Sadler’s Wells East, London
The all-male French troupe Chicos Mambo mix parody and pointework in a fast-paced comic celebration of dance’s high art and sillier side

When the curtain goes up here in east London, just across town there’s another opening night: fans gathering to worship the late dance theatre icon Pina Bausch, whose Sweet Mambo is at Sadler’s Wells. Whereas on this stage, six men send up Bausch’s choreography and signature style, skewering its cliches. Not that everyone in the audience will know the reference. If you’re not a regular dance-goer, you may just see a bunch of men in long flowing gowns processing around the stage and flinging their long wigs about. But still entertaining.

A lot of Tutu, after all, is just about raising mirth through silly dancing and silly costumes. All-male comedy dance company Chicos Mambo, directed by French choreographer Philippe Lafeuille, have been performing this show for more than a decade, and it seems to be a camp crowd-pleaser. Certainly the costumes are fun: puffy, flamingo-coloured tutu trousers, like a cross between a powder puff and a frilly toilet roll cover; hats that look like vegetables (Why? Why not!).

At Sadler’s Wells East, London, until 15 February

Sadler’s Wells, London
Tanztheater Wuppertal’s dancers treat the audience like lovers in an entrancing show of seductive elegance

Pina Bausch had a pair of secret weapons in Matthias Burkert and Andreas Eisenschneider, who jointly sought out music to match her uncanny dance-theatre and make it so indelible. In Sweet Mambo, the German choreographer’s 2008 production for Tanztheater Wuppertal, their eclectic compilation complements the seductive elegance of set designer Peter Pabst’s huge, billowing white drapes and the sumptuous gowns provided by Marion Cito.

Track by track, an entrancing through-line is found in Sámi joiking, torch song, folk, electronica and ambient music. The mix extends to the unclassifiable party sound of Hazmat Modine’s Bahamut, harmonicas and tuba boosting a late burst of loosey-goosey abandon from dancer Daphnis Kokkinos while his colleagues are wrapped and spun upside down in those curtains.