from the prowling fierce feline to Peter’s triumphant capture of the wolf.

The simple set design lets the dancers perform unhindered with the colourful animal costumes justifiably taking centre stage. The wolf was less menacing than my imagination had conjured up through hearing the music over the years, but this didn’t seem to bother the children I was with, who thought it plenty scary enough.

Carnival Of The Animals provided further imaginative costumes while the slightly bashful elephant (think pantomime cow with a trunk and a lot more grace) seemed to win the audience popularity vote, but the turtles slowly swimming across the stage, tummies on skateboards, did it for me.

Camille Saint-Saëns’ score, while perhaps not as well known as Prokofiev’s, was still comfortingly familiar and provided a beautiful backdrop for the exotic creatures to parade their way through.

My only quibble: the overhead projector displaying real animal photographs took a little of the fairytale magic away from these bite-sized ballets.