DC jump starts 2023 with a month full of awesome things to do. Residents and locals looking to embrace the best of winter can head to any number of ice skating rinks and warm up with hot chocolate and seasonal cocktails. The winter edition of Restaurant Week returns this month, celebrate the Lunar New Year at the annual Chinese New Year parade and other celebrations, celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday with special tributes, partake at the Fire and Ice Festival, and more! Check out our guide to the most awesome and unexpected events coming to DC this January. Legend:
Meet the new zoo additions. The Smithsonian National Zoo two new female Asian elephants, 19-year-old Trong Nhi (trong-nEE) and her daughter, 9-year-old Nhi Linh (nEE-lin), that are now on public view. Visitors are most likely to see them in the Elephant Community Center or outdoors exploring their habitat from 10 a.m. to noon daily. 🆓 Ongoing Entertainment nation. Walk the red-carpet entryway to a yellow brick road and immerse yourself in the new “Entertainment Nation”/“Nación del espectáculo,” exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. The exhibit tells the nation’s story as told through the power and influence of theater, television, film, music and sports through approximately 200 objects from culture makers such as Star Wars’ C-3PO and R2-D2, the Wizard of Oz' Ruby Slippers and the charm of the first Muppets. 🆓 Ongoing Obama portraits. They're back! The Obama portraits are back on view at National Portrait Gallery following their seven-city tour earlierin 2022. Visit Barack Obama's portrait by Kehinde Wiley on the 2nd floor and Michelle Obama's portrait by Amy Sherald on the 3rd floor. 🆓 Ongoing Seeing is not believing. Be among the first to visit the Museum of Illusions, DC's newest museum, designed to amuse, amaze, and stimulate the senses. It features more than 50 unique visual and educational installations that are perfectly Instagram-ready. 💲🎟 Ongoing Ice, ice baby. There's just something about this time year that makes you want to recreate the ice skating scene from the Charlie Brown holiday movie. Luckily, there are plenty of places around DC to lace up your skates and get out on the ice, even if your triple lutz needs work. Ongoing Basilica concert. Enjoy the musical sounds of the bells in a community recital of classical melodies and beloved hymns performed from the soaring Knights' Tower at the Basilica. 🆓 Jan 1 National Cathedral bell ringing. Members of the Washington Ringing Society will attempt a full peal on the Cathedral's 10-bell ring following the 11:15am service. If the peal attempt is successful, the ringing will last between 3 and 3.5 hours, or 5,040 changes, from start to finish. 🆓 Jan 1 Movie night at the library. The DC Public Library hosts screenings of recent and classic movies throughout the month. Titles include: Till, Selma and The System. 🆓 Jan 3, 1o, 24 + 31 Jazzy Colors. Join an adult coloring session, while listening to smooth jazz. 🆓 Jan 4 Phillips After 5. Celebrate the start of the new year with an after-hours, art night at the Phillips Collection. The night features live music, snacks and drinks, art activities, and a special exhibition straight from Italy, An Italian Impressionist in Paris: Giuseppe De Nittis, 💲🎟 Jan 5 Thursday Night Comedy. Get ready for a night of improv and sketch comedy featuring 'Lena Dunham' Presents: Your Black Friend, The TikTok Show, and Who Did It? An improvised murder mystery show. 💲🎟Jan 5 French film screening. Filmfest DC curates C'est la vie!, French selections from their DC International Film Festival that will screen at the French embassy. The series starts with The Intouchables. Max Angely (Jean-Pierre Bacri, The Taste of Others) is an aging, beleaguered caterer who hopes to sell his business any day now. But first, he has to get through one last minefield of a dinner party, a high-profile wedding at a seventeenth-century French chateau just outside of Paris. And if anything can go wrong, everything will go wrong. 💲🎟 Jan 6 In the round. The audience surrounds the stage, providing you a new perspective to enjoy an evening of dance and live music for Chant: In The Round which features three ballet, seven dancers and ten musicians. 💲🎟 Jan 7 Tea + cocktails. Learn to make your own signature cocktails infused with tea. You'll be guided You'll be guided through 3 cocktails shown how to muddle, mix and shake your own cocktails. You'll leave with 2 cocktails recipes and a recommended pairing. 💲🎟 Jan 7 Extraordinary Cinema: Sidney. Attend a screening of a documentary from producer Oprah Winfey honoring the legendary Sidney Poitier and his legacy as an iconic actor, filmmaker, and activist at the center of both Hollywood and the Civil Rights Movement. Online advance reservations for a given performance date will open on a rolling basis, opening every Wednesday two weeks out from the date. 🆓 Jan 8 Indian brunch. Join food writer Varu Chilakamarri in the Hill Center kitchen for a few easy shortcuts for making an Indian-inspired brunch. Try your hand at swirling dosas and sip on mimosas while you enjoy a delicious feast. 