Freebie of the week: The Mexica New Year, which signals the start of the Aztec calendar, officially arrives March 12. But it’s being celebrated this weekend in San Jose in what’s billed as the largest event of its kind in the country, thanks to Calpulli Tonalehqueh, an Aztec cultural preservation group founded in San Jose more than 30 years ago. The organization offers dance instruction and is available for demonstrations year- round, but its annual Mexica New Year celebration, now in its 27th year, is a three-day affair involving hundreds of dancers and artisans. Calpulli Tonalehqueh, and troupes from a variety of locations, will perform on a bill comprising as many as 700 dancers. There also will be live music and drumming, a traditional tianguis (market) with some 80 Native craftsmen offering jewelry, art, clothes and cultural items from across North America, and a wide variety of Native food and drink. The event takes place 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Emma Prusch Park, 647 S. King Road, in San Jose. At 6 a.m. Saturday, there is a special Sunrise Ceremony for communal reflection. Admission to all events is free. For more information, go to www.aztecadancers.com.
Looking for love: Viewers of reality TV shows about dating, love and hooking up (whether truly emotionally invested or tuning in with a healthy helping of snark) must accept that the odds of two people meeting for the first time on TV and falling in love forever are exceedingly remote. Despite this fact, or perhaps because of it, dating-romance reality shows remain popular, which means they’re ripe for the kind of spoofing they get from “Nobody Loves You,” a musical created by East Bay natives Itamar Moses (a Tony Award-winner for “The Band’s Visit”) and Gaby Alter opening this week at American Conservatory Theater. The show, which debuted off-Broadway in 2013, remains relevant today, proving that Moses and Alter latched onto a concept with legs. Who doesn’t either love love or hate the people who love love? Audiences either are fans of the Hallmark Channel, which serves up G-rated romantic movies that all end exactly the same way or pinpoint the network as the nadir of human existence. This great divide is the basis of “Nobody Loves You.” Protagonist Jeff hates romance reality shows with as much passion as his girlfriend adores them. When their relationship breaks as a result, Jeff enters a reality show to win his girlfriend back. If you can’t figure out what happens next, you haven’t been watching enough on the Hallmark Channel. “Nobody Loves You” plays through March 30 at ACT’s Toni Rembe Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. Tickets are $25-$130; go to www.act-sf.org.
DTH returns: The Dance Theatre of Harlem was founded by Arthur Mitchell, partly as a means to create a more accessible style and presence of the art of ballet. Fifty-six years later, the company is still carrying on the mission, delivering pretty darned exhilarating performances. The troupe’s annual hometown run is a popular attraction throughout New York City, but it also tours across the country. The 18-dancer troupe, now led by Alex Garland, returns to Walnut Creek this weekend, continuing a longstanding relationship with the Lesher Center for the Arts. The program includes a variety of works and styles, from classical ballet to contemporary, urban and postmodern. Reportedly, the company on this tour has been performing Garland’s world premiere work “The Cookout,” set to music by Jill Scott, the British Afro-funk band Cymande, and more. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets ($89 to $110) and more information are available at www.lesherartscenter.org or (925) 943-7469.
A fine foursome from Europe: Members of the multi-award-winning Pavel Haas Quartet (founded in 2002, taking the name of the Jewish composer from their country who died in Auschwitz in 1944) are currently artists-in-residence at the Prague Dvořák Festival. The ensemble, called the finest Czech quartet in the world, recently was featured at Carnegie Hall in a festival of all Czech music. San Francisco Performances has them—violinists Veronika Jarůšková and Marek Zwiebel, violist Šimon Truszka and cellist Peter Jarůšek—booked for a recital Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in Herbst Theatre. On their program is one work by a Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 11 in C Major, and another by a Russian, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat Major. Tickets, $65-$85, are at sfperformances.org. For some insight into the quartet’s passion, check out this excerpt from Smetana here.
Ireland in word and song: The fire in the pub hearth is blazing, and the Guinness foam in the tulip-shaped glass is just beginning to subside, when the crystalline strains of the Celtic harp waft through the smoky air and the storyteller begins his tale. Audiences may have to imagine the pub fire and the Guinness, but they’ll be treated to the finest of the musical and imaginative talents of Patrick Ball, the preeminent Celtic harp player and accomplished spoken word artist, when he launches into his act at 7 p.m. Friday night at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Pleasanton. Call it a musical and theatrical preview of St. Patrick’s Day, if you will. Tickets for “Patrick Ball: Celtic Harp and Story,” $5-$20, are available at the door at 1225 Hopyard Road and online at eventbrite. Refreshments will be served at intermission and after the performance.
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