Night & Day Events

3 Thursday
Tonight and tomorrow night at the Lied Center, 15th and Crestline in Lawrence, the University Dance Company performs an impressive lineup of dance variations staged by five world-renowned choreographers. The program is so cosmopolitan that dance lovers might begin to wonder whether they made a wrong turn on the way, veering off to the East Coast by accident. Not that the Midwest doesn’t get its share of exciting dance performances, but this many new pieces by cutting-edge dance pioneers packed into one evening is almost unheard of in our region. Among the selections is Jerel Hilding’s Chacun a Son Gout, which translates as “each according to his or her taste,” a very liberal-sounding farcical dance about love and the myriad forms it takes. Other choreographers with works on the bill are Tom Ralabate, Joan Stone, Muriel Cohan and Patrick Suzeau. The show starts at 8 p.m. For more information, call 785-864-2787.

4 Friday
Subjectivity and relativity are our friends. These concepts make us modern and edified. And as far as words go, they’re fun to toss around. Still, few use them literally — which is what digital artists Jon Phillips, Scott Peters and Erik Beier have done with the title of their show, opening tonight at 7 at the Dirt Gallery, 1323 Union. “All of our work centers around a media that changes constantly,” Phillips explains. “We got together and just started throwing out words that related to our show; then we took all the words we could think of that deal with the topics we deal with, and they’ll be projected onto a screen at the entrance of the gallery, one after the other.” So while one person will enter what looks to be a show called Recycling USA, someone else will think the show is called Infusion. And because the work is always changing, to a certain extent these two people will see two different shows. These guys can toss around the word “subjectivity” as much as they want — they’ve earned it. Visitors to the exhibition may want to note that Phillips’ e-mail address indicates he has a reputation for being “nakedjon.” He’ll come to the event fully clothed, but if the show turns into a party, as artists hope will happen, who knows? For more information, call 816-471-3278.

5 Saturday
Now this is dope: a march for the legalization of the drug that smells sweet by any name (marijuana, pot, hemp). 2001: The Space Odyssey is part of a network of marches occurring in cities nationwide this weekend. According to the woman who answers the phone at It’s a Beautiful Day, the event was organized by Mo Hemp, which she describes as a “grassroots organization.” Anyone interested in the legalization of marijuana, or even just the enjoyment of marijuana regardless of its legal status, is invited to meet at Mill Creek Park by the J.C. Nichols Fountain, 47th and J.C. Nichols Parkway, at 10:30 a.m. Our informant says that once everyone is assembled — “so that’s around noon,” she explains — the group will walk to Southmoreland Park, which is about three blocks away at 47th and Oak. It may feel longer, though, depending on what you smoke beforehand. For more information, call 816-931-6169.

6 Sunday
Disc golf is a mysterious sport, indeed. Golf is played with clubs and hail-sized balls; Frisbee is played by sending discs that carry advertising logos through the air. The two sports are like oil and water, or so it seems. But disc golf successfully blends Frisbee and golf, and it claims surprising popularity among Kansas City’s outdoorsy crowd. Nonetheless, a lot of people have been left in the dark and don’t yet understand the hybrid sport, which is why the Kansas City Flying Disc Club is inviting anyone who wants to be in-the-know to play a round. KCFDC members will be on hand to help newcomers get started at the Water Works Park, 3314 N. Oak Trafficway, and at Prairie Center Park, 555 N. Olathe View Road, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A golf disc and a T-shirt come with the $12 registration fee. For more information, call 816-471-3472.

7 Monday
Times have changed. Meat-and-potato diets have given way to bean curd and okra. Mister Rogers (who used to while away the hours playing with model trains from the Land of Make Believe) does yoga. And not just regular yoga either. He does Yoganetics, and he endorses the practice wholeheartedly. “You should have seen me on the floor a few minutes ago,” he says, “listening to Wyatt and finding the most gentle positions possible! What a ministry she has. Brava!” Yoganetics founder Wyatt Townley, who created a discipline that emphasizes gentle movement from one position to another, urges Kansas Citians to befriend their bodies with a summer session that begins today. Classes are Mondays and Thursdays from 10 to 11 a.m. or 7 to 8 p.m. and continue through July 16. Intermediate courses also are available, with Townley’s permission only. The Yoganetics studio is at Unity Church, 10300 Antioch in Overland Park, and the cost is $9 a class for the full ten-week session. For more information, call 913-381-1984.

8 Tuesday
Alfred Jarry is best known for his 1896 play Ubu Roi, a hallucinatory satire on human greed and ignorance that later inspired dadaists and playwrights in the theater of the absurd. But, in addition to being a playwright, Jarry was a visual artist, and his substantial mark in the history of printmaking often is overlooked. Ubu’s Almanac: Alfred Jarry and the Graphic Arts is on view at the Spencer Museum of Art, 1301 Mississippi in Lawrence. The woodcuts Jarry created to ornament his own books are bold and exaggerated, and many have the humorous content of New Yorker cartoons. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. For more information, call 785-864-4710.

9 Wednesday
Dan Dye and Mark Beckloff, founders of the Three Dog Bakery, often praise Amazing Gracie, the dog that inspired them to open the local shop where pet owners can spoil their best friends with treats. For example, dogs can’t eat chocolate, so Three Dog Bakery makes carob confections. Dye and Beckloff talk at Barnes and Noble all the time, but today these guys speak at the Cathedral Center for Faith and Work at 416 W. 12th Street, which should bring a different meaning to the words “Amazing Gracie.” The talk and dinner (prepared with humans in mind, we assume) starts at 5:30 p.m. in the O’Hara Room, with a $10 admission fee. For more information or to make reservations, call 816-842-0416, ext. 120.