A NEW season of dance events pirouettes gracefully into Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts this autumn and right through to the new year.

Starting on September 16 is Tangomotion, featuring virtuoso displays of traditional tango dance to the exquisite sounds of 1930’s Buenos Aires and the powerful Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla.

Two Strictly champions take to the stage on September 22 together with one Strictly professional in Rip It Up. Jay McGuiness, Natalie Lowe and Louis Smith will swing, bop, jitterbug, lindy hop, jive and ballroom through the greatest songs of the ‘50s joined by BBC Radio Two’s Leo Green with musicians, dancers and singers.

Tap Factory on October 7 is described as “an international hit show for all the family” featuring urban tap dance, percussion, comedy and acrobatics.

In Cockfight, October 13-14 - a cross between The Office and an Australian style cage-fight - a game of comical one-upmanship builds to a moment of impact where everything is suspended. Skilfully enacting a full-throttle mash-up of extreme physical risk-taking, graceful movement and slow-mo fight sequences, this is a darkly humorous and surprisingly tender piece of dance theatre exploring power play between men.

Ballet Black, a company comprising international dancers of black and Asian descent, presents a varied triple bill on October 31. featuring pieces choreographed by Martin Lawrence, Michael Corder and South Bank Award-winner Annabelle Lopez Ochoa - who turns a popular fairy tale on its head as Red Riding Hood is given a surprising twist!

Combining classical training and technique with the best-loved Russian ballets, Saint Petersburg Classic Ballet make a welcome return to Lighthouse in the new year. From January 24-25 they perform Giselle, a quintessential story of unrequited love and one of the few 19th century romantic ballets to survive intact.

n Tickets are on sale now from the box office.