Ballerina returns from heart surgery to dazzle in best Giselle I've ever seen

Adolphe Adam's Giselle is the oldest classical ballet still in circulation and the Royal, Northern and English Nation Ballet all have splendid variations, while Akram Khan's modern synth-driven bombast blows me away every time. Yet, I've never been as gripped or moved as I was last night by the newly reinvigorated National Ballet of Japan and its sublime leading lady.

Incredibly dancing the role of a village girl who dies from a weakened (and broken) heart, Yonezawa herself had major eight-hour heart surgery last November and feared she would never dance again. She told us this week: "I cherish even simple moments, and just living in this moment, is such a wonderful thing."

Just as special for London audiences was the return of the beloved Yoshida, a principal dancer here for 15 years. Now Artistic Director of the NBJ, she has transformed the company into a world-class powerhouse. Making their first UK appearance for 17 years, they thrilled and delighted with poise and brio.

The typically doomed ballet story of a beautiful village girl with a dangerous heart condition who loves to dance and falls in love with duplicitous disguised (and engaged!) prince Albrecht (Shun Izawa) can often feel like a waiting game for the showstopping second act.

But Yoshida has chosen the very hardest and exhilarating of Marius Petipa's original variations for the rousing peasant dances, which the magnificent corps de ballet devoured with roof-raising attack. The entire village first act fizzes with dynamic encounters and splendid acting, notably from Giselle's fiercely protective mother Berthe (Yuna Seki).

Yonezawa not only dances divinely and as light as a feather, she brings such palpable girlish naïveté that you feel her every shy, besotted glance at Albrecht. It is utterly delightful.

When Albrecht's deception is revealed by his embittered rival, woodsman Hilarion (Masahiro Nakaya), Giselle's heartbroken descent into madness and death is a powerfully devastating contrast with her earlier sweetness that hits hard.

Act Two takes us into the realm of the Wilis, vengeful spirits of wronged women who haunt the woods at night. First off, I have to lavishly praise Dick Bird's absolutely spectacular sets. His village is a masterful classic interpretation, but the woods feel like dark fairytale woodcarving brought to gothic life. Lit by a spectral moon, giant unfurled roots backdrop the flanking overarching trees, their roots pulled back to head height and studded with grave markers at jutting angles. It's one of the best sets I've ever seen.

When the Wilis first enter in ghostly veils, they drift out from underneath those roots, as if drawn out from their earthly graves. It's stunning. As are their massed murmurations, swirling and swooping across the stage, again in the most thrilling variations of this choreography I've seen. Showstopping stuff. I may have whooped.

Led by their imperious queen Myrtha (Akari Yoshida) they drive offending men to dance themselves to death, although this is the first time I've seen Hilarion violently thrown off the backdrop cliff. I absolutely loved it. But the make-or-break moment is Giselle's attempt to save Albrecht...

So, I confess I usually find Giselle a dreamily pretty affair but despite the melodrama it rarely actually touches my heart. Yoshida's staging, the cinematic visuals, dramatic beats, choreographical choices, the Royal Ballet Symphonia's wonderful playing and Yonezawa's sublime performance kept me absolutely gripped.

As she dances for Albrecht's life, then with him, then slips through his fingers and fades away, I felt a stray tear or two well up.

I could niggle that I'd have liked a bit more oomph from Albrecht and Hilarion and a little more menace from Myrtha, but the absolutely formidable corps and radiant leading lady made this a Giselle I won't forget.

THE NATIONAL BALLET OF JAPAN'S GISELLE: ROYAL OPERA HOUSE TO JULY 27