PREMIERED a decade ago at the Leeds Grand, David Nixon’s Peter Pan returns for the first time since 2010 for an exclusive run at its original home.

Northern Ballet has dropped “Theatre” from its name since then but this remains a highly theatrical piece, a family show that provides an alternative to the over-excitement of pantomime, with only a woolly, lolloping dog costume and sporadic humour to chime with panto.

Instead, the emphasis is on wonder, much of it airborne, aided by Stephen Warbeck’s score. Spectacular leaps are a cornerstone of ballet; and you will see plenty in Peter Pan, especially from Javier Torres’s Captain Hook. However, the fifth gear is all the flying, the harnessed dancers taking to the air with the aid of wire, courtesy of The Rigging Team.

You will not see a more wondrous sight this winter than Jeremy Curnier’s Peter Pan, Antoinette Brooks-Daw’s Wendy, Sebastian Loe’s John and Filippo DiVilio’s Michael, cast high into the Grand Theatre, travelling to Neverland in the star-lit night sky.

Peter Pan’s mannerisms, his cockerel strutting and mercurial mystery and boyish lightness of movement, all suit ballet, but the emotional side of his complex character is less well expressed and the fight scenes are as limp as a decade ago.

The tiny puppet Tinkerbell of 2004, manipulated by a figure in clumpy shoes, has been consigned to the best-forgotten drawer, giving Rachel Gillespie’s Tinkerbell a chance to shine. The giant crocodile still steals scenes and Peter Mumford’s designs will make you want to fly to the second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning, but Peter Pan remains a show of moments, the best of them in flight.

Peter Pan, Northern Ballet, Leeds Grand Theatre, until December 20. Box office: 0844 848 2700 or leedsgrandtheatre.com