Ballerina Begona Cao surprised passengers at Leicester Square

Passengers at Leicester Square saw an excerpt of the Sugar Plum Fairy dance to celebrate the group's return to its regular home, the London Coliseum.

Ballerina Begona Cao performed in a busking spot at the station, in a London Eye capsule and in front of children at Whittington Hospital.

The ENB returns to the Coliseum on 21 December after a two-year renovation.

The performances also coincide with the launch of a new ENB poster campaign designed to attract new audiences to ballet.

The posters, which will go on display in the London Underground, feature dancers in unexpected urban settings, such as leaping over traffic cones in an underpass and in a car park.

English National Ballet has performed The Nutcracker every Christmas since 1950, when the company was founded, and more than six million people have seen its productions of the Tchaikovsky classic.