Contemporary dance has come a hell of a long way in the 30 years that Dance Umbrella has been running and that's reflected in this year's programme with the once pioneering and avant garde, now established, respectable big hitters opening the season: Merce Cunningham dance company presents new work alongside classic at the Barbican and Richard Alston celebrates his 60th birthday at Sadlers Wells. As usual, "brief encounters" with emerging choreographers precede the big......

The Olympics have been put to bed and there's nothing but bilge on the box. Time to extract yourself from the sofa and skulk down the local uniplex to see what's shaking, where this week the delights include a pair of triple-bills - including probably the finest sequel in movie history - and some choice cuts at a free festival. Wednesday: Tonight, the Roxy continues its Beefeater London Movie Season. It's pretty simple: £3......

Can't decide on whether to take an umbrella or a sombrero out in this ever-changeable climate? The answer's both, unfortunately, so we recommend that instead of facing the elements you bed down in a hushed auditorium, where this week's selection includes a season of films from an island where the sunshine is just that little bit more reliable. Thursday As part of their retrospective of Oscar Munoz, which we reviewed last month, Rivington Place......

While our Saturday Cinema Summary does an admirable job of rounding up the week's new releases, London's celluloid attractions run deeper than the local multiplex's offerings. From retrospectives of filmmaking greats, to cult classics introduced by obsessive cinephiles, each week we'll offer a preview of the forgotten films and rare screenings worthy of your attention. Wednesday: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days, the stark Romanian film that snatched the Palme d'Or at Cannes last......

Sure Wimbledon's started, but what if you couldn't give two hoots about tennis? Here's our round-up of what you should be getting excited about among London's cornucopia of current cultural offerings. Who needs tennis? What you really need is some swashbuckling flamenco swordfighting action with a Gipsy Kings soundtrack, right? Well, thank goodness for Zorro: The Musical, previewing from Monday at the Garrick. We can't help thinking it'll feel a little flat without a certain......

We have no idea who Crazy Monkey are - we don't watch our own MTV let alone move around the Londonist spy dish to try and pick up South African telly, but what the hell - they're coming to London no matter what we do so we figured we may as well warn you: Straight Outta Benoni is coming to the big screen in London for 2 sneak previews on Sunday the 9th of......

We haven't quite finished feasting on the carcass of the London Film Festival and along comes dessert in the form a mini French Film Festival. Only the four films on offer make it less of a festival and more of a long weekend, but after the slim French pickings at this year's LFF we quite fancy a bit of subtitled culture. This event is actually an appetiser for the full festival which has moved......

It's almost Halloween which means London, despite the unseasonably pleasant weather today, is draping itself in black and preparing to scare itself stupid or at least do stuff that pretends to be scary but isn't at all and is just a thinly disguised excuse to get done up in drag . There are Halloween films, Halloween parties, Halloween clubnights, Halloween walks and, of course, lots of Halloween sweets. But what about Halloween theatre? (The......

We can't seem to turn round without bumping into a film festival at the moment, so we thought it might be useful to go through a quick rundown of what's on offer out there. The Italian Film Festival at the Riverside Studios started on the 8th and runs until the end of this week. Highlights include After Midnight and On Any Street, along with a couple of extensive shorts programmes. The Johnny Depp season......