Ardani 25 Dance Gala, London
Ballet dancers are, as a profession, becoming more restless, seeking out new repertory opportunities outside their home companies. This new gala programme showcases some of the world’s finest performers in a variety of specially commissioned pieces. Produced by Sergei Danilian, it features the Royal Ballet’s Edward Watson and Natalia Osipova in Zeitgeist, Alastair Marriott’s brand-new setting of Philip Glass’s Violin Concerto. With Ivan Vasiliev, Osipova will also reprise her role in the wonderfully dark Facada, created for the pair by Arthur Pita.
London Coliseum, WC2, Fri to 18 Jul
Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man, London
Matthew Bourne always gives good value when he revisits his past shows. It’s eight years since his version of Bizet’s Carmen was last seen in the UK, and for this revival there has been some tweaking of details as well as some interesting new casting, including the charismatic American Ballet Theatre principal Marcelo Gomes. In a classic Bourne rethink, Bizet’s opera is relocated from 19th-century Spain to a greasy garage-diner in 60s America, and Bizet’s anarchic heroine turned into a handsome stranger, who injects this small-town community with passions of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.
Sadler’s Wells, EC1, Tue to 9 Aug
