Happy February, East Bay! Here’s what you’re doing this doing this weekend.
Lunar New Year
While last year’s Chinese (or Lunar) New Year recognized the rabbit, this year goes to the dragon, a creature that’s arguably more visually striking than its fluffy, pouf-tailed predecessor. The Oakland Asian Cultural Center‘s (388 9th St., Ste. 290, Oakland) Lunar New Year Festival both celebrates and aspires to the grandeur of the majestic beast with an array of Asian dance, music, and martial arts performances, including appearances by Patty Chu’s Chinese Folk Dance Troupe and Filipino mixed martial artists Eskabo Daan. The festival on Saturday, Feb. 4, also features arts and crafts workshops, including Japanese paper-doll-making and Korean kite-building. 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m., free. OACC.cc or 510-637-0455. — Cassie Harwood
Ballet is a marvelous conveyance for human emotion — witness Smuin Ballet’s winter program, which runs the gamut from elated to elegiac. The program opens with Dear Miss Cline, Amy Seiwert’s suite of vivacious dances set to a jukebox of Patsy Cline hits, which garnered critical and audience kudos in its fall 2011 debut. Cline shares the bill with three pieces choreographed by the company’s late founder, Michael Smuin, to music from tango to Chopin to Dvorak (respectively): the sultry Tango Palace; The Eternal Idol, a pas de deux inspired by the Rodin sculpture and created for American Ballet Theatre in 1969; and Stabat Mater, a dolorous reflection on September 11. Smuin Ballet performs at the Lesher Center for the Arts (1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek) on Friday, Feb. 3, at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 4, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. $49-$59. 925-943-7469 or SmuinBallet.org. — Claudia Bauer
