This week you can enjoy free performances from The Washington Ballet, see a double bill of two Westerns from 1930, and catch a live performance from a dark metal band. Scroll to the end of To Do This Week to read the latest arts news and reviews and check out the tickets going on sale today. —Kayla Randall
FRIDAY
Dance For AllThe Washington Ballet’s mainstage season may have ended in early April, but the dancers aren’t on summer break just yet. For the first time in the company’s 40-year history, the dancers will spend the last four weeks of their contracts getting paid to put on a series of free performances, classes, and demos across the District. Dance for All, an attempt to make the local troupe more visible in the community, kicks off Friday with performances at The Plaza at CityCenterDC called District of Joy. Read more>>> The show begins at 6 p.m. at CityCenterDC, 10th and H streets NW. Free. (202) 362-3606. washingtonballet.org/dance-for-all. (Rebecca J. Ritzel)
Indie rock singer-songwriter Meg Duffy performs as Hand Habits at Songbyrd Music House. 8 p.m. at 2477 18th St. NW. $7–$10.
Synthwave artist Com Truise performs at Union Stage. 8 p.m. at 740 Water St. SW. $20–$35.
Ukrainian folk quartet DakhaBrakha performs at MilkBoy ArtHouse. 8 p.m. at 7416 Baltimore Ave., College Park. $25–$30.
SATURDAY
The Texan and The Border LegionBefore Fay Wray became the iconic beauty who killed the beast in King Kong, she faced a more human-sized beau in the form of Gary Cooper. In the 1930 Western The Texan, Wray stars as Consuelo, who falls for an outlaw they call The Llano Kid (Cooper), who pretends to be an elderly woman’s long-lost son in order to collect an inheritance. In the heart of the Great Depression, the movie’s moral dilemma played like a fantasy: What would you do for bread? Read more>>> The screenings begin at 11 a.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $8–$10. (301) 495-6700. afi.com/silver. (Pat Padua)
Artists from British trance music record label Anjunabeats, including Andrew Bayer, ARTY, and Audien, perform at Echostage. 9 p.m. at 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. $25–$40.
Throw it back to the early aughts when post-grunge band Lifehouse takes the stage at The Fillmore Silver Spring. 8 p.m. at 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $38.
Comedian Chelsea Handler‘s sit-down comedy tour comes to The Warner Theatre with a special guest, CNN anchor (and former City Paper writer) Jake Tapper. 8 p.m. at 513 13th St. NW. $85.
SUNDAY
Devil MasterNow in its seventh year, Damaged City Fest is an opportunity to catch some of the best punk and hardcore bands in the world but not always the most broadly recognizable. And yet if the D.C. scene is good for anything, it’s the full-throated embrace of the niche and esoteric. Of all the excellent options to choose from, I’m most excited about Philadelphia’s Devil Master. Similar to Lodi, New Jersey’s famous sons the Misfits, the band’s aesthetic is Transylvania by way of I-95, with its pancake makeup feeling like it was applied in a Wawa bathroom. Read more>>> Devil Master perform at 4 p.m. at Hole in the Sky, 2110 5th St. NE. $10. holeintheskydc.com. (Matt Siblo)
Comedian Lewis Black, the king of the rant, does a stand-up show at The Music Center at Strathmore. 7:30 p.m. at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. $35–$89.
Texas Chicano rock trio Los Lonely Boys performs at City Winery. 8 p.m. at 1350 Okie St. NE. $40–$55.
Acting and hip-hop royalty Queen Latifah performs for the first time at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. 8 p.m. at 2700 F St. NW. $59–$199.
MONDAY
Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912For more than 250 years, China’s last dynasty remained sequestered away within the Forbidden City of Beijing, the daily lives of its inhabitants unknown to those outside the palace walls. Almost a century after the Forbidden City’s Palace Museum opened to the public in 1925, the Sackler Gallery is displaying the art and objects of the Qing empresses in Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912. Read more>>> The exhibition is on view to June 23 at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. Free. (202) 633-1000. freersackler.si.edu. (Amy Guay)
Author Emily Bazelon speaks at Politics and Prose about her book Charged, which argues that prosecutors and prosecutorial power must be transformed in order to end America’s mass incarceration crisis. 7 p.m. at 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free.
Suns Cinema screens Party Girl, a 1995 Parker Posey indie comedy about a free-spirited New Yorker who becomes a library clerk. 8 p.m. at 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW. $10.
Dark pop duo Terror Jr performs at U Street Music Hall. 7 p.m. at 1115 U St. NW. $18.
