.Weekender: The Top Five Things to Do Over the Next Three Days in the East Bay

Happy Friday! Here’s what you’re doing this weekend.

Black Choreographers Festival
This year’s festival scored a major coup with Word Becomes Flesh, Oakland artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s compelling paean from a single father to his unborn son in which an all-male cast merges hip-hop, spoken word, and contemporary theater. Fresh off a much-heralded revival in New York, it’s headed for a national tour in 2013 — catch it on Saturday, Feb. 12. True to its name, the Black Choreographers Festival highlights the Bay Area’s talented African and African-American dance makers, and the opening show on Friday, Feb. 11, includes Reginald Savage, Corey Action, Teela Shine Ross, and Kendra Kimbrough Barnes, while the Sunday, Feb. 13, family matinee showcases pre-professional youth — you just might spot the next Marc Bamuthi Joseph among them. All shows are at Laney College Theater (900 Fallon St., Oakland); the festival continues for two more weekends in San Francisco. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m.; $10-$25. 1-888-819-9106 or BCFHereandNow.org. — Claudia Bauer

estelle.jpg
Estelle
If your only exposure to Estelle was her (amazing) 2008 Kanye collabo “American Boy,” that’s a start, but it’s also kind of like saying you only know Rick James because MC Hammer sampled “Super Freak,” or Ke$ha because she sang the hook on Flo Rida’s ubiquitous hit “Right Round.” Okay, that last one was a bad example, but still: This British singer’s got an impressive, vastly underrated catalog all her own — one which displays a preternatural ability to float between genres (mostly hip-hop, pop, R&B, reggae, and rap, often in the space of a single song), and which comes across as a sharper, spikier antidote to her better-known British peer, Adele. Live, she’s said to be electric, playful, and legendarily foulmouthed; see for yourself at the New Parish (579 18th St., Oakland) on Friday, Feb. 10. 8 p.m., $27-$45. TheNewParish.com. — Ellen Cushing

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

East Bay Express E-edition East Bay Express E-edition
19,045FansLike
14,592FollowersFollow
61,790FollowersFollow
spot_img