💲🎟 Jan 8 Rodney "Darkchild" Jenkins celebration. This month, the R&B Club (think of it as a musical book club) celebrates music writer and producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins. Since the mid-1990s, Jerkins has written and produced for the likes of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Janet Jackson, Destiny's Child, Beyoncé on her own, Monica, Brandy, Ray J, Tamia, and many more. You know it's his music when you hea "Darkchild" whispered at the start of numerous R&B songs over the past 25-plus years. Tickets include a mimosa, coffee or soda!💲🎟 Jan 8 New Jack Swing party. Re-live the New Jack Swing era at this dance party with the best 80s and 90s tunes, plus try your skills at Songbyryd's popular Sing or Drink card game, where crowd members are forced to either get the lyrics right or take a shot! Jan 8 Spectacular art immersion. A magical Christmas wonderland comes to life at "Spectacular Factory," the latest immersive art experience at Artechouse (check out our sneak peek!). Traverse immersive digital multiverses filled with dreamlike yet familiar holiday themes, from floating giant swinging bells to thousands of nutcrackers, thrilling train rides through wreaths, spinning candy cane carousels and more. Now - ends Jan 8 RBG before she was "notorious." Profs and Pints DC takes a look at the early life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and how she got women into the U.S. Constitution, with Philippa Strum, former director of U.S. Studies at the Woodrow Wilson Center, longtime interviewer of Justice Ginsburg, and author of several award-winning books on the U.S. Supreme Court, constitutional law, and women and politics. 💲🎟 Jan 9 Rosa Parks beyond the bus. Learn about the life, lessons, and leadership of Rosa Parks from author H.H. Leonards as she discusses her new book, a collection of inspiring and instructive memories compiled from the decade that Mrs. Parks was a guest in H.H. Leonard’s Washington, DC home. (O Street Mansion). 🆓 Jan 9 Golden Haiku. If you're a poet and want everyone to know it, submit a haiku to Golden Triangle BID's 10th annual Golden Haiku poetry contest. Submissions are reviewed by an expert panel of judges; winning poets receive prizes, and winning haiku are displayed on colorful street signs in the tree boxes lining the streets of the Golden Triangle neighborhood. 🆓 Jan 9 - Feb 5 Artist in conversation. Artist Katharina Cibulka, whose artwork “SOLANGE” currently decorates the National Museum of Women in the Art's façade, joins the museum to discuss her work. Registration required 🆓 Jan 10 Firsts and lasts. As one year ends and a new one begins, Story District wants to hear stories behind your firsts and lasts. Share your first kisses, break ups, new jobs, last chances and the like for a chance to perform it live on stage.💲🎟Jan 10 Two Jews Walk Into a War. What would Judaism look like if there were only two Jews left in the world? And what if those Jews were two men who were stranded in Kabul? That is the premise of “Two Jews Walk Into a War,” playwright Seth Rozin’s nod to vaudeville and Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple.” Jan 11 - Feb 5 Language lessons. In English, the latest play from Studio Theatre, four Iranians and their language teacher are studying for the Test of English as a Foreign Language, the key to their green card, medical school admission, or family reunification. Playing out in awkward lessons of word games and mistranslation, English is both a comedy of miscommunication and a look at the ways speaking a new language can expand your world and change your voice. 💲🎟 Jan 11 - Feb 12 Evening at the Embassy of China. Transport yourself around the world for a visit to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China for an authentic Chinese dinner prepared by the embassy chef, diplomatic greetings from Embassy staff, and a chance to view historic paintings, pictures, and artifacts that will be on display. 💲🎟 Jan 12 Sacred Harry Potter. In this live event, the "Harry Potter and the Sacred Text" podcast uses Harry Potter, the best-selling series of all time, to ask life’s big questions. 💲🎟 Jan 12 Roosevelt Island hike. Lace up for a two-hour guided hike of Roosevelt Island and enjoy beautiful views of the Potomac River. 🆓 Jan 13 The R & B experience. Started by a collective of R&B enthusiasts, The Set: A R & B Experience is a social experience that features multiple DJs with an energetic and enthusiastic crowd with one thing in common...a love for R&B. 💲🎟 Jan 13 Ride the Cyclone. In this quirky, edgy cult musical, the lives of six teen chamber choir singers are cut short in a freak roller coaster accident. Stuck in the afterlife, a mechanical fortuneteller gives them a chance to sing their way back to earth. 💲🎟 Jan 13 - Feb 19 Feminist art tour. Take a tour of the National Gallery of Art designed to show you a different narrative by focusing on paintings made by women or of women. It focuses on fascinating tales of women in the museum across various periods of art history. 