To have community events listed free in The Potomac Almanac, send e-mail to almanac@connectionnewspapers.com. Deadline is Thursday at noon for the following week’s paper. Photos and artwork encouraged. Call 703-778-9412.
<cal1>Ongoing
<cal2>Senior Tech. Computer and exercise classes for basic to advanced computer skills. At the Jewish Council for the Aging, Bethesda Vital Living Center, 4805 Edgmoor Lane, 2nd floor. For ages 65-plus. Cost is $10 to $65. Call 240-395-0915.
Montgomery County is recruiting talented adults 55-plus for its Montgomery’s Got Talent! competition. Singers, comedians, dancers, musicians, actors, and storytellers welcome. Preliminary competitions will take place at community and senior centers throughout the County in April and May. Winners will advance to the Montgomery's Got Talent! finals at an area performing arts venue on May 22. Proceeds from the contest and finals will benefit Haitian seniors. For a registration form, call 240-777-4925. Registration deadline is March 31.
<cal1>Now Through March 21
<cal2>"Peter and the Wolf." At Imagination Stage. Performances on Saturdays and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. 4 p.m. Some Saturday 11 a.m. performances as well. Tickets from $10-$21. Visit http://www.imaginationstage.org.
<cal1>Now Through March 24
<cal2>"Connecting With God: An Exploration of Prayer." St James’ five-week Lenten prayer study program. Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, Feb. 21-March 24. Sunday mornings, 10:15 a.m.: a 45-minute session with special sessions/ breakouts for young children through high school age. Sessions take place in the church undercroft (lower level) Tuesday mornings, 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. , church undercroft Wednesday evenings, 7:30 –9 p.m., St. James’ Parish Hall. At St. James' Episcopal Church, 11815 Seven Locks Road, Potomac. Call 301-762-8040 or visit office@stjamespotomac.org.
<cal1>Thursday/March 11
<cal2>Mission to Haiti Talk. 8:15 p.m. Free. Dr. Mitchell J. Schwaber, directo4r of the National Center for Infection Control of the Israel Ministry of Health, will be talking about his experiences as a member of he IDF medical mission to Haiti. At Beth Sholom Congregation, 11825 Seven Locks Road, Potomac. Call 301-279-7010.
Blues Dance. 8:15-11:30 p.m. Cost is $8. Rotating DJs and instructors. Beginner workshop from 8:15 to 9 p.m. Dancing from 9 to 11:30 p.m. At the Ballroom Annex of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: info@capitalblues.org.
<cal1>Friday/March 12
<cal2>Children's Performance. 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. Rocknoceros and The Great Zucchini perform together. At the Children's Learning Center, 4511 Bestor Drive, in Rockville. Call Catherine Bise at 202-330-2386.
Contra Dance. 7:30 - 11:30 p.m. Cost is $9. Contra dancing as well as some square dances and waltzes. Contra dance lesson from 7:30-8:15 p.m. Called dance to live music by the Glen Echo Open Band from 8:30-11:30 p.m. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: fndcontra@yahoo.com.
Super Fiesta Latina Party. 8:15 p.m. to midnight. Cost is $15. Lesson from 8:15 to 9 p.m. for Salsa beginners and up. Dancing from 9 p.m. to midnight with teacher and DJ Fabio Bonini playing the best of Salsa, Bachata, Merengue, Cha-Cha, Reggaeton and more. At the Ballroom Annex of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: Jennifer@ForeverDancing.com
The Celtic Tenors. 9 p.m. Tickets $28-$65. At the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Visit www.strathmore.org or call 301-581-5100.
Mambo Sauce. 8 p.m. Tickets are $10/advance, $12/door. At the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Visit www.strathmore.org or call 301-581-5100.
<cal1>Saturday/March 13
<cal2>Celebrate Baba Marta (Grandma March). 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. $5 donation. Custom from Balkan folklore that reminds spring is near. Woman's vocal ensemble Slaveya & Lyuti Chuski performs at Glen Echo Town Hall, 6106 Harvard Ave., Glen Echo. Contact Betsy at glen.echo@erols.com, or 301-717-4641.
