Dance and mime
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Pantomine

Paris has few homegrown dance companies itself: government subsidies go to regional companies expressly to decentralize the arts. It makes up for this however by regularly hosting all the best contemporary practitioners. As well as big international names like Merce Cunningham, other frequent visitors worth looking out for are Régine Chopinot's troupe from La Rochelle, Maguy Marin's from Rillieux-la-Pape, Jean-Claude Gallotta's from Grenoble, Catherine Diverrès' from Rennes, and Angelin Preljocaj's from Aix-en-Provence. Creative choreographers based in or around Paris include François Verret and the Californian Carolyn Carlson.

Some of the most innovative French dance companies combine different media and genres to create dazzling, unclassifiable spectacles. One such is the Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu, based in Créteil, just outside Paris and founded in 1988 by Spanish dancer and choreographer José Montalvo, and Dominique Hervieu; their hugely entertaining shows combine every dance genre going: hip-hop, ballet, contemporary dance, acrobatic dance, all set against a background of giant video images, with which the dancers interact, and accompanied by a soundtrack of music ranging from Vivaldi to Fat Boy Slim.

Other cutting-edge performers to look out for are Joëlle Bouvier and Régis Obadia, who trained at dance school and at the Lecoq school of mime. Their company, L'Esquisse, combining both disciplines, takes inspiration from paintings, and portrays a dark, hallucinatory world. Pure mime is not so widely seen these days, and its most famous practitioner, Marcel Marceau, now in his 70s and still performing, remains the only mime artist in France of any standing. Mime skills, however, have been incorporated into theatre (by Peter Brook, for example) and dance, greatly enriching both.

Many of the theatres listed in this Guide include both mime and dance in their programmes: the Théâtre de la Bastille shows works by young dancers and choreographers; a prestigious competition for young choreographers is held in March at the Maison de la Culture in Bobigny; and the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre hosts major contemporary works.

Plenty of space and critical attention are also given to tap, tango, folk and jazz dancing, and to visiting traditional dance troupes from all over the world. There are also a dozen or so black African companies in Paris and the fashionable Japanese butoh, as well as several Indian dance troupes, the Ballet Classique Khmer, and many more from exiled cultures.

As for ballet, the principal stage is at the restored Opéra Garnier, home to the Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris. After a troubled period under the directorship of the late, great Rudolf Nureyev, many of the best French classical dancers have returned to the company, with the exception, however, of the ravishing superstar Sylvie Guillem, who is now with the Royal Ballet. But ballet fans can still be sure of masterly performances – at the Opéra Garnier, the Opéra Bastille, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Théâtre Musical de Paris.

The highlight of the dance year is the Concours International de Danse de Paris in October and November, which involves contemporary, classical and different national traditions (tel 01.45.22.28.74). Other festivals combining theatre, dance, mime, classical music and its descendants include the Festival Exit in February/March in Créteil (www.maccreteil.com), the Paris Quartier d'Été from mid-July to mid-August (tel 01.44.94.98.00, www.quartierdete.com), the Festival Agora at the Pompidou Centre's IRCAM in June (www.ircam.fr), and the Festival d'Automne from mid-September to mid-December (tel 01.53.45.17.00, www.festival-automne.com), where Trisha Brown usually makes an appearance.