Editor’s note: Change is coming to your inbox. Along with a retooling of our events coverage in the magazine (if you haven’t seen it lately, check out Chicago Guide in our March issue, on newsstands now), Marquee is getting a new name and a new look. Keep an eye out for the new Chicago Guide newsletter next Wednesday, featuring only the events worth your time and money. We know you’re busier, so we’re getting pickier. Let us know what you think.

Seldom Better

The Seldoms

Carrie Hanson may not be dancing in an abandoned warehouse or an empty swimming pool—this time—but the blue-sky artistic director and her contemporary troupe The Seldoms are anything but conventional, no matter where they perform. The company’s new program features costumes by the likes of local designer Anke Loh in three world premieres: Hanson’s Thrift, a meditation on the two meanings of economy; Darrell Jones’s Whiff of Anarchy, a study of riot behavior for which Jones hurled himself into public demonstrations; and Liz Burritt’s Triggers, set around a dinner table—fertile ground for familial button-pushing. Performances run 8 p.m. Friday, 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago (1306 S Michigan Ave.; colum.edu/dancecenter). Tickets are $10 to $28.  An afterparty at The Underground, featuring a fashion show, apps, and drinks, follows Saturday’s performance; admission is $75.  

Best Bets for Things to Do This Week

Listen
By day, Mason Bates is a composer-in-residence with the California Symphony. By night, he’s club DJ Masonic. Expect a gifted blend of electronica and classical from this 32-year-old, who has earned the Pulitzer-winning composer John Corigliano’s seal of approval. The free concert, part of Chicago Chamber Musicians’ Freshly Scored series, begins 3 p.m. Sunday the 22nd at Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.; chicagochambermusic.org).  

Pedal
When the temperature drops, bikers get rowdy to stay warm. Whether you’re an avid cyclist or just want to party like one, check out the 12th annual Winter Bike Show, running through Friday the 27th at Flat Iron Arts Building (1579 N. Milwaukee Ave.; flatironproject.com). Highlights include a Light the Night fashion show, featuring high-visibility gear for nocturnal biking, Saturday the 21st from 6 to 10 p.m.; a “Bike-In Movie” night, with screenings of locally made bike-themed shorts, 8 p.m. Thursday the 26th; and the Bike Winter Carnival, 6 to 10 p.m. Friday the 27th, with music by the punk-rock marching band Environmental Encroachment. All events are free.

Party
Maybe you haven’t heard: A little movie called The Dark Knight—costarring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Chicago—is up for a slew of Oscars, including best art direction, best cinematography, best visual effects, and best supporting actor (Ledger). Show the city some love: Get gussied up and head to A Dark Knight, an Academy Awards viewing party sponsored by Chicago magazine and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s associate board. The red-carpet bash begins 5:30 p.m. Sunday the 22nd at the new South Loop hot spot Tapas Valencia (1530 S. State St.); admission, $50 to $55, benefits JDRF and includes drinks and apps. Visit chicagomag.com/awards for more info.

Honor
In tribute to Lincoln’s recent bicentennial, James Earl “This is CNN” Jones lends his booming bass to Aaron Copland’s Lincoln Portrait, backed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Numerous others (Carl Sandburg, Barack Obama) have narrated the piece, but no voice matches Jones’s gravitas. Concerts begin 8 p.m. Saturday the 21st and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday the 24th at Symphony Center (220 S. Michigan Ave.; cso.org). Limited tickets, $17 to $199, are available.

See
Not all fairy tales are set in the German hinterland. Rose and the Rime, a new show from the local theatre troupe whose plays feel most like frat parties (i.e., The House Theatre of Chicago), takes place in the imaginary locale of Radio Falls, Michigan, a town trapped in perpetual winter. Key plot points—e.g., a young girl who tries to save the day—sound awfully familiar, but if you dug the troupe’s much-remounted hit The Sparrow, you’re in luck. The show plays at Chopin Theatre (1543 W. Division St.; thehousetheatre.com) through April 11th. Tickets are $15 to $29; bring a new or gently used children’s book for $5 off.  

Photograph: Saverio Truglia