Solo Organ Recital. 7:30 p.m. Music will include pieces by Jehan Alain, J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, Jean Guillou, Max Reger, Robert Schumann, Ad Wammes, and Charles-Marie Widor. A free-will offering will be collected to benefit Bethesda Cares, Inc., an organization helping the needy in Montgomery County. At Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church, 6601 Bradley Blvd., Bethesda. Call 301-365-2850 or visit www.bradleyhillschurch.org.
Songwriters' Concert. 7:30 p.m. Featuring singer-songwriters Victoria Vox, Cathy Fink, and Kevin Dudley. Admission: $15. At 4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda. Visit www.writer.org or call 301-654-8664.
Used Book Sale. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Most hardback books and large paperback books are $1 and regular paperback books are $.50. At the Potomac Library, 10101 Glenholden Drive, Potomac.
Swing Dance. 8 p.m. to midnight. Beginner lesson at 8 p.m. Swing dance to live music from 9 p.m. to midnight. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: huh@thejamcellar.com.
<cal1>Sunday/March 14
<cal2>Ambience of the Mediterranean. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Affordable Israeli Art Show and Sale with works by artists Ilan Hasson and Avi Biran. Ilan's artistic themes are based on Jewish subjects from the Torah, Talmud, Passover Haggada, Kabbalah, and landscapes of Israel. Avi has produced a large array of Judaica using a broad variety of materials. At Magen David Sephardic Congregation, 11215 Woodglen Drive, Rockville. Visit www.mdscbe.org or call 301-770-6818.
Slow Blues and Swing Dance. 7-11 p.m. Cost is $8/dance only, $14/lesson and dance. Live music. Blues lesson from 7-8:30 p.m. with instructors Donna Barker and Mike Marcotte. Dancing from 8:30-11 p.m. At the Ballroom Annex of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: dbarker@glenechopark.org
Contra and Square Dance. 7-10:30 p.m. Cost is $12/nonmembers, $9/members. Traditional American dancing with a focus on New England style contra dances, including square dances, country mixers, waltzes and couples dances. Newcomers' lesson at 7 p.m., followed by a called dance by Eva Murray to Taylor Among the Devils from 7:30-10:30 p.m. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: www.fsgw.org
Zydeco Dance. 3-6 p.m. Admission is $15. Introductory dance lesson from 3-3:30 p.m. Followed by dancing to River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs from 3:30-6 p.m. At the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: Dancingbythebayou@verizon.net
Frog and Toad. 1 p.m. At the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda.
<cal1>Monday/March 15
<cal2>Patrick Street. 8 p.m. Tickets are $25/advance, $30/door. At the Kreeger auditorium, Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, 6125 Montrose Road, Rockville. Call 301-754-3611 and visit www.imtfolk.org
The President's Own. 8 p.m. U.S. Marine Band presents "Beware the Ides of March: The Force of Destiny." Col. Michael J. Colburn conducting. Free but tickets required. Free tickets. At the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda.
<cal1>Wednesday/March 17
<cal2>Doris Bitler Discussion. 7 p.m. This professor of psychology at George Mason University will discuss the history and traditions of the spring season at the Davis Library, 6400 Democracy Blvd., Bethesda. Call 240-773-0922.
<cal1>Thursday/March 18
<cal2>Blues Dance. 8:15 to 11:30 p.m. Admission is $8. Rotating DJs and instructors. Beginning workshop from 8:15 to 9 p.m. Dancing from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. At the Ballroom Annex of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: info@capitalblues.org
<cal1>Friday/March 19
<cal2>Story/Stereo with Kathleen Flenniken and Anthony Varallo. 8 p.m. Story/Stereo welcomes visiting emerging writer fellows Kathleen Flenniken (Famous) and Anthony Varallo (Out Loud). Musical guest: More Humans. Visit www.writer.org or call 301-654-8664.
