ARTISTIC director Peter Mallek brings his Vienna Festival Ballet company to the Grand Opera House, York, tomorrow to present Tchaikovsky's ballet The Sleeping Beauty.

Re-staged for the company by Justine Berrie, this production remains faithful to the original choreography of Petipa, with scenery and costumes by Alan Sievewright.

Dancing the lead roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Desire will be Roberta Durlai and Dimitri Rodikov.

Durlai has been principal dancer at the National Theatres of Romania, Croatia and Slovenia and for Debbie McGee's Ballet Imaginaire. Rodikov, born in Novosibirsk, has danced in the United States and China and been a principal in companies in Croatia, France and Italy.

Mallek says: "I'm extremely pleased that Roberta Durlai and Dimitri Rodikov will be dancing with the company. They blend so well together, a truly magical partnership. In a ballet like The Sleeping Beauty, this is most important."

Mallek, who left the Vienna State Opera at the age of 24, has run the Vienna Festival Ballet for 24 years after working in America, Australia, Paris, London and Holland.

"My whole idea in setting up the company was to use young people - 18 to 24 year olds - and give them the chance to do principal roles," he says. They're young but they're good, and I'd rather have young, ambitious dancers who have been held back by bigger companies."

Next year, Vienna Festival Ballet will celebrate its 25th anniversary by touring all over Europe, including a return to the Grand Opera House in late February to perform Swan Lake.

Tickets for the 7.30pm performance cost £9.50 to £18.50 on 01904 671818.

Updated: 12:01 Wednesday, October 30, 2002