wayne's whirls One of the dance world's most sought-after

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T MISS THIS Rambert Dance Company Triple Bill Edinburgh Festival Theatre, October 9-12 Ten years ago he was a young, funky choreographer showing quirky inventions at Edinburgh's Traverse and collaborating with Glasgow's famous Slam DJs to stage choreographed interludes at 2am in darkened corners of sweaty techno clubs. Today, Wayne McGregor (born in England of Scottish parentage) is one of the dance world's most wanted. The highly sought-after experimentalist has graduated to a permanent residency for his Random Dance Company at London's Sadler's Wells and commissions from the Royal Ballet and Rambert Dance Company. Rambert are staging the world premiere of his new work, PreSentient, as part of an exciting triple bill that also includes Merce Cunningham's Ground Level Overlay and Grinning In Your Face by outgoing director Christopher Bruce.

But while the scale and the setting of his work have changed, the purity of McGregor's ideas has not. From his earliest creations the spidery-limbed, shaven-headed dancer has used his own apparently boneless form to patent a fluid, slippery, 100mph movement style that has as much in common with the dislocating limbs of body-popping and locking as it does with the standardised language of contemporary dance.

His love for and deep affinity with technology has been equally enduring. While some of his peers dabbled in multi-media, McGregor has pursued a logical thread, using numerous technologies to further the futuristic landscape of his stage creations. He has transformed stages into 3D screens, combined live dancers with computer- generated ones, executed live link-ups with performers in different countries and transformed dancers into insects using Jim Henson- designed animatronic pincers. In Detritus, his first piece for Rambert, he featured a giant jointed "limb" as part of the set design.

PreSentient is still under construction, but it marks an important staging post for McGregor in that he has swapped electronic soundtracks by the likes of Scanner and Zoviet France for a live one: Steve Reich's Triple Quartet. Performed live for the first time in the UK by three string quartets assembled from Ballet Rambert's excellent associate orchestra, London Musici, Reich's music has been the inspiration for frenetic choreography which we are promised will push the 12 dancers to their physical limits.

This is a chance to see just how glossy and exciting 21st-century contemporary dance can be.

who to watch JoaquIn CortEs Usher Hall, Edinburgh, October 8; SECC, Glasgow, October 9 He dances only in Armani threads. He packs out London's Royal Albert Hall. He counts Jennifer Lopez, Sting, Mira Sorvino, Emma Thompson and Bernardo Bertolucci (who dedicated a poem to the Andalusian stallion) among his fans. So convinced is he of his own importance that he has compared himself to Jesus Christ.

Joaqun Cortes, the "fiery flamenco prince", could not be further from his much-hyped gypsy roots (he was born into a Cordoban gypsy family in 1969). But it is this very interplay of danger and glamour (and a spell as arm-candy to the supermodel Naomi Campbell) that has enabled him to become the most commercially successful flamenco dancer in the world today.

In his latest tour, Joaqun Cortes Live, which stops off in Edinburgh and Glasgow next month, he places himself centre-stage in his first solo show for 10 years. Those who saw group shows such as the smash-hit Gypsy Passion will be familiar with the rock-gig amplification and his frequent forays into the crowd to show off his sweat-soaked torso and allow the laydeez to kiss his hand. But the starry Cortes has probably made a smart move here by ditching the backing dancers and training the spotlight back on the Latin love- god looks and flashy performance style his fans love so much.

for your diary Circa Tramway, Glasgow, October 11-12 The Vancouver- based Holy Body Tattoo - favourites of the New Territories festival, return to Glasgow with this tango-and-cabaret-soaked duet exploring sexual submission and control. Featuring music from Brecht-inspired band the Tiger Lilies, Circa is part of Glasgow's Six Stages festival of Canadian theatre and dance.

Drumming Theatre Royal, Glasgow, October 27 Belgian choreographer Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker and her company Rosas make a rare visit to Scotland with this new work set to Steve Reich's famous 1974 composition of the same name, arranged for 12 dancers, with costumes by fashion designer Dries van Noten.

Dundee Festival of Dance Dance Atlantic, Dundee Rep, September 26; Ticklish, Dundee Rep, September 28 More bold programming from the Dundee Festival of Dance. Having launched resident company Scottish Dance Theatre's Autumn Tour last week, the mini-festival continues with two evenings of new choreography. First is Dance Atlantic, featuring the Scottish premieres of Two Sisters by Tere O' Conner and Beth Cassani's Deep Water. Closing the festival is Jasmin Vardimon's Ticklish.

George Piper Dances Theatre Royal, Glasgow, November 14-16 The company formed by defecting Royal Ballet stars Michael Nunn and William Trevitt (TV's Ballet Boyz) perform a sophisticated double bill of Steptext, by William Forsythe, and Torsion, newly commissioned from Russell Maliphant.

Spartacus/ Romeo And Juliet Edinburgh Festival Theatre, November 4- 7/November 8-9 Traditional ballet is thin on the ground this season, so tutu-watchers will no doubt flock to see what they've been missing as Russia's Ballet Grigorovich marks its first visit to the UK with these two lavish ballets.

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