“Intimate Distance,” this year’s Five College Dance Faculty Concert, takes place Thursday toSaturday, Feb. 20-22, at Hampshire College and is set against the backdrop of global social and environmental crises, with five faculty and guest artist works from each campus.
Designed to investigate human distance and intimacy, the performances, according to publicity notes, are designed to “provide ways to contemplate how we connect — or not — with our own internal landscapes, with other individuals, and with our physical surroundings.”
All five dances are premieres that either continue or initiate the artists’ choreographic investigations with Five College Dance students.
Performances take place at Hampshire’s Main Studio Theater Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. and also at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors and can be purchased at fivecolleges.edu/dance.
Northampton’s Four Sundays in February 2020 program wraps up on Sunday, Feb. 23, with “Back to the Bay State,” an afternoon of music and stories that recall the heyday of the Bay State Hotel, Northampton’s funky music venue of the 1990s and early 2000s.
Taking place Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 p.m. at the Academy of Music, the program will feature performances by Mark Mulcahy, The Maggies, The Stone Coyotes, Steve Westfield, Aloha Steamtrain and numerous other bands and artists that once played the Strong Avenue club, now remade into a small group of restaurants.
On display as well will be highlights from those days: recently unearthed cassette recordings, film footage, photographs, show flyers and other memorabilia that the Northampton Arts Council, which has organized the event, says will “provide a time machine for audiences who experienced the era, as well as a portrait of the legendary scene for younger generations.”
Advance tickets are $13 for adults, $11 for senior 65 and over, students and veterans, and $7 for children 12 years and under. Prices at the door are $2 more for each category. Tickets can be purchased at the Academy of Music by calling (413) 584-9032 or online at aomtheatre.com.
Vocalist Samirah Evans, a New Orleans transplant, and trumpet player Don Anderson will join the Green Street Trio in Northampton on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. to celebrate Mardi Gras and the musical heritage of New Orleans.
The concert runs from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., followed immediately by an open jam session that runs to 10:30 p.m.. Admission is $5 per person room for the show, with donations to the band gratefully accepted. It all takes place at City Sports Grille at Spare Time Northampton, 525 Pleasant St. (413) 584-4830