words: BETSAN JONES

This week sees the return of the National Dance Company Of Wales to the Wales Millennium Centre as they launch their new International Programme (Thurs 26 Jan, tickets: £10-£24). Including work from the highly esteemed choreographer Ohad Naharin, amongst others, it’s set to be a feast of dance at the Donald Gordon Theatre.

Tuesday offers up an entirely original midweek evening of live music, DJs and a creative craft competition. Fat City at Gwdihw Cafe Bar, Cardiff, embrace the best of Art Attack inspired fun in a cosmic-themed evening of craft (materials provided) and bags of funk, soul, hip-hop and world music. The Sweet Spots play live from 9.30pm (Tues 24 Jan, 8pm, tickets: £3).

Stand-up star Omid Djalili returns to tickle our funny bones with his new show, Tour of Duty, at  St. David’s Hall, Cardiff (Thurs 26 Jan, 8pm, tickets: £19). Treating us to his usual masterful dose of razor-sharp wit and achingly good observations on racial stereotypes, this one’s just too good to miss.

Fans of Edith Piaf’s iconic French sound can sit back and enjoy Piaf – The Songs, sung by Eve Loiseau at the Royal Welsh College Of Music And Drama (Wed 25 Jan, 7.30pm, tickets: £15/£12). Accompanying Eve are Fiona Barrow on the violin and Edward Jay on the accordion.

Under the banner of South Wales’ biggest electronic dance night, CYNT, Clwb Ifor Bach sees Bristolian Daniel Pearce Djing as Eats Everything, with high quality house music all night long. Well, right until the bouncers gently wrench that bottle of Fosters from your hands at 4am of course (Thurs 26 Jan, 10.30pm, tickets: £5).

Dubbed as the British equivalent of Seinfeld (and FHM’s stand-up hero of 2010) Josh Widdicombe is headlining the 2012 Carnival Comedy evening in Cardiff with a playful set at The Yard Bar & Kitchen (Mon 30 Jan, 7.30pm, tickets: £6). Also taking part in the evening are Welsh comedians Clint Edwards and Matt Rees.

As part of her UK tour, the glorious mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins will be performing at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, supported  by American singer/songwriter Nathan Pacheco (Fri 27 Jan, 7.30pm, tickets: £31.50-£71.50).

For the bookish amongst us, take a trip to the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea for a Poets in the Bookshop session (Thurs 26 Jan, 7.30pm, tickets: £4/£2.80). Deryn Rees-Jones, author of Consorting With Angels, and editor of the anthology Modern Women Poets, will be the resident poet. Plus there’s also an open mic if you feel like declaiming.

This weekend is Love Food Weekend at the Big Pit National Coal Museum in Blaenafon (Sat 28-Sun 29 Jan, 11.00am-4.00pm, admission is free), where those from far and wide across Wales will be celebrating the pinnacle of Welsh produce, with cheese and whisky a-plenty.

And finally, take a stroll over to Newport Museum & Art Gallery this week to have a look at their current exhibition, Fresh Paint (until 23 March), which showcases a lively selection of paintings by chosen artists from the 2012 graduate show season. Featuring work by graduates from Art Colleges in Newport, Swansea, Pontypridd and Cardiff.