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A [Peck] of Pickled Peppers
NYCB principal dancer Tiler Peck arrives at SF Dance Film Festival, 100 years of art at an East Bay college, and a literary pub crawl
Falling asleep in a college class is never a good look, especially when New York City Ballet legend Heather Watts is teaching you about her mentor George Balanchine. Watts joined the company in 1970 and was one of the last dancers Balanchine (considered the father of American ballet) promoted to principal dancer. During the class, she screened unreleased NYCB archives and even brought principal dancer Wendy Whelan in to rehearse for us. But I was an 18-year-old insomniac, and when the screening lights went down, I would nod off. I was mortified; I loved ballet and asked Watts for a second chance to rewatch every video. She said yes, and I absorbed every moment.
Hear NYCB principal dancer Tiler Peck at SF Dance Film Festival, join a literary pub crawl, and rave at the Asian Art Museum.
San Francisco Dance Film Festival | Tiler Peck: Suspending Time
Category: Film & Dance
Date: Friday, October 24th @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Lucasfilm Premier Theater (SF)
Price Range: $30+
Why I Care: San Francisco Dance Film Festival returns to theaters citywide and online. Opening night features Tiler Peck: Suspending Time, a documentary following NYCB principal dancer Tiler Peck as she navigates injury and personal loss. Peck will attend a post-screening panel with SF Ballet Artistic Director Tamara Rojo and the film’s director and producers. Want drinks with Peck after? Spring for a VIP ticket, which includes an exclusive reception with the dancer and team behind the documentary.
*Note that the screening went to waitlist after I wrote this up. Check out the full festival lineup sooner rather than later to snag your tickets!
Curator Tour | 100 Years of Creative Visions
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, October 25th @ 1pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Mills College Art Museum (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Mills College has weathered multiple transformations, from young women’s seminary to its recent absorption into Northeastern University. Through it all, the Mills College Art Museum has championed California artists and is now celebrating a century of leadership with 100 Years of Creative Visions. As California’s first public contemporary art collection, the museum holds works from modernist collective Group f/64 (of Ansel Adams fame), post-war California artists like Richard Diebenkorn, and Mexican modernists like Diego Rivera. Museum director Stephanie Hanor curated the exhibition and will lead the tour.
Green Film Festival of SF | Drowned Land & The Congress
Category: Film
Date: Monday, October 27th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: 4-Star Theater (SF)
Price Range: $16
Why I Care: The Green Film Festival of SF brings together filmmakers and viewers who want to engage with environmental issues. Screenings are grouped by subject matter, with Drowned Land focusing on Oklahoma’s Kiamichi River and The Congress documenting how Indonesian indigenous communities across 17,000 islands mobilized against the climate crisis. Though set in vastly different landscapes, both documentaries illuminate how indigenous communities have raised their voices to protect the environments on which they depend.
Litquake | Lit Crawl
Category: Literary
Date: Saturday, October 25th @ 3pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: See Full Map & Schedule (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: The Mission District transforms into a literary wonderland during Litquake’s Lit Crawl. Litquake is a weeks-long literary festival connecting writers and readers through book talks, workshops, and its tipsy finale: Lit Crawl. This pub crawl with a twist turns every bar on the map into a venue for readings, with drinks available for purchase. Tailgating starts at 3pm and the main crawl runs 5-9pm, but not to worry, night owls: the official after-party kicks off at 9pm.
PRELUDE: A work-in-progress showing of PIT
Category: Dance
Date: Friday, October 24th @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Zaccho Dance Theatre (SF)
Price Range: $13
Why I Care: Natasha Adorlee is an Emmy-winning, interdisciplinary artist who blends dance, film, and design. PRELUDE offers a work-in-progress peek at Adorlee’s PIT, which incorporates contemporary and aerial dance within a staged bullring. Performers include members from Oakland Ballet Company, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, and RAWdance, making for a powerhouse lineup of Bay Area kinetic talent.
Cine+Más | Las Muertes Más Bellas del Mundo/The Most Beautiful Deaths in the World
Category: Film
Date: Wednesday, October 29th @ 6:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Artists’ Television Access (SF)
Price Range: $13
Why I Care: Cine+Mas SF is hosting its 17th San Francisco Latino Film Festival at theaters across the city. The festival highlights filmmakers from 20+ countries across the US, Latin America, Spain, and Portugal whose work centers the Latino experience. Las Muertes Más Bellas del Mundo follows the families of five artists who fled El Salvador’s civil war for Washington, D.C. in the 1980s. The title pulls from an eponymous poem by the film’s Salvadoran auteur, Quique Aviles, who documents not only these artists’ stories but also his own path to healing after his country’s internal violence.
Opening Celebration | Rave into the Future
Category: Art & Dance
Date: Friday, October 24th @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Asian Art Museum (SF)
Price Range: $30
Why I Care: Curator Naz Cuguoglu calls her exhibition Rave into the Future “a love letter to the dance floor.” Featuring 20 works by queer and women artists of West Asian descent, the exhibition explores how rave culture has introduced global audiences to West Asian musical genres. Cuguoglu has curated video, sculpture, photography, and immersive experiences that make the museum a living space for the art form. The opening includes performances and activations by Bay Area dancers and DJs.
Want to rave before sundown? Hit up the museum’s Free First Sunday “baby rave” on December 7th.
Next Drop: Thursday, October 30th
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