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Unless you have been dancing deep in the pit, feeling every snare strike, conga syncopation, rototom fill, or cowbell blast, it’s hard to imagine the energy coursing through a go-go concert. But Thomas Sayers Ellis’ best photographs ensnare their radiating power. And more important, his images capture a scene that is D.C. to the core. The fashion, the personalities, the events that define D.C. go-go are shown in the first photography exhibit ever devoted to the art form and its culture: “(Un)Lock It: The Percussive People in the Go-Go Pocket.” The show, which will rotate weekly, covers the recent period of this 30-year-old genre, letting viewers peek inside band practices and block parties, political rallies and private reunions. Of course, “(Un)Lock It” can’t replicate the fun of a go-go concert, but it may make you want to bust loose at the next one.
The exhibition is on view noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays to October 7 at the Gallery at Vivid Solutions, 2208 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE. Free.