The DC Cheer squad members shake their pompoms in support of the arts. Photograph by E. Brady Robinson.

In a world of slashed budgets and shrinking audiences, it seems arts institutions could use a little cheerleading these days. Thankfully there’s DC Cheer, an amateur cheerleading squad that seeks to enliven the local arts scene. Their brightly colored pompoms and Rockettes-inspired high kicks can now be found in and around art exhibitions and galleries in the Washington area.

DC Cheer is “based on the idea of giving a voice to the DC art community, which has been thriving but remains in the shadow of DC’s larger official presence,” says Kristina Bilonick, a native Washingtonian visual artist. As the former program director for the Washington Project for the Arts, Bilonick spent most of her time promoting DC artists through shows and events, and it became her favorite part of the job. Literally cheerleading for the cause just seemed like an extension of that.

Having long harbored the idea, she finally formed DC Cheer in September of last year for the (e)merge Art Fair, which showcased experimental artists’ performances and installations. Part performance art and part whimsy, DC Cheer encourages not only the arts but also the artists, who, Bilonick says, often appreciate the morale boost and bonhomie amid DC’s fiercely competitive art community. “Artists forming pyramids or doing group motions is an exact metaphor for the way artists in DC should be supporting each other,” she says.

Singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero. Photograph by Rus Anson.

Wednesday, February 8

Singer-songwriter Meklit Hadero performs at the Artisphere tonight. “Hadero’s sound is a unique blend of jazz, Ethiopia, the San Francisco art scene, and visceral poetry; it paints pictures in your head as you listen,” says NPR. Tickets can be purchased online for $15 or at the door for $18. 8 PM.

MUSIC: Indie pop group Veronica Falls are dropping by the Black Cat. Their self-titled debut was released in September of last year; listen to some of their songs here. The London natives will be joined by Brilliant Colors. Tickets ($10) can be purchased online. Doors open at 8 PM.

WINE: The Capital Wine Festival returns to the Fairfax with a Heitz Wine Cellars dinner. The four-course spread includes pan-seared crabcake, wild mushroom risotto, mint-glazed lamb chops, and black cherry crème brûlée. Each course will be paired with a Heitz wine. Tickets ($125) can be purchased through the event’s website. 7 PM.

SHOPPING: The Crystal Couture Show and Sale returns with discounted offerings from more than 30 boutiques. In addition to savings up to 50 percent, shoppers can enjoy fashion shows, complimentary drinks, hair and makeup consultations, music by DJ Neekola, and more. The sale runs through February 11.

James T. Lane as Paul Colin and Zurin Villanueva as Josephine Baker in Josephine Tonight. Photograph by C. Stanley Photography.

For those who have even a passing knowledge of who Josephine Baker was, Josephine Tonight isn’t going to hold many secrets. Despite Baker’s tough upbringing and the challenges ahead of her, it’s no surprise that the actress/singer/dancer is going to end up a major star by the end of the new biographical musical debuting at MetroStage. But the joys of Josephine Tonight are in the journey to eventual stardom—the jubilant choreography, soaring vocals, and satisfying songs that accompany Baker’s rise to the top.

Sherman Yellen and Wally Harper’s world premiere musical is a conventional showbiz story that focuses on Baker’s early years—her roots in Missouri, her stints in vaudeville and Harlem, and her ascendance to fame in Paris. The portraits of “Josie,” her world-weary mother, and the performers (and foils) who surround her are painted through occasional dialogue and, more frequently, a set of 24 songs, some bluesy, some plaintive, and nearly all of them catchy and cleverly penned.

Ben Schatz, Jeff Manabat, Spencer Brown, and Irwin Keller take on American politics in their new show, Electile Dysfunction. Photograph by C. Stanley Photography.

Ordinarily, the sight of a troupe of overly made up buffoons decked in glaring red, white, and blue strutting across a stage declaring that they’re endorsed by Yahweh would be A) the circus, B) a less-imaginative Saturday Night Live skit, or C) a South Carolina teen beauty pageant. Unfortunately, these days it’s just as likely to be a Republican primary debate. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen serious presidential contenders endorse the concept of child labor, excoriate “government injections” (or vaccinations, as some people like to call them), and declare that government shouldn’t intervene to save the life of a gravely ill man who is uninsured. In other words, not only has life come to imitate art, but it’s also kicked art in the shins, slushied it, and stolen its lunch money.

