Steps that suit a world of fancies

Expect a high-contrast summer in dance, starting with works by Russian maverick Boris Eifman and American iconoclast Merce Cunningham on major Southland stages at the same time.

Take your pick: The Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg performs intense, character-driven dance dramas at the Orange County Performing Arts Center next Tuesday, June 1 and 2 (“Don Juan and Moliere”) and June 3-5 (“Red Giselle”), while the Merce Cunningham Dance Company presents groundbreaking dance-for-dance’s sake abstractions at the Ahmanson Theatre on June 2

and 3 (“Views on Stage” and “Split Sides”) and June 4 and 5

(“Fabrications” and “Split Sides”).

Cunningham is also featured on the opening night of the annual Dance Camera West Festival (June 1-25) at the REDCAT in Walt Disney Concert Hall with the local premiere of his film “Views on Camera,” a collaboration with Charles Atlas. And Eifman introduces his “Anna Karenina” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (June 23-26).

Drama a la Russe turns up later in the summer at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with the return of Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in Alexei Ratmansky’s “The Bright Stream” (Aug. 9-11) and Yuri Grigorovich’s “Spartacus” (Aug. 12-14).

As usual, the summer is rich in world dance, with July 9 mandating a choice between folklorico and hula when the summer series at the John Anson Ford Amphi-

theatre offers Ballet Nacional de Guatemala, while the free Grand Performances series in California Plaza programs the Bay Area’s contemporary Polynesian ensemble Na Lei Hula I Ka Wekieu.

Finally, the reliably provocative New World Flamenco Festival showcases three companies at the Irvine Barclay Theatre (Aug. 5-14). Expect contrasts galore.