Weekly Arts Round Up, March 25, 2021
By • March 25, 2021 0 888
This Saturday, Smithsonian Associates and the National Portrait Gallery will offer full-day programs online to close out Women’s History Month. Between now and then, you can learn about Khmer and Regency-era dance. The headings below link to details.
Dumbarton Oaks: Virtual Symposium
Speakers at “Faces of Rulership in the Maya Region,” a three-day Dumbarton Oaks symposium taking place via Zoom on March 25, 26 and 27, will consider crosscutting themes of ruler personae in the culture of the ancient Maya, including sociohistorical identity, mythical charters, adornment and consumption habits. The program starts at 11:15 a.m. on Thursday and at 11:45 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Institutions represented include the University of North Carolina; the University at Albany; University College, London; Washington University, St. Louis; the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; the University of Alabama; Bard Early Colleges; Davidson College; Missouri State University; the University of Miami; Northern Arizona University; McMaster University; the University of Montreal; Instituto Nacional de Antropología y Historia, Campeche; and the University of Kentucky.
Asian Art Museum: Online Art and Dance
On March 25 at 8 p.m., the National Museum of Asian Art will present a Look & Listen online program, “Cambodian Art and Dance of the Divine Serpent,” led by dancer and choreographer Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, founding director of the Khmer Arts Academy, and Emma Natalya Stein, assistant curator of South and Southeast Asian art. Participants will see how the naga, the legendary serpent deity, is depicted in sculptures, royal adornment and ritual objects, then watch classical Khmer dance that embodies the naga aesthetic and tells stories of its actions in the world, accompanied by Khmer court music.
U.S. Botanic Garden: Online Discussion
On March 26 from noon to 1 p.m., U.S. Botanic Garden Deputy Executive Director Susan Pell, Ph.D., will moderate a free online discussion, “Celebrating Women in Science: Crop Wild Relatives in Research.” Pell’s guests will be Allison Miller, Ph.D., biology professor at Saint Louis University and principal investigator at the Danforth Plant Science Center, and Tara Moreau, Ph.D., associate director of sustainability and community programs at the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden. Registration will close at 11:55 p.m. on March 25.
Intended for mature audiences, a production of “Cock” by Mike Bartlett, directed by Studio Theatre Artistic Director David Muse, can be streamed starting March 26. In the play, available for streaming through April 18, John (Randy Harrison) is desperate to get back together with his boyfriend of many years, but can’t stop sleeping with the woman he started seeing in their weeks off. Tickets are $37.
Dumbarton House: Virtual Dance Party
Online participants in Dumbarton House’s “Bridgerton Dance Party” — on March 26 from 8 to 9 p.m. — will learn about the history of dance and try out the steps to dance scenes in the Regency-inspired Netflix hit. Because “Bridgerton” takes place in 1813, many of the fashion trends, social customs and historical events align closely with the lives of the Nourse family then living at Dumbarton House. Admission is $12.
Smithsonian Associates: All-Day Streamed Program
As part of “Because of Her Story,” the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, Smithsonian Associates will offer an all-day streamed program, “Forgotten No More: Rediscovering Remarkable Women,” on March 27 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The four experts who will lead sessions are: Georgetown University adjunct professor Barrett Tilney, on 17th-century Dutch painter Judith Leyster (10 a.m.); Gettysburg College biology professor Kay Etheridge, on German-born naturalist and artist Maria Sibylla Merian (11:15 a.m.); historian Robyn Muncy, on early-20th-century women who laid the foundation for the American social welfare system (1:15 p.m.); and DownBeat magazine reviewer and former Howard University professor Michele L. Simms-Burton, on blues and jazz artists including Mary Lou Williams, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Mama Thornton, Alice Coltrane and Terri Lyne Carrington (2:30 p.m.). Tickets are $90 ($80 for members).
National Portrait Gallery: Virtual Festival
On March 27 at 11 a.m., the National Portrait Gallery will host a free virtual Women’s History Month festival, “Where There Is a Woman There Is Magic.” Participants will visit the online exhibition — highlighting leaders in sports, arts, science and activism — that gives the festival its title, choosing talks, workshops and art activities from a daylong, all-ages lineup. Registration is required.
National Philharmonic: Streamed Concert
The National Philharmonic will stream “Music That Renews: American Roots,” a free chamber concert, on March 28 at 2 p.m. Works by Amy Beach, Florence Price, Samuel Barber, George Gershwin, Jerod Tate and Valerie Coleman will be performed by flutist Nicolette Oppelt, oboist Mark Hill, hornist Michael Hall, bassoonist Erich Heckscher, clarinetist Cheryl Hill, violinists Laura Colgate and Gino Madrid, violist Stephanie Knutsen and cellist Kerry Van Laanen.
American History Museum: Online Discussion
In honor of Women’s History Month and in connection with the National Museum of American History’s forthcoming exhibition, “Entertainment Nation,” NMAH Director Anthea M. Hartig, Ph.D., will lead a live roundtable discussion, “Trailblazing Women in Entertainment,” on March 31 at 2 p.m. Featured speakers: Madison Wells Media CEO Gigi Pritzker, A+E Networks Acting Chairman Abbe Raven and actress and playwright Anna Deavere Smith. Admission is free.
Hirshhorn Museum: Online Conversation
On March 31 from 7 to 8 p.m., the Hirshhorn Museum will stream “In and Around America,” a conversation between associate curator Anne Reeve and photographer Catherine Opie, whose 2009 series documenting President Barack Obama’s first inauguration is in the museum’s permanent collection. The free event can be viewed on Zoom, YouTube and Facebook Live (advance registration is required for participation via Zoom). Simultaneously engaging and upending conventional ideas of the American experience, Opie foregrounds the political sphere in her recent work, taking a critical stance on climate change, gun control and immigration.
