L ibraries party it up among stacks of serious topics and musical bookends.
Monday, February 20 – Presidents’ Day
Starting at 4:20 p.m., Woodbridge-based community arts center 10selden holds its 10-act 26th Annual Battle of the Bands at College Street Music Hall.
The next New Haven Ecstatic Dance session, where the goal is to “shake, release, connect, and embody ecstatically” in “a conscious dance space” with “no shoes, no booze, and no chit chat” on the dance floor, pops up at Your Community Yoga Center in Hamden at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, February 21 – Fat Tuesday
From 5:30 to 8:30 at Ives Main Library, the New Haven Free Public Library’s annual Mardi Gras celebration and fundraiser returns to in-person action, offering “an evening full of delicious food and drink, live music and entertainment” including a performance by the Timmy Maia Experience. “Festive attire is welcome!”
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Wednesday, February 22
Material Energy Nexus: Critical Materials for a Sustainable and Just Energy Transition, “an interdisciplinary event” focused on “social, environmental, geopolitical, and trade issues” related to “solar panels, wind turbines, EV batteries, and [applicable] energy storage,” comes to Yale’s Kroon Hall from 5 to 8 p.m.
At 6, the New Haven Museum hosts a screening of What Could Have Been: How New Haven Lost the U.S.’s First Black College. The documentary by Beinecke Library colleagues Tubyez Cropper and Michael Morand “confronts the unfortunate history of how Black New Haven leaders helped lead the charge to create the nation’s first Black college in 1831—the dawn of the abolition movement—only to be rejected by white property owners of the city, despite the support of several prominent leaders.”
Thursday, February 23
At 7 p.m. in the Edgerton Park Carriage House, Alex Pisha, a landscape architect and coauthor of Parks of the 21st Century: Reinvented Landscapes, Reclaimed Territories (2021), discusses “the role of parks around the world as proactive, dynamic green spaces.”
At 8, the Shubert hosts Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, an “internationally beloved troupe of male dancers” set “to perform a brilliant combination of skillful pointe work and hilarious parodying of classical ballet favorites…”
Friday, February 24
From 10 a.m. to 4 in Yale’s Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, a “Journalism and Free Speech: The China Stories” conference convenes “renowned journalists” to examine numerous questions—such as “How should newsrooms support journalists facing political retaliation?,” “What does journalistic accountability truly mean for U.S. and global newsrooms?,” and “Is ‘seeking the truth’ sufficient justification to pursue a story, and what are the ethics and responsibilities of journalism in the face of political and personal risks?”—through the prism of covering China and Hong Kong.
At noon, Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music hosts “Remembering Lost Species: Rituals for the Anthropocene,” an online talk with Emily Laurens, Rachel Porter and Persephone Pearl, “a.k.a. Feral Theatre—the co-founders of Remembrance Day for Lost Species.”
At 3, East Rock Brewing Company releases its draft- and growler-only Blueberry Vienna Lager, “a small-batch play off of our year-round, award-winning Vienna Lager.”
Saturday, February 25
Thin on details if not viscosity, Dudley Farm in Guilford invites the public to “come visit the farm during the last two weekends in February and first weekend in March to see how [maple sugaring, i.e. boiling maple syrup until the liquid component evaporates] is done. This is very weather-dependent, so be sure to look for the sign at the entrance to see if sugaring is happening.” Saturday’s visiting hours are 10 to 2, while Sunday’s are 1 to 4.
At noon at Wilson Library, women’s support group Sisters with a New Attitude mark Black History Month with an exhibit, From the Outhouse to the Whitehouse, as well as “African drumming, food and more!”
Meanwhile, at Fair Haven Library, a screening of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) promises complimentary popcorn and soda along with classic Star Wars thrills starting at 1.
At 2 p.m., Possible Futures bookstore hosts “Connecticut’s own super-star middle grades author Janae Marks, who will be reading from, signing, and talking about her newest book, a follow-up to one of our all-time favorite middle grades reads, From the Desk of Zoe Washington” (2020). The event “will be facilitated by local youth readers,” with help from Je T’aime cupcakes.
At 6:30 at NXTHVN, local high schoolers share billing with “some of the top spoken word artists from around the country” during Voices in Power, a Black History Month spoken word event.
Sunday, February 26
“Living legend in the world of klezmer dance” Steven Lee Weintraub joins klezmer big band Nu Haven Kepelye for a Big Klezmer Dance Fest at Hamden’s Congregation Mishkan Israel. During a 2 p.m. workshop, “Steve will introduce all of us to the figures, steps, and stylings of the dances that belong to klezmer music.” And at 6, after a break, “We’ll… bring our fancy new footwork to a rollicking klezmer dance party.”
Written by Dan Mims. Image 1, featuring Mardi Gras accoutrements, photographed by Mike Flippo. Image 2, featuring a past New Haven Ecstatic Dance gathering, photographed by Chris Randall and provided courtesy of NHED. Image 3 features members of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. Image 4, featuring Dudley Farm at a different time of year, photographed by Kathy Leonard Czepiel. Image 5, featuring The Empire striking back, sourced from Lucasfilm. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
