What's Happening: Dr. Ken Sulak, 'Winds Go Pop,' Sunday Assembly

FEB. 16

RHYTHM ACROSS BORDERS: TRAILBLAZING WOMEN OF CLASSICAL INDIAN DANCE IN THE USA: Join the Center for Arts, Migration and Entrepreneurship for a community seminar featuring three of the earliest founders of internationally recognized Bharata Natyam dance companies in the U.S. This event will celebrate the artists' journeys as scholars, performers and choreographers, showcasing their achievements as transformative contributors to the arts. Local dance school directors will join in a discussion on the invaluable role immigrants play in shaping and enriching the cultural fabric of our society. Guest speakers are Rathna Kumar, founder and director of Anjali Center for Performing Arts in Houston; Ranee Ramaswamy, founder and founding artistic director of Ragamala Dance Company in Minneapolis; and Hema Rajagopalan, founder and artistic director of Natya Dance Theatre in Chicago. Local guest artists will include Mathura Alladi, director of Jathiswara School of Dance and Music; and Vinata Vedam-Mai, director of Nrityakshetra school of Dance and Music. The free event begins at 6 p.m. Feb. 16 at UF Innovate, located at 747 SW Second Ave. Free parking will be available in the lot south of the building. Refreshments will be served. For more information, visit fb.me/e/XqIymHff.

FEB. 16 THROUGH FEB. 18

“NEXT TO NORMAL”: Get ready for an emotional rollercoaster ride with “Next to Normal,” the groundbreaking Tony Award-winning musical that explores the highs and lows of a modern-day family struggling with mental illness. With an electrifying rock score and heart-wrenching lyrics, this show will leave audiences on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Catch a performance at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, or 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Feb. 18 at the Hippodrome Theatre, 25 SE Second Place. Tickets are $25. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit thehipp.org.

FEB. 16 THROUGH FEB. 25

“BOEING, BOEING”: “Boeing, Boeing,” the 1960s French farce adapted for the English-speaking stage, features self-styled Parisian Lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German and American fiancées, each a beautiful airline hostess with frequent “layovers.” He keeps “one up, one down and one pending” until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris, and Bernard’s apartment, at the same time. See how it all unfolds at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays plus 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 25 at the High Springs Playhouse, 23416 NW 186 Ave. in High Springs. Tickets are $15 for general admission, and $10 for students and ages 65 and older. For more information, or to purchase tickets online, visit highspringsplayhouse.com.

FEB. 16 THROUGH APRIL 21

“ANTARCTIC DINOSAURS”: Step back in time and discover life beneath the ice in “Antarctic Dinosaurs.” Today, Antarctica is a forbidding land of snow and ice, but 200 million years ago it was a lush, wooded habitat where dinosaurs thrived. Uncover the history of the world’s southernmost continent and the unique species that have called it home in this interactive, family friendly experience at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Rare fossils, touchable casts and interactive models bring the past to life while showcasing Antarctica’s distinctive dinosaur species. Examine a reconstructed forest, and encounter the early plants and animals that flourished in the once-green environment. Experience the extraordinary work that goes into digging for fossils with real equipment and a recreated quarry. Learn about the important research taking place in this frigid landscape and how it informs future changes to the world’s climate. This is a bilingual exhibit available in English and Spanish. Tickets are $10 for adults; $9 for Florida residents, seniors and non-UF college students; $7 for ages 3-17; and free for ages 2 and younger, UF students and museum members. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. It is located at 3215 Hull Road. For more information, visit floridamuseum.ufl.edu or call 846-2000.

FEB. 18

SUNDAY ASSEMBLY: Sunday Assembly Gainesville will feature guest speaker Barbara Oberlander, a retired professor emerita of history at Santa Fe College. She presents talks about historical personages. The title of her talk will be “She’s in the Capital: Mary McLeod Bethune.” Music will be provided by Sunday Assembly musicians. Sunday Assembly Gainesville is a secular congregation that celebrates life at 11 a.m. the third Sunday of each month. The group will meet at the Pride Center located in the Springhill Professional Center,  3850 NW 83rd St., Suite 201. It also is possible to attend via zoom. Sunday Assembly Gainesville is a chapter of the Global Secular Sunday Assembly Movement. For more information, visit sagainesville.weebly.com or email SundayAssembly32601@gmail.com.

FEB. 22

“WINDS GO POP!”: The Santa Fe College Concert Band will entertain with some of America’s most popular tunes in the annual “Winds Go Pop!” concert at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in the Lyceum in Building E at the Northwest Campus, located at 3000 NW 83rd St. Admission is free, but tickets are required and may be obtained from the SF Box Office at 395-4181 or online at showpass.com/winds-go-pop-2. Highlights of the program include selections from “West Side Story,” with music by Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein’s score for this 1957 musical — which blends jazz, Latin rhythms and operatic performance techniques — is often considered to be his definitive musical composition. Bernstein is the subject of the recently released motion picture “Maestro.” Music by Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin and John Williams also is on the program. For more information about the concert and the SF bands, call 395-5313. For information about tickets, call the SF Box Office at 395-4181.

FEB. 24

DR. KEN SULAK: “FINDING FLORIDA: CROSSING THE SUWANNEE RIVER IN THE EARLY 1800S — EARLY FERRIES, BRIDGES, AND TRESTLES”: Settlers traveling in to Florida in the early to mid-1800s encountered a nearly trackless longleaf pine wilderness, and the necessity of crossing the Suwannee River or its tributaries — the Withlacoochee or Alapaha rivers. The history of settlers, pioneer families and river crossings is intertwined with the history of Florida. Join historian and fish biologist Dr. Ken Sulak as he shares about this fascinating piece of Florida’s past beginning at 4 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Matheson History Museum, 513 E. University Ave. Sulak is a research fish biologist retired in 2016 from the U.S. Geological Survey. He has a master’s and doctoral degree from the University of Miami School of Marine Science, and a bachelor's degree from Harvard University. He was director and senior fish biologist at the Atlantic Reference Center, Huntsman Marine Science Centre, New Brunswick, Canada, from 1985 to 1994. He has conducted international research as a NATO fellow in England, a U.S. National Academy exchange scientist to Russia, and chief scientist aboard a large number of oceanographic research cruises. Sulak has published extensively on marine fish community ecology and sturgeon life history and conservation. He has 50 years of experience researching fish ecology in coastal rivers, estuaries, and the deep-sea in the Atlantic, Arctic, East Pacific and Indian oceans. He spent the last 25 years as a fish ecologist for the USGS. His gulf sturgeon research filled critical gaps in knowledge of life history, population biology and habitat requirements in coastal rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, facilitating conservation of this species. Offshore research focused on deep-reef fish communities off the U.S. east coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, and on yellowfin tuna attracted to oil rigs. Sulak led four years of intensive USGS research on the impacts of the BP oil spill upon the Gulf of Mexico shelf-edge reef fish communities. He is a founding member of the North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society. For the past two decades, he also has paddled into the past, researching the history of North Florida early settlers, their river crossings and their impact on the Suwannee River ecosystem. A series of historical articles are being published, and public lectures continue to be presented on topics from ecological and early settler research. The event is free to the public, but registration is required at tinyurl.com/sulakinpersonreg for in-person participation or tinyurl.com/sulakzoomreg for online participation.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: What's Happening: 'Antarctic Dinosaurs,' 'Boeing, Boeing,' more