To get a jump on what everyone else everywhere else will be seeing next year: Montpellier Danse. Chock-a-block with world premieres and the international programmers who track them, the two-week dance festival in the medieval city by the sea is edgy enough for people to pride themselves on showing up but not so edgy that it renders civilians speechless. This year, as previously, half of the 19 spectacles—besides the film series, talks, choreographic workshops, and free shows—feature widely recognized choreographers: Akram Khan, Ohad Naharin Mourad Merzouki, William Forsythe (or his “Friends” at least), Salia Sanou, Israel Galvàn, Crystal Pite, Mathilde Monnier, Angelin Preljocaj. But I’d also check out artists who will only make it out of Montpellier if they’re lucky, as they’re not “with it” so much as beyond it. For example: the Beckettian nouveau cirqueistes Camille Boitel and Sève Bernard; Eric Minh Cuong Castaing, a specialist in “hindered bodies” and the technologies that set them free; and the pugilistic folk dance soloist Amit Noy. These guys obsess over staying still or staying upright or, when upright, putting one foot in front of the other, which sounds about right for the cataclysmic year of 2025. —Apollinaire Scherr