While You’re In: Bake or make art, watch Alvin Ailey dancers, and have a Dolly holiday
Pandemic pastimes
Whether or not you consider yourself an artist, you can be part of South Puget Sound Community College’s annual Fine Arts Postcard Exhibition. One and all are welcome to submit up to three 4-inch-by-6-inch works for inclusion in the show, a fundraiser for the college’s Leonor R. Fuller Gallery. This year’s theme: “Leave No Trace.” (We would have predicted “Postcards From the Edge.”) The show opens Jan. 4 in the gallery and online, and all of the submissions, due Dec. 7, will be sold in an online silent auction. Get the details at https://spscc.edu/gallery. If you prefer to express your creativity in the kitchen, check out “Let Us Eat Cake: Baking Advice From the Pros,” a baking and decorating demonstration and Q&A with Haley López of Dia Del Pastel Vegan Cakery and Lauren Rogers of Gotti Sweets. The free class happens from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2; registration is required.
‘Revelations’ revived
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the nation’s most acclaimed modern dance troupes, opens its first virtual season Dec. 2. The free month-long season pays homage to the late Ailey’s classic 1960 “Revelations,” a celebration of Black spirituals, gospel music and small-town religion. Offerings — each available for streaming for a full week — include two world premieres: “A Jam Session for Troubling Times,” set to the music of Charlie Parker, and “Testament,” a contemporary response to “Revelations.” Want to try some Ailey-style dance yourself? Try the online “Revelations” Celebration class taught by Nasha Thomas of Ailey Arts in Education.
Dolly to the rescue
Country music icon Dolly Parton, it turns out, had a big role in funding Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. She’s also doing her part to spread seasonal cheer in Netflix’s “Christmas on the Square,” a film The Daily Beast’s Kevin Fallon summed up as “a cornucopia of schmaltz.” (Fallon’s choice of words is especially funny because “Square” is explicitly Christian, to the point that the pastor who’s a major character is actually named Christian.) Parton plays a super-glam angel, perfectly groomed even when masquerading as a woman living on the street. Her mission: to assist in reforming a chilly Scrooge type (Christine Baranski) and to deliver earnest and sometimes laughable songs and life lessons. Bonus: The choreography — by Debbie Allen, who also directed — is as showy as Parton’s glittery wardrobe, with elaborate production numbers breaking out all over the place.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore particularly liked the part where Dolly Parton was, for no explicable reason, small enough to ride in a car’s cupholder. Molly discusses arts, entertainment and more with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.