This week's new dance picks

Ballet on screen Nothing can replace the experience of watching ballet in the theatre, but a project launched last year by the Bolshoi to transmit live performances via cinema screens around the UK is not a bad substitute. Not only have film techniques and sound reproduction come a long way since the 1950s, when the Bolshoi used to film all its big productions, but as the cameras hover in the theatre waiting for curtain-up and pans around the audience, you do share some of the buzz of the real event. This production of Nutcracker (Sun 19, see picturehouses.co.uk and cinema listings) is the version choreographed by former Bolshoi director Yuri Grigorovich, with a cast headed by the superb Nina Kaptsova. Kaptsova was one of the revelations of the Bolshoi's recent summer season; tiny and fragile-looking she possesses both impressive power and dramatic range. Her Nutcracker prince is Artem Ovcharenko a rising young dancer in the company with a formable technique. Ballet also comes to the small screen this Christmas with David Bintley's new production of Cinderella (BBC2, Christmas Day, 2.55pm). A highly theatrical staging of the traditional fairytale, with flashes of real darkness as well as magic, the production features Elisha Willis in the title role. Diversity & Flawless, Manchester, London As a Christmas alternative to Nutcrackers and Cinderellas, two of Britain's leading hip-hop troupes are performing. Diversity (O2 Apollo, Manchester, Sun 19 & Mon 20), the east London crew who won the hearts of the nation in the 2009 finals of Britain's Got Talent, have a show inspired by the movie Toy Story, with the youthful troupe choreographed by Ashley Banjo. Bringing A Toy Story To Life At Christmas has the dancers showing off their routines in the guise of action figures, robots, Ninja-style warriors et al, and a spectacular mix of light effects and sound. It's the dance itself that provides the variety in Flawless 's Chase The Dream Not The Competition (Royal Festival Hall, SE1, Tue 21 to Thu 23). Not only does the production cram in the full gamut of robotics, back-flips, popping and gliding – honed to even slicker speeds than the technique that got them in the film StreetDance 3D – blended into the mix is a witty homage to Michael Jackson, some contemporary dance-theatre and a bit of tap.