Traditional Aborigine music performed by one man on didgeridoo, guitar and vocals, alongside dramatic lighting and smoke effects creates the backdrop to the first performance, Breathe. The dancers writhe and contort their bodies effortlessly creating twisting shapes and images that feel both ethereal and elemental. Their dance reflects the music, using dust and sheets of white silk as the only props. This, combined with their ragged, earthy costumes, creates the idea that they are the earth breathing, feeling like the unsettled atmosphere before thunder. As they roll and tumble over each other slowly and purposefully, it’s like the rolling clouds of a storm.

The Mariinsky Ballet’s Edinburgh debut is a fairytale for dance fans, not least because its opulent production, choreographed by former Bolshoi director Alexei Ratmansky, brings the classic Cinderella story into a 21st-century world. Words Kelly Apter

 You have only to look at the star-studded list of former employees to know just how important the Mariinsky Ballet is. Household names such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Anna Pavlova, Rudolf Nureyev and Vaslav Nijinsky have all danced with the Russian company, and today’s crop of soloists and principals are some of the best in the world.

Despite this, when the St Petersburg-based troupe arrives in Edinburgh this August, it will be making its International Festival debut. This exciting prospect for any ballet fan is compounded by the fact that the work the Mariinsky Ballet is performing – an opulent production of Cinderella – was created by one of the most interesting choreographers to work with the company in recent years, Alexei Ratmansky.

“Alexei is unique, as a person and as a choreographer,” says Mariinsky director, Yuri Fateyev. “He created Cinderella especially for us, which was a huge privilege.”

In the dance village of Nrityagram, students live solely to dance. It is therefore a great privilege to be able to see this community, who practice from dawn to dusk to achieve perfection, in the flesh, and in our fair city.

Difficult, unsparing, almost deliberately oblique, Drought and Rain delivers an hour and some of music and dance theatre that feels at least double that. As an exploration of the Vietnam War through the eyes of people that lived through it, it is undoubtedly flawed, failing to find much tension or even emotional connection to the conflict. However, it is not without its shining moments.

The Peony Pavilion is one of the most iconic love stories in Chinese literature, a deeply romantic tale of the power of love to conquer death. Featuring Fei Bo’s sensuous  choreography, this production from the National Ballet of China brings to the Festival Theatre not only a ballet corps of over 50 dancers and its resident symphony orchestra, but an evening of exquisite storytelling and symbolically laden drama.

Flamenco guitarist Paco Peña unites Spanish and African music and dance in Quimeras, a celebration of immigration and shared cultures. A group of Ghanaians moving to Spain suffer exclusion and persecution on arrival, but cling to their national dances for identity. Initially each nationality performs independently, but the show gradually blends the two until everyone dances together to the rhythm of African drums and Spanish guitar.

Step it up at one of the dazzling dance performances around the city this month. Kelly Apter leads you through the options.

ALONZO KING LINES BALLET
Festival Theatre
26-29 August, 8pm
Blending classical ballet training with contemporary dance moves, San Franciscan choreographer Alonzo King brings two works to the International Festival. Dust & Light is set to Baroque music, while Rasa features live tabla playing from Grammy Award-winner Zakir Hussain.

BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS
Zoo Roxy
13-21 August (not 17), 1pm
One of the most interesting dance companies in Britain, balletLORENT presents this
well-observed dance piece about a young couple adjusting to life with a young baby.

Working together as a family is just as important as the sheer joy of movement for the passionate Grupo Corpo, Brazil’s original contemporary dance troupe.

When you’re hard at work every day, fitting in family visits can be a challenge. Unless you’re a member of the Pederneiras clan, that is, in which case it’s all rather handily under one roof. Based in Brazil’s Belo Horizonte district, Grupo Corpo is one of South America’s most exciting dance companies – and a real family affair.

Formed in 1975 by brothers Paulo and Rodrigo Pederneiras, they’ve since been joined by sister Miriam who runs their education project and assists with choreography, and brothers Pedro and José as technical director and company photographer respectively. More recently, a younger generation has swelled the Grupo Corpo pack, with Rodrigo’s son Gabriel taking on the role of technical co-ordinator.

What inspired the Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre to drop everything and work on a flamenco show? One man: Paco Peña.

When your reputation for excellence is as strong as Paco Peña’s, you don’t work with just anybody. So it comes as no surprise that the flamenco star’s choice of director is just as accomplished. Awarded an OBE in 1997 for services to theatre, Jude Kelly is one impressive woman. Currently Artistic Director of London’s Southbank Centre and a senior figure in the 2012 Olympics’ cultural programme, it’s remarkable she finds time to do anything else.

JOYCE DiDONATO

What’s your best memory from a previous festival?
Well, the memory most vivid in my mind was performing with Sir Richard Norrington and the amazing Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the newly refurbished Usher Hall, and not more than a minute into our dramatic opening the lights went completely out! What I remember most was the good natured response of the wonderful public, and when the problem was finally corrected, they held their attention divinely and we gave, I hope, a really memorable performance.

Edinburgh Playhouse
4-5 September, times vary.

This was a treat for everyone present. Celebrating its 40th birthday, Scottish Ballet put on a trio that spanned 60 years of ballet: Frederick Ashton’s ‘Scenes de Ballet’ (1947), William Forsythe’s ‘Workwithinwork’ (1973) and Ian Spink’s updated version of the 1911 Stravinsky/Fokine/Diaghilev ballet, ‘Petrushka’.

Raw power

Twenty years after his first, and last visit to the festival, Michael Clark, the irreverent punk of dance, is back with a show devoted to rock stars.

Unique perspective

Cesc Gelabert brings his innovative and creative approach to dance to two shows at this year’s festival.