Weekend Picks: the Arts, a Dive, a Tap

Cuba has been in the news this week, and one way to begin understanding what is happening there is to see what Cuban artists have to say. Go look at the Hunterdon Museum of Art’s exhibition, “Cuba! Artists Experience Their Country.” The show includes painting, photography, drawing, multimedia and sculpture. Through March 30 at the museum in Clinton; more at www.hunterdonartmuseum.org.

More Latin American art, of the musical variety: The State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico has two concerts this weekend. Friday the orchestra is at the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts in Morristown with a program that includes Falla’s The Three-Cornered Hat and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 in E Minor. Saturday’s venue is New Brunswick’s State Theater and the program includes Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat and Granados’ Goyescas. Both shows at 8 p.m.

There’s also music in South Jersey this weekend. Check out the Rutgers-Camden Jazz Festival. The concert with John Coltrane’s legendary pianist McCoy Tyner and tap master Savion Glover sold out but there are other performances all afternoon Saturday at the Gordon Theater. More info at  www.rutgerscamdenarts.org/jazz.

For a different musical experience also down south, there’s Tom Rush, a mainstay of the folk scene who helped launch Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and Jackson Browne. He is at Appel Farm Arts and Music Center  in Upper Pittsgrove, Friday at 8 p.m.

Are you looking for a late-February excuse to get on that Parkway and head down the Shore? The American Repertory Ballet presents its Sinatra Suite at the Surflight Theater in Beach Haven, Sunday at 2 p.m. Or dive into the icy waters of the Atlantic by signing up for the Polar Bear Plunge Saturday in Seaside Heights, a fund raiser to benefit Special Olympics New Jersey.

Take that dive and you will know it’s still the season for the traditional winter activity of tapping a maple tree. Yes, syrup from New Jersey. Get yours Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Washington Crossing State Park Nature Center in Titusville. Or at the Somerset County Park Commission’s Environmental Education Center in Basking Ridge Saturday and Sunday at 10 am., noon and 2 p.m.

Be a sap, and stay sweet!

Tags: Cuba | Mayo Center for the Performing Arts

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