Photo by Andreea Popescu on Unsplash
FunTimes Magazine Culture & Entertainment, Week of May 1, 2023
May is here and happening! The grass never grows under May’s busy feet. So, take advantage, and check out these low-cost or free activities. But before venturing out to any in-person events, please respect the ongoing pandemic safety protocols, and check individual event-attending instructions with the organizers.
Philadelphia Ballet steps up
May 5, 2023. Get your dance on at Let’s Dance, a partnership of Philadelphia Ballet and Philadelphia public schools. The event will feature performances by students and the Philadelphia Ballet and a reception. Enjoy a performance by the inaugural All City Dance Ensemble, a group of high school students from Philadelphia public schools. High School Dance Fellows Kayla Bailey and Kaylee Scott and High School Music Fellows Justin Duong and Cyrano Rosentrater will lead their piece. The concerts will be accompanied by music by the Philadelphia Ballet Orchestra members. Philadelphia Ballet company dancers will perform Bourbon St., choreographed by Artistic Director Angel Corella and Russell Ducker, with music by Louis Prima and the Barcelona Hot Angels. Free, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Cherry Street Pier, 121 N. Columbus Blvd. E-mail: info@philadelphiabalet.org, 215-893-1999 or https://philadelphiaballet.org/.
Comic books open window to reading
May 6, 2023. For some kids, comics are an introduction to the wondrous world of reading. They spark the imagination in young minds. Parents and comic-book lovers of all ages can check out an in-person workshop, Comic Are Books, on the expressive medium of “sequential art” — comic books, cartoons, and graphic novels. Panelists, including Regine Sawyer, founder of the Women in Comics Collective, and Alex Smith, a Philadelphia-based teacher and visual artist behind the adult graphic novel “Black Vans,” will talk about discovering literacy through comic books and “highlight the art form’s tradition of representing Black and brown lives.” The event is hosted by youth-literacy nonprofit Mighty Writers, with Uncle Bobbies Coffee & Books and the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. Free but register in advance, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. First United Methodist Church of Germantown, 6001 Germantown Ave. 267-239-0899 or e-mail jailey@mightywrigters.org or mightywriters.org.
BalletX marks the spot!
May 4 & May 5, 2023. Arabesque, en seconde, fondu….Check out BalletX’s impressive dance moves as they leap onto the Mann Center stage highlighting a world premiere by Amy Hall Garner, the return of Justin Peck’s Become a Mountain (2021), and Trey McIntyre’s Big Ones (2016). Live music by Dan Deacon. Acclaimed BalletX commissions choreographers worldwide for a diverse mix of innovative modern performances. It’s all part of Mann’s ongoing Spring Series. $20-$25, 7:30 p.m. Mann Center (TD Pavilion) for the Performing Arts, 5201 Parkside Ave. in Fairmount Park. 215-546-7900 or manncenter.org.
This Jazz Jam is sweet!
May 11, 2023. World Cafe Live’s Jazz Jam is a jam session for local musicians. House band Emmanuel Ohemeng III & Perpetual Motion will kick off the evening with a warm-up before a rotating lineup of players graces the open stage. Instrumentalists and vocalists can sign up and sit in throughout the evening. Free but pre-register. 8:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Word Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St. E-mail: TicketingStaff@worldcafelive.com, 215-222-1400 or https://worldcafelive.com.
Left: Sue Williamson. Caroline Motsoaledi I from All Our Mothers, 1984. Image © Sue Williamson. Courtesy of the artist and Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg, and London. Right: Lebohang Kganye. Ngwana o tshwana le dinaledi II from Ke Lefa Laka: Her story, 2013. © Lebohang Kganye. Courtesy of the artist
Art on apartheid is for the generations
Through May 21, 2023. Three decades after the shattering of apartheid, South Africa’s “born free” generation of granddaughters “has reached adulthood” and inherited a history expressed and recollected through many art forms. In Tell Me What You Remember, two of South Africa’s top contemporary artists try to navigate the painful past with a cross-generational perspective from women. The focus is on racial violence and social injustice. The event promotional material explains: “Sue Williamson (b. 1941) and Lebohang Kganye (b. 1990) incorporate oral histories into films, photographs, installations, and textiles to consider how the stories our elders tell us shape family narratives and personal identities.” The exhibition is curated by Emma Lewis, curator at Turner Contemporary, Margate, England. Adults, $25; students, $5, Thursdays to Mondays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Barnes, 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 215-278-7000 or barnesfoundation.org.
Walk into history
May 21, 2023. Step it up at the “Philadelphia’s 1838 Black Metropolis” walking tour offering four custom routes with themes aligned with a new exhibition, Rising Sun: Artists in an Uncertain America. Explore Center City, a flourishing mecca of nearly 19,000 free Black Philadelphians some 200 years ago. The tour will cover one mile and many known Underground Railroad sites — including William Still’s house — where people lived, worshipped, attended school, and supported charities and pressing social causes such as emancipation. $30,1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch St, 215-574-0380 or aampmuseum.org.
You read it here…
Did you read a great book last year? You can nominate it for the 15th Annual WOMEN’S WAY Book Prize. Organizer WOMEN’S WAY is accepting nominations for books (written by a woman or gender-expansive author or co-author) impacting women and girls. Submit your nomination by Friday, May 5th. There’s also an opportunity to join the Book Prize Committee to select the winner. The Book Prize recognizes a woman or gender-expansive author or co-author for her work advancing the dialogue about issues impacting women and girls. womensway.org.
