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February starts off with a bang for those of you in the San Francisco Bay area. Today and tomorrow, the Russian Center of San Francisco is hosting its 20th annual celebration of Russian art, dance and music. This is a big shindig, and the event that inspired me to start a Russian cultural calendar for adoptive families last year. There is a great lineup, and even a large screen TV dedicated to the Super Bowl. Tickets are $10 for adults, but kids under 12 are free.
Also, today and tomorrow, a dance presentation called “Stravinsky Revisited”. This is being staged by the University of Michigan’s resident dance company at the Power Center for the Performing Arts, tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 3 p.m. The dances are performed to a variety of Stravinsky’s works, including the “Symphony of Psalms” and “Ebony Concerto”, as well as Stravinsky waltzes, polkas and tangos.
For something more leisurely than the typical adoption journey try “Cruising Russia”, a travel film being presented at El Camino College’s Center for the Arts in Torrance, Calif., on Monday, February 4 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. A film about a different journey is being screened at the International House of Philadelphia on Saturday, February 9 at 8 p.m. It’s “Aelita, Queen of Mars” a Soviet silent film from 1924, that follows a radio engineer as he travels from Moscow to Mars.
Stravinsky’s classic “The Firebird Suite” will be performed on February 8 through 10 at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego.
The Hermitage Russian Ballet and the St. Petersburg Ballet are continuing their U.S. tours, both presenting “Romeo and Juliet” at several venues around the country this month. The Hermitage will be at the Savannah Civic Center on Friday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. and at The Classic Center, in Athens, Ga. on Wednesday, February 20 at 7 p.m. The St. Petersburg Ballet will perform at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks, Calif. on Sunday, February 10 at 2:30 p.m. and again at the Mondavi Center in Davis, Calif. on Saturday, February 16 at 8 p.m.
On Sunday, February 17, the Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, N.Y. is hosting a Russian cinema festival that includes “Ragin”, a movie based on Anton Chekhov’s “Ward 6″ and “The Father”, a new Russian film about a father returning home from war. The screenings at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. will also feature appearances by director-producer Ivan Solovov and the actor Alexei Guskov.
On Wednesday, February 20 at 7 p.m., the Philharmonic Center for the Arts. in Naples, Fla., is hosting a program combining Russian literature and music called “Rebels on the Red Carpet”.
And finally, something really special for the kids. Hilltown Families is sponsoring a programmed called Kids Can Discover Russia with Matyoshka Dolls on Sunday, February 10 at 10 a.m. in Shelburne Falls, Mass. Children will learn about Russian traditional folk art and paint their own Matryoshka dolls. Register for the event by calling (413) 625-2030.
Image credit: Nazka2002 at Morguefile.com
