If you like to do fun-runs but think they're too expensive, Meet Me Downtown. If you wish you had more folks to exercise with, Meet Me Downtown. If you'd enjoy walking or running a three- to five-mile course through Phoenix, Meet Me Downtown. If you want to do it every single week, Meet Me Downtown.
See also: 4 Free Fitness Events in Metro Phoenix
Meet Me Downtown is a free social walk/run that meets every Monday at The Corner at CityScape, located at 50 West Jefferson Street. Check-in begins at 5:15 p.m. and the run/walk starts at 7. Visit www.meetmedowntownphx.com for more. Zachary Fowle
waiting for a passenger / ship to go to sea
Finding art in unexpected places can be invigorating to the senses. And while finding art at ASU Art Museum isn't any sort of rarity, witnessing performances within is typically quiet spaces is something to relish. And we plan on doing just that when In Kyung Lee presents her dance master of fine arts thesis show, waiting for a passenger / ship to go to sea inside the museum's Americas Gallery.
The free performance will take place at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 20, at 51 East 10th Street in Tempe. Additional performances are slated for 2 p.m. Saturday, January 24, and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 27. See www.facebook.com/events/1560805287465358. Becky Bartkowski
Editor's note: This post has been corrected from its original version, which misstated the start time.
"Russian Art and Music Through the Ages"
Russian music has a deep and storied history. Promoted by the Russian Orthodox Church, composers used music to extol the joys, but also the hardships, of life in mother Russia, turning snippets of literature, art, history, and folk tales into inspired works. Politics too occupied early Russian music, occasionally leading to harsh punishment. The names are familiar: Anton, Glinka, Mussorgky, Borodin and Tchaikovsky, among others. Russian composers eventually traveled across Europe, further enhancing their skills. "Russian Art and Music Through the Ages," an hour-long talk by ASU art history lecturer Caitlin Deegan and Arizona Opera education manager Joshua Borths, unravels Russia's glorious musical legacy.
The lecture begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 21, at Arizona Opera Center, 1636 North Central Avenue. Admission is free, but advance registration via www.azopera.org is required. Glenn BurnSilver
Science Fiction TV Dinner: Dollhouse
You are traveling to another screening, a screening not only of sight and sound but of mind... Next stop, the Science Fiction TV Dinner. This dinner and a show hosted by ASU's Project Humanities and Center for Science and the Imagination will center around Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, where personalities can be programmed like computers. Following a screening of the pilot episode, "Ghost," there will be a discussion led by neuropsychologist Dr. Mary Lu Bushnell and Dollhouse co-star Harry Lennix. Free food and drink will be provided.
The Science Fiction TV Dinner runs from 6 to 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, at the Marston Exploration Theater in the ISTB4 Building, 781 East Terrace Road in Tempe. Admission is free. Visit www.dollhousetvdinner.eventbrite.com for details. Katie Johnson
We firmly hesitate to call any Valley event "Winterfest" unless it includes an artificially frozen puddle surrounded by trucked-in snowbanks. Nevertheless, it is technically hibernal outside, and Southwest Shakepeare's Winterfest repertory programming at Mesa Arts Center, One East Main Street, goes heavy on the fest, so everything comes out even.
This season, the simultaneously running (through Saturday, January 31), energetically spear-shakin' delights are As You Like It and King Lear. The former, presented Friday, January 23, at 7:30 p.m., is a frisky comedy that includes wrestling, female cross-dressing, and the "All the world's a stage" speech. (Lear features gore, heartbreak, and thankless children, who are "sharper than a serpent's tooth.") Tickets, $10 to $44, are available at www.swshakespeare.org and 480-644-6500.Julie Peterson
