DANCE

The Royal Ballet's latest mixed-bill at Covent Garden is a good value package of Balanchine, MacMillan and Ashley Page and can be seen again on Thursday. The programme opens with the modern classic Apollo and culminates in Page's deservedly popular urban dancescape Fearful Symmetries. The choreography is Forsyth with a human face and the whole dark drama is set to John Adams's 1988 work. ROH, London WC2

Birmingham Royal Ballet begins a pre-Christmas season of Sir Peter Wright's sumptuous production of The Nutcracker which combines Ivanov's shimmering choreography with a wealth of stage effects, not least of which is a giant flying goose. Birmingham Hippodrome, to 16 Dec

Virtuoso star David Toole has sustained an injury, so CandoCo (above) has had to cancel its eagerly awaited dates at London's South Bank this weekend. They hope to reschedule them for February.

LOUISE LEVENE