TUESDAY
Tommy GenesisAt first glance, the cover of Tommy Genesis’ self-titled debut album—a cool-toned Photoshop of the singer-songwriter about to kiss her doppelgänger—is a Gen Z, male gazey vision of sapphic lust, like Tanya Chalkin’s “The Kiss” or that scene in Cruel Intentions before it. But like most things with the Canadian artist, there’s more below the surface. In this case, the photo is a nod to a scene from ’90s cult classic Aeon Flux, and represents the dualities of Genesis’ persona and art. “I would say the more rap, faster, darker stuff is Tommy. And where the more vulnerable, poppy stuff is more Genesis,” she told Uproxx last year. Read more>>> Tommy Genesis performs at 8 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $15. (202) 483-5000. dc9.club. (Chris Kelly)
The Lincoln Theatre hosts an evening with English space rock group Spiritualized. 8 p.m. at 1215 U St. NW. $35.
Signature Theatre presents a free film screening of Grand Hotel, the star-studded 1932 film which inspired the musical of the same name, at Shirlington Library. 7 p.m. at 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Free.
Ford’s Theatre continues its spring run of the magical musical Into The Woods. 7:30 p.m. at 511 10th St. NW. $28–$64.
WEDNESDAY
Striking Iron: The Art of African BlacksmithsIn the Iron Age, civilizations immortalized themselves by mastering one single element. Their legacy remains in Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths, exhibited at the National Museum of African Art. Organized by UCLA’s Fowler Museum and curated by sculptor Tom Joyce, this traveling showcase reveals the African ironwork history of two millennia, when iron transcended its role as material and was reinvented as a cultural signifier. Read more>>> The exhibition is on view to Oct. 20 at the National Museum of African Art, 950 Independence Ave. SW. Free. (202) 633-1000. africa.si.edu. (Tori Nagudi)
Okilly Dokilly, the Ned Flanders-themed metal band, performs at DC9. 8 p.m. at 1940 9th St. NW. $15.
Soundcheck hosts a DJ night with EDM bass duo ATLiens. 10 p.m. at 1420 K St. NW. $12–$15.
Shen Yun, the epic production that chronicles 5,000 years of Chinese history through dance and music, opens at the Kennedy Center Opera House. 7:30 p.m. at 2700 F St. NW. $80–$250.
THURSDAY
Bill McKibbenBill McKibben has been writing about climate change for three decades. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including Deep Economy, a guide to remaking global markets, Radio Free Vermont, a novel about locally minded Vermonters who secede from the United States, and The End of Nature, an environmentalist’s manifesto. Falter, McKibben’s latest book, dips into everything from the climate crisis, worsened by an American presidential administration that expects cataclysmic warming but remains uninterested in addressing it, to the changes that artificial intelligence could bring upon society. Read more>>> Bill McKibben speaks at 7 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 364-1919. politics-prose.com. (Will Lennon)
After selling out the first night, British art rock troupe Foals performs for a second night at 9:30 Club. 7 p.m. at 815 V St. NW. $38.50.
The Birchmere presents and evening with Australian psychedelic rock band The Church, performing on their Starfish 30th anniversary tour. 7:30 p.m. at 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $39.50.
Country music icon Kenny Chesney brings his Songs for the Saints tour to The Anthem. 7 p.m. at 901 Wharf St. SW. $125–$499.
NEWS & REVIEWS YOU CAN USE
News: The go-go community weighs in on the Metro PCS controversy.
Film: The Chaperone makes the case that prestige TV should stay on the small screen.
Film: The new Hellboy reboot is bad as hell.
Books: Local author Cheryl Head‘s Catch Me When I’m Falling is a modern take on the classic detective novel.
Music: The Scene Report—Max D, Model Home, and Jeremy Hyman.
OFFICE OF FUTURE PLANNING
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. for beloved singing-songwriting pop artist Sara Bareilles, performing at The Anthem on Nov. 19. 8 p.m. at 901 Wharf St. SW. $55–$125.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. for iconic new wave band The B-52s’ 40th anniversary tour, coming to The Anthem on Sept. 17. 8 p.m. at 901 Wharf St. SW. $55–$95.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. for Brian Fennell’s moody solo rock project SYML, performing at Union Stage on June 10. 8 p.m. at 740 Water St. SW. $17–$35.
Tickets go on sale at 12 p.m. for Los Angeles pop rock band Hey Violet, performing at Union Stage on June 6. 8 p.m. at 740 Water St. SW. $15–$35.
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