Thursday • 24
Friday • 25
ROLLINS DANCE XIX It's no secret that performances by national dance troupes aren't commonplace around town, due primarily to tight budgets. This situation makes this every-spring collaboration by Rollins College and Valencia Community College that much more important; thanks to collaborations between faculty and students, we get to be kept up-to-date on the evolution of dance in its many forms. This year's program showcases three different pieces, two of them originally choreographed works by instructor Lesley Brasseaux and Rollins director of dance W. Robert Sherry; the other is a piece by legendary choreographer José Limón, for which members of the Limón Dance Company worked directly with student dancers. The program opens this weekend and then moves to Valencia, where it will be re-staged under the title "Valencia Dance." (8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Annie Russell Theatre, Rollins College, Winter Park; 407-646-2145; $10. Repeat performances 8 p.m. April 8 and 9 at Valencia Performing Arts Center, East Campus; 407-582-2900; $5)
Sunday • 27
HOLI FESTIVAL As you pull into Barnett Park for this annual celebration, you might feel as if you've stumbled upon a semiprivate family function. Everyone seems to know each other, there are tables full of food, kids running around and party music playing. And, to some degree, you would be right: This festival brings together members of Orlando's substantial Indian populations (both the West Indians and the East Indians), for whom Holi is a centuries-old celebration of spring, wrapped around two different stories in Hindu mythology. It's by far one of the most effusive and ecstatic days in India, with people throwing powdered paints at each other (sort of like an aggressive, multihued version of St. Patrick's Day's green obsession), and this small gathering is appropriately loose and welcoming. (11 a.m.-5 p.m. at Barnett Park; free)
Monday • 28
INKWELL Last August, My Hotel Year were in the middle of a tour and, for whatever reason, cancelled a bunch of dates, returned to Orlando and went on "hiatus." Exactly what those reasons were … well, we don't know. What we do know is that the "hiatus" doesn't appear to be ending any time soon, and with the emergence of Travis Adams' new band Inkwell, it seems like a pretty good bet that My Hotel Year have now officially been promoted from "one of the most awesome bands in town" to full-on "legendary" status. Unsurprisingly, the work ethic that made MHY such a goddamned machine is manifesting itself in Inkwell's schedule; their debut album, Chaos Reveals Rhyme, is already finished. (Adams says he wrapped it up in the week after the last MHY shows.) This show – put together by their label – is one of a handful of CD release shows the band is playing but, for the most part, it doesn't appear that Inkwell is quite ready to take on the draining touring schedule that MHY was known for. Likewise, those expecting Inkwell to be a sonic copy of MHY will surely be disappointed; Chaos is denser, poppier and more thickly arranged than Adams' previous band, and though he sometimes stumbles into that soaring vocal nasality that got MHY occasionally pegged as an emo band, Adams is clearly unafraid to actually sing on most of these songs. The addition of acoustic touches, piano, electronic sequences and even some cutesy harmonies all point to an entirely different and decidedly more mature adventure. We're totally digging it. (with The Kick, Band Marino, History; 8 p.m. at The Social; 407-246-1419; $5)
STRAIGHT AND ALERT We remember listening to Minor Threat, Uniform Choice, Youth of Today and all the rest of those posi-core bands from the late '80s and, damn, if it didn't all end up sounding like a big, long nagging session: Don't drink, don't smoke, don't fuck, don't be late, don't masturbate, brush your teeth – it's as if our mother began writing the words to hardcore songs. Evansville, Ind.'s Straight and Alert (who took their name from a Uniform Choice song) offer more of the same bullshit bitching and preaching, although it was interesting to hear the phrase "suck my dick" as a song lyric ("Sick-O-Fest") because, you know, straight-edgers are supposed to refrain from that sort of behavior. In about five years, after they hit 21, expect Straight and Alert to return as Stumbling and Woozy. That is if they don't find Krishna between now and then. (with The Tradition, Stop This Fall, Funeral Home Fight; 5 p.m at Back Booth; 407-999-2570; $8)
Wednesday • 30
AN EVENING WITH THE DUE FAMILY There are five dynamic family members and a handful of local organizations with their names tied into this educational outreach. To cut to the core, the program is themed "Freedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights," the same title as the 2003 book co-authored by matriarch Patricia Stephens Due and one of her offspring, award-winning novelist Tananarive Due (whose 1997 novel, My Soul to Keep, is now a film project with actor Blair Underwood, a subject she'll be discussing with UCF students the following day). The history captured in Freedom in the Family includes the 49 days that Patricia Due spent in jail in 1960 after being arrested for a civil rights protest at Florida A&M University, as well as the ongoing activism she's nurtured ever since. The discussion is likely to be lively given the feisty nature and talent that runs through the Due family, as represented by the mother-daughter team as well as patriarch John Due, a civil rights attorney, and two other daughters, Johnita Due (senior counsel for CNN) and Lydia Due Greisz (also an attorney). As mentioned, there are a few hosts backing this lesson in activism, including FAMU, the UCF School of Film and Digital Media and city commissioner Daisy W. Lynum. (6:30 p.m. at the second-floor Council Chambers, Orlando City Hall; 407-254-3265; free)