Which makes things hard for the Kinsey Sicks in their new show, currently enjoying its world premiere run at Theater J. In Electile Dysfunction: The Kinsey Sicks for President!, the girls (Rachel, Winnie, Trampolina, and Trixie) have donned their patriotic finest (imagine a fusion of the Star-Spangled Banner and stripper chic) and are announcing their run for president (as a corporation, naturally). “The economy has collapsed,” declares a video at the start of the show. “America is in decline.” So the Kinsey Sicks—America’s “favorite dragapella beautyshop quartet,” in case you weren’t familiar—have abandoned show business, taken newfound pledges of celibacy, and thrown their wigs in the ring—as Republicans.

Photograph by Flickr user Karen Blue.

If, like us, you were slightly disappointed that Madonna didn’t do anything more outré or controversial at the Super Bowl on Sunday, console yourself—never one to shy away from free publicity, this morning the artist announced she’ll be coming to Washington’s Verizon Center September 23. It’s the first local gig in more than eight years for Madonna, who hasn’t performed here since her Re-Invention tour stopped at what was then the MCI Center in 2004.

So what can we expect from Madge on the heels of her new album, MDNA? Who knows? On her last world outing, the Sticky & Sweet Tour, Madonna divided her show into four acts: Pimp, Old School, Gypsy, and Rave, alternately sitting in an M-shaped throne surrounded by dancers in bondage wear, skipping rope, and (shudder) even playing the guitar. She also caused controversy (naturally) by including a video montage that compared John McCain to Hitler and Barack Obama to Gandhi, and dedicating a performance of “Like a Virgin” to Pope Benedict XVI.

But despite (because of?) a few headlines, the Sticky & Sweet tour grossed upward of $400 million, the highest amount ever for a solo artist, and it’s safe to assume her new one will probably sell out fairly quickly (especially if Bruce Springsteen’s Verizon Center show is anything to go by). Tickets go on sale February 13 at 10 AM through Ticketmaster, so we recommend you stay by a computer Monday morning if you’re dying to see the Queen of Pop.

David Selby and Craig Wallace star in Necessary Sacrifices. Photograph by T. Charles Erickson.

Tuesday, February 7

THEATER: If you haven’t already, head to Ford’s Theatre for a showing of Necessary Sacrifices. Richard Hellesen’s drama chronicles two documented meetings between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. “The spirited conversations in which they engage evoke a fly-on-the-wall quality, giving the audience the sense of truly eavesdropping on history as it’s being made,” says arts writer Jane Horwitz. Read the full review here. Tickets ($25 to $50) can be purchased through the theater’s website. 7:30 PM. The play runs through February 18.

MUSIC: Self-proclaimed “death gospel” singer Adam Arcuragi and the Lupine Chorale Society are dropping by the Iota Club and Cafe. “With his poetic preaching and rousing choruses, Arcuragi crafts songs of community, with music that binds,” says NPR. Arcuragi will be joined by Jukebox Serenade. Tickets ($12) can be purchased at the door. 8:30 PM.

The Levine School of Music’s Virginia Big Band give a free performance at the Kennedy Center. The jazz ensemble have performed at the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival and Taste of Arlington. 6 PM.

COMEDY: The Washington DC Comedy Writers Group presents a comedy showcase at the Riot Act. The performance will feature a fake psychic reading, standup acts from local comedians, a series of short films, improv, and more. Tickets ($10) can be purchased through the theater’s website. 8:30 PM.

David Selby as Abraham Lincoln and Craig Wallace as Frederick Douglass in the Ford’s Theatre world premiere production of Necessary Sacrifices. Photograph by T. Charles Erickson.

Abraham Lincoln wrestles with what’s morally right versus what’s politically feasible in Richard Hellesen’s arresting, if occasionally pedantic, new play, Necessary Sacrifices, at Ford’s Theatre through February 18. His partner in the struggle is Frederick Douglass, the celebrated African-American abolitionist, orator, and writer who escaped slavery in Maryland in 1838 and became a spokesman here and abroad for the cause. Douglass and Lincoln had two documented meetings at the White House during the Civil War, we’re told in the playbill. In Sacrifices, a world premiere commissioned by Ford’s, Hellesen has imagined what those encounters in the summers of 1863 and 1864 might have been like, based in part on both men’s public orations and Douglass’s many articles.

In this production, David Selby as Lincoln and Craig Wallace as Douglass make a convincing, contrasting duo in countenance, demeanor, and voice. The spirited conversations in which they engage evoke a fly-on-the-wall quality, giving the audience the sense of truly eavesdropping on history as it’s being made. This is Selby’s second outing as Lincoln at Ford’s. He played the president almost exactly three years ago in James Still’s The Heavens Are Hung in Black, commissioned by Ford’s to mark the reopening of the newly refurbished landmark theater. The lanky actor seems effortlessly to channel the great man in an inspired mix of folksiness—the high-pitched twang noted by those who actually heard Lincoln speak is jarring at first, then pleasurably realistic—warmth, melancholy, and political savvy.