Why Now? Y Not?

A Night of Imagination (and exercise) with the Y and NSO

It’s January again, that time of the year marketed as full of promise and self-improvement – new year, new you! – but, in reality, it’s the height of our homebody season.

It’s that time of year we most want to stay at home, order in Thai food and dissect the episodes of Breaking Bad we missed while we were too busy fretting over the train wreck characters of Girls.

Here to save us from our self-imposed winter doldrums and couch paralysis is the YMCA of Metropolitan Washington. This Saturday, Glenn Donnellan of the National Symphony Orchestra will perform a free concert at the historic Twelfth Street Y building in Shaw.

This event is part of the NSO’s popular In Your Neighborhood series taking place all over Borderstan this month.  (See other concerts happening this weekend here, including performances at Shiloh Baptist Church, Lincoln Theatre, 9:30 Club and Whole Foods).

Donnellan will perform on his famous electric violin, fashioned out of a Louisville Slugger baseball bat (it sounds like an electric guitar). Guests will participate in group exercise demos, yoga, an obstacle course and create DIY trail mix. Kids and adults are welcome, but leave your winter blues (and your Walter White proclivities) at home.

The free concert also doubles as a preview for the much-anticipated launch of the new Anthony Bowen YMCA building at 14th and W Streets NW. Expected to open in March as part of the 14W residential and commercial project, it will feature fitness studios, state-of-the-art exercise equipment, a large indoor pool, camps and classes for kids and adults, child care, rock climbing, cooking demos, poetry readings, movie nights and a Sweetgreen!

Celebrating 160 years in DC, the Y is confident the massive new facility will become a “hub for healthy living” as well as an integral part of the diverse options for social and recreational fun in the community. The author humbly suggests group screenings of Downton Abbey and Veep, for starters.

While you’re at it on Saturday, get a little history with your exercise: the Twelfth Street Y building is the 100-year-old home of the first YMCA chapter for African-Americans in the country, which was founded in 1853 by Anthony Bowen. The building was designed by William Sidney Pittman, son-in-law of Booker T. Washington and one of the nation’s first African-American architects. It is now home to the Thurgood Marshall Center.

Details:

• What: A Night of Imagination with the Y and NSO
• When: Saturday, January 12 5 to 8pm
• With: Glenn Donnellan of the National Symphony Orchestra 6 to 7:30pm
• Where: Thurgood Marshall Center, 1816 12th Street NW

FREE but register here.

Get an RSS Feed for all Borderstan stories or subscribe to Borderstan’s daily email newsletter.