Contra Dance. 7:30-11:30 p.m. Admission is $9. Contra dancing as well as some square dances and waltzes. Contra dance lesson from 7:30-8:15 p.m. Called dance to live music by Laura and the Lava Lamps from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Email: fndcontra@yahoo.com.
La Divina Milonga Party. 8:30 to midnight. Cost is $15. Lesson for Argentine Tango beginners and up from 8:30 to 9 p.m. Dance Party to recorded music from 9 p.m. to midnight with Teacher and DJ Fabio Bonini, playing Traditional Tango, Milongas, Waltz and Tango Nuevo. At the Ballroom Annex of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: Jennifer@foreverdancing.com
<cal1>Saturday/March 20
<cal2>Swing Dance. 8 p.m. to midnight. Admission is $15. The SingCo Rhythm Orchestra (SRO) specializes in the hot jazz of the late 1920s, the romantic and swingy 1930's and the Benny Goodman/Tommy Dorsey/Glenn Miller "High Swing" of the 1940s. Beginner swing lesson with Tom and Debra at 8 p.m. is followed by the band from 9 p.m. to midnight. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: www.americanswing.org
Gan Shabbatt. 11 a.m. An interactive Saturday morning service for young children and their families. Members and non-members welcome. At Congregation Har Shalom, 11510 Falls Road, Potomac.
Washington Conservatory of Music Concert. 8 p.m. Free. Ronn McFarlane, lute and Ayreheart, and Haskell Small, piano. At Glen Echo Park, South Arcade Building, 7300 MacArthur Blvd. In Glen Echo. Call 301-320-2770 or visit www.washingtonconservatory.org.
Writing the Future: A One-Day Conference. 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Join Nick Bilton, Lee Gutkind, Tom Shroder, Jay Ogilvy, Richard Nash, and more to learn how the changes in publishing will affect writers. Following the program will be a reception for Creative Nonfiction from 5-7 p.m. Admission: $90. Fee includes one-year subscription to Creative Nonfiction and one-year membership to The Writer’s Center. Co-sponsored by The Creative Nonfiction Foundation and Arizona State University’s Consortium for Science, Policy & Outcomes, and The Writer’s Center. Details: www.writer.org or call 301-654-8664.
<cal1>March 20-21
<cal2>All-Brahms Concert. Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m. Violinist Chee-Yun Aquasmile will perform Brahms’s Violin Concerto in an All Brahms program with the National Philharmonic, conducted by Piotr Gajewski. The program will also include Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5 and Symphony No. 2. At the Music Center at Strathmore. To purchase tickets visit nationalphilharmonic.org or call the Strathmore Box Office at 301-581-5100. Tickets are $29-$79; kids 7-17 are free.
<cal1>Sunday/March 21
<cal2>Bach Marathon. 2-7 p.m. Free. Ten organists will play on the three manual, 2516 pipe tracker organ built in 1975 and installed in 1976 by the Rieger organ building company of Austria. Each organist will present a half hour program. The organists will be Kenneth Lowenberg, Sonya Sutton, Vicki Shields, Gi Young Kim, Jim Walton, Kyle Babin, Carol Feather Martin, Riyehee Hong, Tom Smith and Julie Evens. Presented by Chevy Chase Concerts. At The Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, One Chevy Chase Circle, N.W., Washington, D.C. Call 202-363-2202.
Scrabble Scramble. 6-9 p.m. Hosted by the Literary Council of Montgomery County to raise money for the adult literacy programs. Tickets are $200 for a table of four, and proceeds go directly to the Literacy Council. At the Bolger Center, 9600 Newbridge Drive, Potomac. Contact Pam Saussy at 301-610-0030 or info@literacycouncilmcmd.org.
Waltz Dance. 3-6 p.m. Cost is $8. Beginning lesson from 3-3:30 p.m. followed by afternoon waltzes and other couples dances. Dancing from 3:30 to 6 p.m. to the music of Laura and the Lava Lamps. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: info@waltztimedances.org.
