EFF intro

Last year, the Edinburgh International Festival scored with Lemi Ponifasio's Mau. As part of a programme that determinedly explored the post-colonial world, visiting the 'new world' and subverting expectations about their cultures, Mau was an epic statement of both Polynesian creativity and dance as eloquently expressive.

Festival director Jonathan Mills has headed east this year: across performance, China and Korea dominate. Many of the shows reveal a new take on Western Classics, or integrate genres - like ballet and opera - more commonly associated with Europe into a multi-cultural fusion.

This concentration is certainly healthy - the UK can always use a little outside artistic influence - and steers clear of tokenism by being so comprehensive. There are still old favourites - Scottish Ballet are back with old and new choreography, but the EFF could become a primer in large scale eastern theatre and dance.

Dance is often regarded as a universal language - absurdly, given that it is so diverse that it can barely be defined - and this suggests that the Peony Pavilion would escape problems of cultural misunderstanding. Certainly, Mau was striking and accessible, yet other international acts struggle even if words are absent. Cultural codes are ingrained into our very bodies.

The National Ballet of China's entry, The Peony Pavilion is a fascinating fusion of baller and a Chinese love story, suggesting that the grand old dame of dance still has the potential to evolve in a multi-cultural world. When the EFF was set up after WWII, it aimed to foster international community through the arts. And as long as it can afford these grand companies, at the least, it stimulates debate about nations, cultures and their arts.