For those of us who don't get paid till the end of the month, this is a cruel week with several weeks' worth of exciting shows to see - but that's what credit cards and overdrafts are for, after all.


Highlights

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake in 3D - 28 May
Various Odeon cinemas
Tickets & details: www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/odeon-plus-information/m13992/

Matthew Bourne's best-loved classic Swan Lake is also on tour, having departed Curzon cinemas and is now available for viewing at several Odeon cinemas. This is a thoroughly modern Swan Lake, with the Black Swan in very fetching black leathers, virile male swans, and 3D effects. Richard Winsor and Dominic North are the lead roles as The Swan and The Prince respectively.


Danza Contemporánea de Cuba: 29 May - 1 June
Sadler's Wells
Tickets & details: www.sadlerswells.com/show/Danza-Contemporanea-de-Cuba-2012

Danza Contemporánea de Cuba is Cuba's premier contemporary dance company, and this will be only their second visit to London, following the huge success and excitement of their 2010 visit. They will be performing a triple bill featuring the premiere of Itzik Galili's latest work (a mere two weeks after the unveiling of his recent creation for Rambert), Kenneth Kvarnström’s playful Carmen?!, and the award-winning Mambo 3XXI, choreographed by George Céspedes.


Mark Bruce: Made In Heaven - 31 May - 2 June
Wilton's Music Hall
Tickets & details: wiltons.org.uk/event.php?p=366
Trailer: vimeo.com/42544604

Wilton's is possibly London's best-loved music hall, and it's definitely one of the most atmospheric venues, although it is more commonly home to musical theatre. This will be a rare opportunity to see dance performed there, making this a potentially very special show.

Merging ancient themes with the dystopia of contemporary life, Mark Bruce creates a surreal world ruled by a blinded cop and a malicious virgin, where a prairie girl dreams of other lives, and a chain-gang
dances on the edge of an inferno.

With music ranging from Debussy and Leadbelly to Queens of the Stone Age, this dark, sometimes comic piece interrogates the very idea of heaven.


Rambert Dance Company: New Choreography - 31 May
Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre
Tickets & details: ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/dance-performance/tickets/rambert-dance-company-64911

Following on from last October's presentation of new choreography from several of Rambert's dancers, here is a new edition with works by Dane Hurst, Mbuelo Ndabeni, Patricia Okenwa and Jonathan Goddard & Gemma Nixon. Entirely worth seeing just for Goddard's and Nixon's latest collaboration, however there's another even more compelling reason to attend: this will be Goddard's final performance with Rambert.


New Adventures: Early Adventures - 31 May - 2 June
Richmond Theatre
Tickets & details: www.atgtickets.com/Matthew-Bourne-s-Early-Adventures-Tickets/45/2139/

If you missed Early Adventures at Sadler's Wells - which wasn't hard, given how enthusiastically tickets were selling - you have another chance to see them, as they travel south of the river for a short visit before resuming their tour. This triple bill features three of Matthew Bourne's earliest works, and are rich with comedy, wit and satire - and an unbelievably compelling hedgehog. We loved it.


Royal Ballet: Prince of the Pagodas - 2 - 29 June
Royal Opera House
Tickets & details: www.roh.org.uk/productions/the-prince-of-the-pagodas-by-kenneth-macmillan

Dame Monica Mason's final year at the Royal Ballet is finally drawing to a close, and one of the final full-length ballets is this revival of Kenneth MacMillan's "fairytale narrative" exploring eastern lands and themes. Tamara Rojo and Marianela Nuñez are in the lead roles - this will be one of the few remaining opportunities to watch Rojo dancing for the Royal Ballet.


Special Mentions

Flawless & ENB - 1 & 2 June
HMV Hammersmith Apollo
Tickets & details: venues.meanfiddler.com/apollo/full-listings/featured/5842

If you ever wondered what the results of fusing streetdance and classical ballet would look like - and if you abstained from watching Streetdance 3D on principle, then you need wait no longer, as the collaboration of English National Ballet and Flawless has finally arrived!


Accidental Festival

The Accidental Festival is a scheme which offers The Roundhouse to 21 young producers from the Central School of Speech and Drama, allowing them to create an arts festival entirely of their devising. Our picks from their 3-day schedule are as follows:

1 June, 5pm: Cando2
Tickets & details: accidentalfestival.co.uk/index.php/programme/friday-1st-june/146-cravings-of-intimacy-a-solitude-and-long-way-home

Cando2, Candoco Dance Company's youth dance company, performs two works, including 'Long Way Home', choreographed by Cloud Dance Festival veteran Sarah Blanc.


1 June, 7pm: Dance 1:1
Tickets & details: accidentalfestival.co.uk/index.php/programme/friday-1st-june/115-dance-11

This is a quadruple-bill of contemporary dance, featuring the physically astounding Charlie Dixon Dance Company, while SAAD dance is definitely a company to watch.


3 June, 2pm: Coda Dance
Tickets & details: accidentalfestival.co.uk/index.php/programme/sunday-3rd-june/131-you-remind-me-of-someone-i-once-knew

Coda Dance perform their work "You Remind Me of Someone I Once Knew" which explores the suffering of MS and the impact it has on others. It's a powerful and physical work, and definitely worth watching.