💲🎟Jan 14 Drunk Shakespeare. Guests enter to find a glam cocktail bar and library with over 10,000 books. Five classically-trained actors meet as members of "The Drunk Shakespeare Society". One of them has at least 5 shots of whiskey and then they (quite over-confidently) attempt to perform a major role in a Shakespearean play! Hilarity and mayhem ensues while the four sober actors try and keep the script on track. Every show is different depending on who is drinking... and what they're drinking! 💲🎟 Ends Jan 15 Yoga + Sound Bath. Join the National Building Museum for an all-level yoga flow session, followed by a restorative sound bath led by Mel of Beyond Yoga, a yoga teacher certified in crystal alchemy sound healing. 💲🎟Jan 15 Martin Luther King birthday tribute. Folger Shakespeare Library hosts, Not Another Day Off, readings in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day that combines poetry with historical speeches from Dr. King, Gandhi, Frederick Douglass, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, and others. 🆓 Jan 16 MLK parade and peace walk. Across the nation and the world, Dr. King’s life and legacy is commemorated by a day of service and promoted as A Day On and Not a Day Off. Started in 1979, the Annual MLK Holiday DC Peace Walk & Parade, The Martin Luther King Jr. Parade symbolizes the need to continue Dr. King’s work and reinforces the idea reflected in his words, “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals." The parade ending point is by Anacostia Park, located south of Capitol Hill, where the MLK Holiday DC Hopeful Healing Health and Wellness Fair will be held. If you’re looking for meaningful things to do in DC in the winter, you can’t go wrong here. 🆓 Jan 16 Let Freedom ring. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Georgetown University celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a musical tribute, the Let Freedom Ring Celebration. The annual program, , features Leslie Odom Jr. and the Let Freedom Ring Choir. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the Hall of Nations box office, beginning at 4:30 p.m. 🆓👤💻 Jan 16 Winter Restaurant Week. If you didn't eat enough over the holidays, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington’s annual celebration of DC's dining scene is here to tempt your tummy with specially priced meals for brunch, lunch and dinner, including to-go options and cocktail and wine pairings. Dig in and plan your culinary excursion in DC. 💲Jan 16 - 22 Yoga in the gallery. In conjunction with their exhibit Experiencing Tranquility through Japanese Art, the Japan Information & Culture Center and the Embassy of Japan, are hosting an in-chair yoga class in the Kundalini yoga tradition to aid the participant in overcoming the stresses of everyday life. 🆓Starts Jan 17 Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves. Fifteen years ago, feminist artist group Guerilla Girls calling attention to the lack of women represented at art museums in the nation’s capital. Now, these museums are all led by women. Join Hirshhorn director Melissa Chiu, National Gallery of Art director Kaywin Feldman, National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet, and Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery director Stephanie Stebich as they explore the responsibilities of museums in the 21st century. 🆓 Jan 19 Almost President's Day Improv. A constituency of the DMV area’s best comedians go toe-to-toe in character as those who were almost President at DC Improv. Featuring Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders, Kanye West, and others in epic roast battles. Roastmaster Al Gore will host with Barack Obama and Donald Trump standing by as judges. Proceeds will benefit the Capital Area Food Bank. 💲🎟 Jan 19 Glow + flow. GLOW while you FLOW during a fun-filled evening of glow-in-the-dark fitness and fun, hosted by CorePower Yoga of Georgetown. 💲🎟 Jan 19 Shakespeare festival. Fans of the Bard, check out The Reading Room, a new play festival featuring works inspired by, in response to, or in conversation with the plays of William Shakespeare. Each reading will be followed by a moderated conversation with the playwrights and directors and questions from the audience. 💲🎟Jan 19 - 21 Latte art. In this hands-on class, you'll learn the mechanics of steaming milk, how to work with alternative milk, and how to pour the basic latte art designs. Plus, all the lattes and cappuccinos you can drink. 💲🎟 Jan 20 Lunar New Year. Celebrate the traditional holiday that is observed in countries and territories around the globe at Kennedy Center. The “Year of the Rabbit” will be honored with a special program that highlights Chinese Culture. In collaboration with The Rose Group for Cross-Cultural Understanding and the Chinese American Museum in Washington, D.C. Online advance reservations for a given performance date will open on a rolling basis, opening every Wednesday two weeks out from the date. 🆓 Jan 21 Lunar New Year Cooking Demo. Celebrate the Year of the Rabbit with a special cooking demonstration hosted by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art. Award-winning DC chefs and culinary trailblazers Danny Lee and Scott Drewno will reflect on family traditions with holiday-inspired Korean and Chinese cooking demonstrations, and provide expertise on the modern cooking techniques you can use to recreate the dishes yourself at home. 