Descent of the Shepherds 24 December

Allauch, always good for Christmas atmosphere, has a live performance of the revelation of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. It's entertaining even if you dont speak Provençal. It starts at 10:15 pm in the hills above the city and ends with the shepherds herding their sheep down the street to a living creche in the church for midnight mass that starts at 11pm. Just the ticket.

If you have young children aged 6-12 years, there are activities in the village on 24 December between 2 and 5pm.

Circus Performance by Cirque Eloize 8 December

The Montreal circus troupe Cirque Eloize has a a new production, Cirkoplis, which pays tribute to Bandes Desinées (cartoons). They promise to be as impressive as ever with their spectacular choreographed acrobatic performances.

They're at the Silo, an impressive venue for an impressive troupe, on Saturday 8 December at 8pm. Tickets are from 33€ to 44€, available on line from the Silo website.

Christmas Market Allauch 8 and 9 December

Get into the mood by visiting Allauch's Provençal Christmas market, Santa will be there (of course), there are stalls selling food (marrons glacés, chocolate and local nougat) and drink and you'll find those elusive perfect Christmas presents. There will be activites for children of all ages. It starts on Saturday afternoon and is open Sunday from 10am.

You can also go to the Vieux Bassin to see Gilbert Orsini's animated creche. The whole gallery is filled with images of Provençal villages inhabited by santons spinning yarn, making bread and celebrating Christmas - definitely worth a look.

To get to Allauch from central Marseille take metro line 1 to La Rose and bus 144 from there.

Contemporary Dance 28 November to 1 December

Michel Kelemenis, the founder of KLAP-maison pour la danse in Marseille moves across to the Ballet National de Marseille to produce his work "le sixième pas", the sixth step. It will be performed by German dancer Katharina Christi and BNM's Japanese dancer Yasuuko Endo. The music is a composition by electroacoustics creator Christian Kanési.

The second performance is a piece by Yasuuko Endo himself: "Mayday, mayday this is...". he uses his experience of being in Tokyo during the 2011 earthquake and tsunami to inspire this work.

You can eat before or after the performance with tapas and drinks provided by La Boite a Sardine.
Perfomances are:
Wednesday 3:30 and 8:30pm
Thursday 8:30pm
Friday 8:30pm
Tickets are  9€ and 12€. To book telephone 04 91 327 327.

Design Tour Nocturne 22 November

Studio 19, along with a number of other galleries and shops, is taking part in the Design Tour this year. It runs from 21 to 24 November, with a "nocturne" on 22 November, so you can spend an evening strolling around the rues Paradis and Edmond Rostand admiring the latest in cool design.

There's also an exhibition sponsored by Elle Decroation called "Génération Design" at the Docks Marseille, 10 Place de La Joliette from 22 to 24 November, entry is free.

Festa Occitana at La Meson 10 and 11 November

Two concerts at La Meson this weekend.
On Saturday 10th it's d'Aqui Dub, their website says:

"Founded in 2001, D'aqui dub has had a long life, chaotic, voyaging. It drains and reincarnates, explores, experiences… even reinvents catalepsy… And is re-founded once again to propose No Specific Time."

It's a sort of Balkan meets Occitan sound and that man Arnaud Froment has a fine gravelly voice.

On Sunday Un Homme a Traversé le Monde
In contrast to Saturday, this is a performance by Renat Sette of his composition based on the poetry of Serge Bec. He is accompanied by Diego Lubrano on guitar, Patrick Ferné on double bass and Aurélie Lombard on accordion.

Both concerts start at 8pm and cost 10€ (plus 3€ seasonal membership if you haven't joined already)

Food and Wine Festival Allauch 4 November

Go along to the village of Allauch for a Sunday treat. It's the annual festival of food and wine. It runs all day and features wine from all over France and local specialities such as tapenade, aubergine caviar and olive oil. You can also enjoy some provençal music and dancing presented by Leis Ami d'Alau.

To get there take metro line 1 to La Rose and bus 144 to the terminus in Allauch village.