This sixth edition will once again bring some of the world’s finest contemporary dance companies and choreographers to twist, crawl and spin across the city’s stages in Flanders’ largest festival dedicated to dance. A joint initiative between CC Brugge and the Concertgebouw, December Dance 12 takes place in four venues over 10 days.

It’s rather the stuff of fiction: When Flemish artist Jan Yoors was a teenager in the 1930s, he joined a group of gypsies passing through Antwerp. In the years to come, he travelled with them and became a gypsy by adoption, all with the approval of his father, Eugeen, a painter and stained-glass artist, and his mother, Magda Peeters, a poet.

This experience of the gypsy culture and the ideas about art and society cherished by his deeply religious yet cosmopolitan parents would have a lasting influence on Yoors’ career.

The days when the 18-year-old Sanne Putseys made her first stage appearance in Leuven’s Het Depot are long gone. Now known as Selah Sue, her star has risen quickly in the six years since.

Since releasing her eponymous first album nearly two years ago, she has spent studio time with internationally acclaimed soul artists such as Cee-Lo Green and Meshell Ndegeocello, opened for Prince, sold a massive 600,000 albums in Europe and signed a major US record deal, with accompanying tour.

Bozar’s retrospective of Flemish expressionist Constant Permeke may feel immense, but the 130 works on display are just the tip of the iceberg. “In 1930, in this building, he mounted an exhibition with around 600 pieces,” says Willy Van den Bussche, curator of the retrospective. At this point, Permeke still had more than 20 years of active life ahead of him, during which he continued to paint and draw at a terrific rate, while developing a new interest in sculpture.