VIENNA Festival Ballet arrive in York on Tuesday with their 34th anniversary production of Tchaikovsky's festive favourite, The Nutcracker.

Among Austrian company founder Peter Mallek's cast at the Grand Opera House will be two dancers with Yorkshire connections: Otley-born Andrew Cook in his York debut as Drosselmeyer and Russian dancer Trepak and Emily-Joy Smith, a former pupil of York Scholars, in the role of the Sugarplum Fairy.

Andrew was a "late starter" as a dancer, and it was all as a result of his stepfather urging him to watch a celebrated film. "He convinced me to watch Holiday Inn, an old film I'd never seen, and it was Fred Astaire's feet that I noticed. They were going like crazy but he made it look effortless."

Andrew promptly began to attend ballet classes at the Newall School of Dance in Otley. He was 15, and if Astaire's firecracker dance inspired him, so too did dance tutor Mrs Newbould. "She was the teacher who influenced me the most," he says. "I don't think she needed to give me confidence, but she understood I was 15, and there was a chance I could be bullied at school, but she went the extra mile for me by helping me with extra lessons."

When Andrew had first talked of wanting to do dance classes, his mother had warned him of the possible risk of playground bullying, but he was not to be knocked off his stride. "I did karate for ten years before that, so I was called 'Black Belt' at school, but I gave it up for the ballet," he says.

Andrew left home at 17, heading to Ballet West Scotland on the west coast at Taynuilt, half an hour from Oban. "I was attracted to it being nice and quiet, somewhere where I could come away and concentrate on my course, and it really was a fantastic place to train," he says. "I'd also been offered a place at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester...well, that's in Lancashire, so that was a 'No' for a Yorkshireman!"

After graduating in June, 20-year-old Andrew is now enjoying his first professional contract at Vienna Festival Ballet. "I've been extraordinarily lucky to have been a new member of the company and earned the soloist role of Trepak. It's a boy's dream role, challenging to perform night after night, with the constant jump after jump after jump, but I believe it's one of the most fun roles you can play," he says.

"I'm also ecstatic to come back north to York. As well as simply being back in God's own county, I have friends and family in and around York, and I've spent many a day wandering round the city. It's such a beautiful city."

Emily-Joy Smith, meanwhile, grew up on a small farm in the Isle of Axholme, half way between Scunthorpe and Doncaster; trained at the London Studio Centre; signed her first professional contract with the Sarasota Ballet in Florida; and has danced with Vienna Festival Ballet for two years now.

She has "many connections" with York. "I have many family members living in the area, which is one reason I love coming there; it means they get to see me performing all these wonderful ballets," she says.

"I was a pupil with York Scholars when I was 11. I used to love every Saturday as it meant I got to do ballet at the weekend and I was able to walk around and shop in York. It's a tradition that still stands now as every time Vienna Festival Ballet perform at York, we always ask if we can get to the theatre early ,so we can walk round York and see all the wonderful cobbled streets."

The Grand Opera House was where Emily-Joy performed her first full-length ballet at the age of nine with English Youth Ballet. "I was mesmerised by the music, the costumes and the applause," she says. "To this day I still have that feeling when taking my curtain call at the end of a show. The Grand Opera House is a beautiful theatre to dance in; I always look forward to performing there for all these reasons and more."

Looking forward to Tuesday's performance, she says: "The Nutcracker is such a wonderful ballet for everybody. It's full of magic, great music, wonderful choreography and even a little bit of humour."

Vienna Festival Ballet presents The Nutcracker, Grand Opera House, York, on Tuesday at 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york