This other Cannes festival—of dance—is perfectly timed. On the cusp of winter, as night drops onto day earlier and earlier, we need the Côte d’azur. The best offerings this year come from nearby. With a quartet of dancers and as many musicians, Lisbon choreographic duo Jonas&Lander’s Baté fado (Fado Beat) rejects the fado’s iconic wistfulness for a strummy, stiff-legged Monty Pythonesque serenade. The audacious Rocío Molina’s latest is less comic than absurd. In Calentamiento, the Spanish flamenco dancer warms up for her performance warm-up. The solo, with musicians and singers, may be “getting warmer,” as we say, but it’s not getting any closer to its start. As for native talent, Ballet Lorraine offers a spectacularly musical and well-conceived triple bill. The new works include the Argentine-Belgian Ayelen Parolin’s sweet, scary, and massive ensemble piece Malón (Spanish for “raid” or “impromptu party”) and Works, to Beethoven’s Seventh, by the company’s recently hired director, Maud le Pladec—the French, millennial, pop-inflected answer to Brussels’ musically intent formalist Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. For classics, Twyla Tharp’s Bach-inspired 1970 trio The Fugue, danced only to the intricate patter of the dancers’ feet, makes a rare appearance. —Apollinaire Scherr