DANCE EVENT OF THE WEEK

Bolshoi Ballet to 31 Jul London Coliseum

The Bolshoi Ballet returns after six years with new productions and some new dancers. One of Petipa's greatest classics, La Bayadere, opens the season. The company has never danced it here before and they have two gifted men to lead the casts: Andrei Uvarov on Tuesday, Nikolai Tsiskaridze on Wednesday. They then perform Giselle in a revised staging by the Bolshoi's director, Vladimir Vasiliev. And unlike the Royal Ballet (competing for audiences at Sadler's Wells and hoping Sylvie Guillem and Laurent Hilaire bring in the crowds), the Bolshoi gives another ballet with Giselle: the one-act Paganini in Vasiliev's revival of Leonid Lavrovsky's choreography.

London Coliseum (0171-632 8300) `La Bayadere' Tue, Wed 7.30pm; `Giselle' & `Paganini' Thur, Fri 7.30pm; 10 Jul 2pm & 7.30pm. Season ends 31 Jul

John Percival