FRIDAY:
>> There are few names in modern dance as big as Merce Cunningham. The veteran dancer and choreograhper brings his company to the Kennedy Center tonight and Sat. to perform a few of their paradigmatic pieces, including Fabrications, featuring music by Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta, and Sounddance, with music by David Tudor. These shows are a sure thing. $21 to $50, both shows at 8 p.m.
>> Serious ambient and electronic music fans won’t want to miss UK rave kings The Orb, as close to “old school” as a genre this new can possibly get, at 9:30 Club. While the title of their latest album, Okie Dokie it’s the Orb on Kompakt, implies a debut for Dr. Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann on Germany’s Kompakt label, it’s actually their 6th release with the techno masterhouse since 2004. Perhaps the gents just feel like this album is particularly Kompakty?
>> As we mentioned yesterday, so many great art events, so little time.
SATURDAY:
>> Nothing goes better with Cherry Blossoms than an Anime Marathon. At least, that’s the idea the Freer Gallery has had for the last four years, and who are we to argue? This year’s line-up is heavy on classics of the genre, with Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro at 11 a.m. and his more recent Howl’s Moving Castle at 4 p.m., plus Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy at 1:30 p.m. along with his peerless Akira at 7 p.m. If you like your forests filled with magical talking creatures and your post-apocalyptic wastelands populated by violent motorcycle gangs and technology-driven military conspiracies, this is the event for you. Also, if you get off on girls dressed like furries, apparently the DC Anime Club will be putting on a costume show throughout the day. How creepy/cool of them.
>> Nethers really do seem to be all grows up now that they’re off touring constantly. Check out their folksy brand of psychedelic rock tonight at DCAC and celebrate their triumphant return home from SXSW, before they head back out on the road again. 10 p.m., $6.
>> If George Mason fever has taken too strong a hold for you to imagine doing anything else on Saturday night, we hear the best spots to watch with the real fans are Buffalo Wing University, or on campus in the Johnson Center. We feel certain it will be a loud, sloppy good time, no matter what the outcome of the game. Tip-off scheduled for 6:07 p.m.
SUNDAY:
>> More cherry blossom madness as the nice weather makes way for the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run, kicking off at 8 a.m. If you know someone running and aren’t the sort who gets annoyed by cheerful people who get up that early on a Sunday to exercise, consider heading down and showing them your support. If you’re the other sort, make note of the race’s route, and steer clear of the area entirely until the afternoon.
