A PARIS dance company is bringing its breathtaking new show to the Mayflower next month.

Compagnie Käfig will be presenting Boxe Boxe, an exciting show that fuses boxing with dance as eight performers blend martial arts and street and contemporary dance, combining the brutality of fighting with the elegance of dance.

The company has given more than 2,200 performances in 61 countries in front of more than a million people in the past 17 years, but rarely performs in the UK.

Artistic director Mourad Merzouki said: “Each aspect of boxing has an equivalent in choreography – the ring and the stage, the gong and the curtain going up, the referee and the eagle-eyed critics – for me there are all kinds of similarities.

“So there’s a mix: the excitement of combat and fear of the spectators, the gut fear of getting badly knocked about, together with that great feeling of abandoning yourself, of achieving absolute fulfilment in that magic moment on stage or in the ring.”

The dancers move to music from Schubert, Ravel, Philip Glass and Glenn Miller.

The UK tour is organised by Dance Consortium of which the Mayflower Theatre is a member.

For more information go to danceconsortium.com.

Tickets for the show on April 14 and 15 are available from the box office on 02380 711811 or online at mayflower.org.uk.