dance

People don't like to talk about Angelin Preljocaj. This isn't because they aren't fans of his extraordinary choreography, but merely because the British are notoriously shy of pronouncing anything that looks like a bad hand at Scrabble. The French dancemaker was one of the highlights of last season's Dance Umbrella when he presented his homage to the Ballets Russes. Two pieces from that programme, Les Noces and Spectre de la Rose, are repeated this season along with the London premieres of Petit Essai, Trait D'Union and Larmes Blanches. The company is at Sadler's Wells from Tuesday to Sunday next week.

Meanwhile, at the Bloomsbury Theatre, Transitions Dance Company performs a mixed bill from 9-11 May. Transitions is the showcase for the Laban Centre whose alumni include Matthew Bourne and Lea Anderson.

The Royal Ballet's latest mixed bill can be seen on Monday and Wednesday. Patrick Caulfield's new designs for Frederick Ashton's Rhapsody have found little critical favour although the dancing has been well received. Nobody liked Glen Tetley's vapid series of characterless pas de deux much the first time, so its very revival is a bit of a mystery. And William Forsythe? Well the dancers, as always, displayed an amazing ability to do what he asked of them but not everyone saw the point of the exercise (notably Clement Crisp, who praised the dancers heartily but dismissed both works as adventures in Forsytheland, "a place of stones, with dim light and dimmer intellectual pretensions''). Did the audience care? Did they hell. To the cheering stalls it was an exhilarating salad of choreography presented by dancers (Guillem, Bull, Kumakawa, Bussell) on top form.

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