Must List: Ballard Brewed Spring Beer Festival, MoPop Pop Conference, Dance Day

Your weekly guide to Seattle's hottest events

By Lena Beck, Gavin Borchert & Sydney Gladu April 11, 2019

Close up color image depicting a group of people celebrating with a toast. The people cheers their glasses of beer (pints of beer) together in a gesture of celebration, togetherness and happiness. The people are defocused in the background, while focus is on the glasses of beer in the foreground. Room for copy space.

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MUST LOVE BEER

Ballard Brewed Spring Beer Festival
(4/13) April showers call for beer and the Ballard Spring Beer Festival has got you covered. In addition to the tried-and-true ales, keep your eyes peeled for 11 new releases from breweries including Bad Jimmy’s, Peddler and Stoup. Make sure to grab a slice from Big Mario’s Pizza in between rounds and enjoy tunes from The Tall Boys and Honey Mustard Music. Times and prices vary. Hale’s Palladium in Ballard, 4301 Leary Ave NW; Facebook event page

MUST DANCE

Dance Day at Century Ballroom
(4/13) Have you ever wanted to learn tango, salsa, West Coast swing, tap, bachata, kizomba, waltz, lindy or shim sham? Now is your chance to learn all these dances in just one day. Head over to the Century Ballroom for a day long workshop in all the above. Don’t forget to arrive early and get a mimosa or Bloody Mary and a pastry at the onsite Tin Table restaurant. 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. $15. Century Ballroom, The Central District, 915 E Pike; 206.324.7263; centuryballroom.com

MUST LISTEN

MoPop Pop conference
(4/11-4/14) A music geek’s dream, the Museum of Pop Culture’s (MoPop) annual conference is a time for fans and professionals to spend a few days analyzing how music related to intellectual subject. Jason King with give the keynote on this year’s theme, “Only You and Your Ghost Will Know: Music, Death and Afterlife.” Expect to hear from Ann Powers, Ishmael Butler, Steve Perry and more on everything from a musician’s artistic legacy to songs about death. 10 a.m.–5p.m. Prices vary. MoPop, Seattle Center, 325 Fifth Ave. N; 206.770.2700; mopop.org

MUST SEE

Pacific Northwest Ballet: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(4/12–4/21) Four enchanted lovers combine and recombine, the fairy king and queen quarrel over a favorite, a (very) amateur theater troupe tries to put on a show: just another day in Shakespeare’s magic forest, as brought to life through George Balanchine’s choreography. The elfin score, taken from Felix Mendelssohn’s incidental music and a number of his overtures, is possibly the greatest ballet music never intended for a ballet. Times and prices vary. McCaw Hall, Seattle Center, 321 Mercer St.; 206.441.2424; pnb.org

MUST READ

Seattle Reads with Thi Bui
(4/13-4/16) Author Thi Bui, who came to America from Vietnam in 1978, visits Seattle as part of the 21st annual Seattle Reads event. Her featured book, The Best We Could Do (2017), is a family memoir in graphic-novel form that addresses the timely topic of immigration and refugees, the horrors of the war and the struggles of assimilation. As The Comics Journal puts it, “Bui depicts, with unsparing candor, the multiple traumas associated with being forced out of one’s country into the unknown.” Times and locations vary. Free. spl.org