Attending a Ballet Nights show is like being handed a big bag of pick ’n’ mix, filled with tasty treats you’d usually have to visit several shops to procure. We haven’t personally picked or mixed, the Fundamentally Dance company has done that for us, but to my palette at least, every item is a taste sensation. Back in Glasgow for the second time since its formation, Ballet Nights is both an old and new concept. There are echoes of music hall variety shows, with a compere introducing multiple acts delivering short but sweet routines. But the notion of cherry-picking dance talent from local, national and international companies, giving them a platform to promote themselves and dance as a whole, is tingling with ingenuity. 

The line-up for each show on the UK tour differs, with just a few performers playing all dates. Regardless of the programme, however, this is a dance lover’s paradise. The Glasgow show may end with a Sleeping Beauty pas de deux choreographed 130 years ago (beautifully danced by Sae Maeda and Harris Bell of the Royal Ballet) but the evening is also peppered with brand new work. Such as a deeply moving duet from Travis Clausen-Knight and James Pett of PCK Dance, with live accompaniment by pianist Viktor Erik Emanuel and violinist Anna Brown. And the hugely exciting professional debut of Atlas, choreographed and performed by Chrysanthi Nikolaou and Django Bates-Blower, recent graduates of the Rambert School (and definitely ones to watch).

An athletic piece set to Max Richter’s Four Seasons, created and danced by James Wilton and Sarah Jane Taylor also set pulses racing. With 13 separate, equally superb acts covering live music, classical and neo-classical ballet, contemporary dance and even tap (a mesmerising solo from Guy Salim), there’s no space to namecheck everyone, but they all deserves plaudits. Imaginatively curated, flawlessly performed, and endlessly engaging, Ballet Nights is exactly what the dance world needs.

Ballet Nights is at Theatre Royal, Glasgow, until Thursday 3 September; full UK tour dates can be found here; picture: Rimbaud Patron.