The DC Youth Orchestra Program Open House this Saturday at Eastern High School. Photo courtesy of DCYOP
Perhaps we are finally shaking off wintery weather this weekend? I’ll say no more on the matter until my toes have been set free from the tyranny of socks.
Until we can reliably frolic in sandals we should maybe try some of this?
Tonight, learn about the 14th Amendment and its relevance to African American history at the Hill Center. Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallall moderates a discussion with Dean Danielle Holley-Walker and Professor Garrett Epps which will examine the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford and the court’s majority opinion, which rendered people of African descent as non-citizens of the United States. The discussion is free and begins at 7 p.m. Register in advance here. This event is the kickoff to the annual Benjamin Drummond Emancipation Day celebration which commemorates the end of slavery in DC.
Friday morning at 10 a.m. there is a free Spanish class for little ones at Union Market. Isabella & Ferdinand Acadamia de Español, the renowned Spanish language program for children, will host this interactive Spanish class for toddlers & kids ages 2-5, accompanied by their parents (and siblings). The 45-minute class will include live music, puppets, games, dance, stories and more, all authentic to the Spanish-speaking world. Learn more about the program here.
Saturday, the Friends of the Southeast Library hosts its monthly Used Book Sale. The sale is held in the basement and usually begins around 10 a.m. and wraps up around 3 p.m.
The DC Youth Orchestra Program hosts an Open House at Eastern High School. Members of the DCYOP and the NSO will be on hand hosting instrument petting zoos where prospective young musicians (ages 4-18) can try out orchestral instruments. At 12:30pm, the Youth Orchestra will give a pop-up concert, and at 3:30pm, the String Queens, a classically trained trio including DCYOP alumna and conductor Elise Cuffy, will perform pop, gospel, jazz, and R&B arrangements. Between the concerts will be a performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf with narration by DCYOP Music Director Mariano Vales, as well as a string instrument care workshop held by Potter Violins, chamber music performances, yoga classes with One Breath at a Time, and face painting. Food trucks and other vendors will be at the event. Learn more about the free program here.
If you are still craving classical after this event, you are in luck! The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) performs an NSO in Your Neighborhood concert at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW.) The free performance features NSO musicians Heather LeDoux Green (violin) and Paul DeNola (bass) in a free family-friendly performance in CHAW’s Dance Studio. No tickets or reservations necessary. The concert begins at 4:30pm.
This is the last weekend to catch 410[GONE] at the Atlas. Read more about it here.
Sunday the Hill Center closes its annual Benjamin Drummond Emancipation Day celebration with a concert by Grammy nominee, singer-songwriter and lifelong Washingtonian, Carolyn Malachi. Her music has been called R&B-ish/Afro-futurist, and she’s been compared to Janelle Monae and Anita Baker. The concert begins at 6 p.m. and is free but do register in advance here.
Monday the public can book entry to Carne y Arena (Sand and Flesh), Alejandro González Iñárritu’s virtual reality experience that Maria was lucky enough to experience a few weeks ago. It will be here for a while but get in early so you can tell your friends that saw it first –which can be so satisfying, if a little insufferable.
That evening at Wundergarten (it’s NOMA but we are claiming the Wharf and Union Market so it counts) begins a weekly yoga-then-beer event. At 6 p.m., take an all-levels vinyasa yoga class followed by some socializing with beers. What a way to start the week!