Out and About: Skate on ice (on purpose), listen to literature, or see dance in France
Slip-slidin’
At this point, The Olympian’s staff has had enough frozen water underfoot (and under tires) to last a while. But those who remain eager for winter fun still have time to take a spin around the rink at Oly on Ice. The skating rink, at Isthmus Park, 529 Fourth Ave. W., is open daily through Jan. 17. The city recommends buying tickets online to secure the time slot you want. Tickets cost $3-$12, including skate rental, and most Mondays and Tuesdays are Cheap Skate nights, with tickets topping out at $8. Masks are required for those 5 and older.
Storytime online
Grownups who enjoy a good story are invited to the Olympia Timberland Library’s Listen Here, a free monthly storytime featuring short fiction read by audiobook narrator and voice actor Corey Snow of Olympia. “Many adults have either forgotten what it’s like to sit down and have a story read to them or never thought that after you’re, say, 10 or 12 years old, that that was a thing,” Snow told The Olympian in 2016. “But there are millions of great stories out there that aren’t for kids.” The program, which went online during the pandemic, happens from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. on the first Friday of each month. On Jan. 7, Snow will read works by David Heska Wanbli Weiden and Walter Van Tilburg Clark. The program is free, with advance registration required.
Dancing in the streets
Among the Olympia Film Society’s January offerings is the candy-colored confection “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” a giddy 1967 musical filled with elaborately choreographed dance numbers and boundless optimism. The Jacques Demy film stars Catherine Deneuve and her sister, Françoise Dorléac, as twins looking for an escape from the quiet French town where they live. “ ‘The Young Girls of Rochefort’ is about two Gemini twins,” said film-society guest programmer Allie Rosenberg, who chose the film. “It also features Gene Kelly driving erratically and a bizarro B-plot.” It’s screening at 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8, and at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 and 30 at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $11, $8 for film society members and $5 for children 12 and younger. Proof of vaccination is required.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.