With its gorgeous design, luscious pas de deux for Cinderella and the Prince, and genuinely funny choreography for the stepmother and stepsisters, Alexei Ratmansky’s Cinderella is a perfect production for the festive holidays.

Created for The Australian Ballet in 2013, it still feels upliftingly fresh and fun. Ratmansky has dispensed with the traditional pumpkin and rats; instead the Fairy Godmother summons a constellation of celestial bodies to send Cinderella to the ball. There are a few other small changes along the way, but, essentially, he has kept the story intact, drawing on references from Surrealism to help tell it.

Leanne Stojmenov as Cinderella with dancers as celestial bodies. Photograph © Daniel Boud

In the kitchen, where Cinderella (Leanne Stojmenov) works for her stepmother and stepsisters, there is a pink-lipped Dali-esque sofa. Later, when the stepsisters are trying on the lost glittery slipper (rather than a glass shoe) left behind at the ball, there’s a small table with female-shaped legs in high heels, while the stepsisters don hats shaped like a shoe. A clock face inspired by Dali’s melting clocks features strongly. At the ball, as midnight approaches, topiary bushes in the garden become giant...