Contra and Square Dance. 7-10:30 p.m. Cost is $12/nonmembers, $9/members. Traditional American contra dancing, which includes square dances, mixers, waltzes and other couple dances. Lesson at 7 p.m. followed by dances called by Beth Molaro to Laura and the Lava Lamps from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. At the Spanish Ballroom of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: www.fsgw.org.
Open House. Noon-2 p.m. Free. Join Writer’s Center staff, workshop leaders, and members at The Writer’s Center’s spring open House. Details: www.writer.org or call 301-654-8664.
33rd Birthday Celebration with Pagan Kennedy and Carolyn Forche. 2 to 4 p.m. Following the Open House, "alum" Pagan Kennedy joins Carolyn Forche for a reading and celebration. Admission: $20. Buy two tickets to the birthday reading and get one free membership to The Writer’s Center. Details: www.writer.org or call 301-654-8664.
<cal1>Monday/March 22
<cal2>John Jorgenson Quintet. 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20/advance, $25/door. At IMT at Saint Mark Presbyterian Church, 10701 Old Georgetown Road, Rockville. Call 301-754-3611 and visit www.imtfolk.org.
<cal1>March 23 to May 11
<cal2>Free Chinese Language Classes. Eight-week series of free Chinese (Mandarin) language classes will be offered in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at the University of Maryland (CIM), at the Potomac Library each Tuesday from 10 a.m. to Noon. The series is limited to 15 participants, first-come first-served. The library is located at 10101 Glenolden Dr. Contact Ritchie Kwan or Rebecca McGinnis at CIM, 301-405-0213, or email r.k.kwan@gmail.com, or rmcginni@umd.edu.
<cal1>Tuesday/March 23
<cal2>Afternoon Tea. 1 p.m. With Becky Dukes, piano. Pre-paid reservations required, $21. At the Mansion at Strathmore. At the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5108.
Singer-songwriter Chuck Pyle. 8 p.m. At the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville, 100 Welsh Park Dr., Rockville. Tickets are $18/door, $15/advance at FocusMusic.org. Contact David Spitzer at focusrockville@earthlink.net or 301-275-7459
<cal1>Wednesday/March 24
<cal2>Artist in Residence. 7:30 p.m. With Ari Allal, bassoon. Tickets $12. At the Mansion at Strathmore. At the Mansion at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5108.
Afternoon Tea. 1 p.m. With Carol Rose Duane, harp. Pre-paid reservations required, $21. At the Mansion at Strathmore. At the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5108.
<cal1>Thursday/March 25
<cal2>Naomi Kudo, Piano. 7:30 p.m. At the Mansion at Strathmore. Tickets are $28. At the Mansion at Strathmore, Music Room, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5100 or www.strathmore.org.
Blues Dances. 8:15 to 11:30 p.m. Cost is $8. Rotating DJs and instructors. Beginner workshop runs from 8:15 to 9 p.m. Dancing from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. At the Ballroom Annex of Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: info@capitalblues.org.
<cal1>Friday/March 26
<cal2>Friday Night Eclectic: US Royalty ft. DJ Will Eastman. 9 p.m. Tickets $10/advance, $12/door. At the Mansion at Strathmore, Shapiro Music Room, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5100 or www.strathmore.org.
Vladimir Feltsman, Piano. 8 p.m. Tickets $52-$77. At the Music Center at Strathmore, Concert Hall, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5100 or www.strathmore.org.
Zydeco Dance. 8 p.m. to midnight. Admission is $20. Zydeco dance featuring Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas. Includes an introductory Zydeco dance lesson with Michael and Sharon at 8 p.m. followed by dancing from 9 p.m. Midnight to live music. At the Bumper Car Pavilion at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: Dancingbythebayou@verizon.net.
Contra Dance. 7:30-11:30 p.m. Cost is $9. Contra dancing as well as some square dances and waltzes. Contra dance lesson from 7:30-8:15 p.m. Called dance to Taylor Among the Devils live music from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m. At the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo. Contact: fndcontra@yahoo.com.