🆓 Jan 21 Drink the District. Wine lovers, this event is for you! Enjoy unlimited sampling of 50+ wines at the Drink the District - Winter Wine Festival. Plus enjoy learning how to sip like a pro, shop an artisan market featuring local DC small businesses, and groove to live music and entertainment throughout the venue. 💲🎟 Jan 21 Fire and ice. Visit the Wharf for the third annual "Fire and Ice" festival and enjoy a DJ, whiskey sampling stations, fire twirlers, and an ice sculptor. Plus the day wouldn’t be complete without s’mores by the firepit! The event is free and open to the public, must be 21+ to consume alcohol. Sampling tickets will be sold on-site. 🆓 Jan 21 Chinese New Year parade. There will be various events to celebrate the Chinese New Year but the Annual Chinese Lunar New Year Parade in Chinatown is the one event you don't want to miss. 🆓 Jan 22 Get your GLOW on. It's back! GLOW, Georgetown's annual outdoor public light art experience returns for the holiday season. Set against the historic backdrop of DC’s oldest neighborhood, it’s a whole new way to shine. 🆓Now - ends Jan 22 Trivia under the stars. Test your knowledge of everything from sports to pop culture and politics inside Wunder Garten’s heated pavilion. Fire pits, hot drinks, and even hotter competition will keep you warm. Form teams up to seven people. Coming solo? Sit at the mix & match table to meet new people and share your brainpower. 💲🎟Jan 24 Karaoke and hot cocoa. Join metrobar to sing your favorite songs while enjoying firepits, heaters, and hot drinks. Sing along with the crowd or show off your star quality on the mic! 🆓 Jan 24 Radiohead by candlelight. Experience the music of Radiohead like you've never heard it before--under the gentle glow of candlelight. Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations like never seen before in DC. 💲🎟 Jan 25 Art deco in America. Before the opening of the famous Paris Exposition in 1925 that solidified Art Deco, the roots of the style were already planted in the United States by French designer Edgard Sforzina. This exhibition shares just a few of the hundreds of designs that Sforzina created during his nearly 20-year career in the United States. 🆓 Ends Jan 25 Spies like us. Do you have what it takes to be a spy? Now’s your chance to find out! Families are invited to try out their spycraft skills at Spy Museum's annual Spy Fest! Learn tradecraft from experts in the field and participate in spy skill challenges that will give an insider’s peek into the shadow world of spying. 💲🎟 Jan 27 Broadway rave. Calling all musical theatre fans! Get ready to dance and sing at a traveling dance party celebrating musical theatre with tunes from Hamilton, Wicked, Rent, Hairspray Les Mis and more! 💲🎟 Jan 27 Indigenous Games. Learn about Native American history and culture by playing games. Jeremy Red Eagle (Sisseton Wahpeton) from the International Traditional Games Society, Julia Garcia (Aymara), and members of the Native Hawaiian school Hālau O‘Aulani, share Indigenous games from the Great Plains, Bolivia, and Hawai’i. 🆓 Jan 28 Hungry hippos. Back by popular demand, Hungry Human Hippos, your favorite childhood board game is coming in full size on ice! The game is more badass in real life, because you’re the hippo1 (Not literally.) You’ll love it so much you’ll wish it was a professional sport. Teams of 4-6 people will compete for Hungry Human Hippos (HHH) glory. You and your team will strategize in your positions as Hippo, Rangler or Kitchen Guard, to collect the most “food” (balls) on ice. 💲🎟 Jan 28 Herstory callboxes. A Tour of Her Own takes you on a walking tour of the converted callboxes installed in downtown D.C. that highlight the story of eight significant women in our city's history, ranging from Katherine Graham to Alice Paul, Mary Church Terrell to Julia Ward Howe. 💲🎟 Jan 28 I dream a world. The National Portrait Gallery presents an exhibition of I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America by the late Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker. The two-part exhibition features portraits of writers, entertainers, athletes, activists, and politicians, whose legacies were documented by the photojournalist Brian Lanker in the late 1980s, including Leontyne Price, Rosa Parks, Alice Walker and Shirley Chisholm. 🆓 Ends Jan 29 Into the Woods. Stephen Sondheim’s fairy tale mash-up musical comes to Virginia’s Signature Theatre. A baker and his wife want to reverse a witch’s curse so that they can have a child together. However, their quest becomes much more complicated, with Little Red Ridinghood, Jack and his beanstalk, Cinderella and Rapunzel all eventually getting involved. A beautiful score highlights this darkly humorous journey into the imagination. 💲🎟Now – ends Jan. 29 Walk like an Egyptian. “Beyond King Tut: The Immersive Experience” is an immersive cinematic exhibition at the National Geographic Museum that takes visitors on a journey to one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. The exhibition celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. 💲🎟 Now - Feb 6 Curious? There's more!
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