DANCE

SOMETHING FROM NOTHING Choreographer Tere O’Connor asked eight dance artists to create a new work from nothing — no story, no music, no outside source. The result became the Nothing Festival which intends to create a dialogue on the conflict of making a dance and marketing the work. The festival continues with premieres by Luciana Achugar, Walter Dundervill, Jon Kinzel, and Susan Rethorst. Tomorrow through Saturday, 7:30 p.m., Dance Theater Workshop, 219 W. 19th St., between Seventh and Eighth avenues, 212 924-0077, $20 general, $12 members.

FESTIVALS

SEAPORT IDOL New York City residents and visitors are invited to attend or take part in the auditions for street performers at the South Street Seaport, who entertain along its cobbled streets and historic pier. Aspiring musicians mimes, jugglers, dancers, and more demonstrate their talent during an open casting call. Selected performers are given proper credentials as well as scheduled performance locations and shifts to entertain and earn cash tips throughout the summer season. Today, noon and 5:30 p.m. South Street Seaport Pier 17 stage (auditions held on the third floor Atrium of Pier 17 in case of rain), between Fulton & South streets, 212-732-7678, free.

GROWING GREEN The NYC Grows Garden Festival, sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department and the National Gardening Asso ciation, features do-it-yourself workshops, such as an urban greening clinic for teenagers led by television host William Moss, garden demonstrations with a television personality for Target, Sean Conway, and butter churning workshops with farmers from Organic Valley. Saturday, 9 a.m.–4 p.m., Union Square Park Plaza, 14th Street and Broadway, free. For more information, call 311.

FILM

AWAY FROM HER Actress Sarah Polley gives a talk following a preview screening of her directorial debut film, “Away From Her” (2006), about a long-married professor who must come to grips with the onset of his wife’s memory loss The film, which is an adaptation of Alice Munro’s “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” (Random House), depicts how a lifetime of intimate details can create a marriage. Actress Julie Christie has a starring role in the film. The talk is featured as part of the Pinewood Dialogue series at the Museum of the Moving Image. A free screening of John Schlesinger’s “Darling” (1965), a satire about the swinging 1960s featuring Ms. Christie, is shown at 5:30 p.m. A reception follows. Friday, 7:30 p.m., Museum of the Moving Image, 35th Avenue at 36th Street, Astoria, Queens, 718 784-0077, $18 general, $12 museum members. For complete information, go to movingimage. us.

MUSIC

CELEBRATING A WRITER Alec Wilder was a prolific and eclectic composer whose music blended jazz, popular song, and classical music in many forms including sonatas suites, and concerti. The Friends of Alec Wilder, a nonprofit organization, presents a centennial celebra tion concert to honor the composer. Performers include pianist Bill Mays, vocalist Jackie Cain, and soprano Andrianna Smela. The hosts of the event are writer and critic Rex Reed and tuba performer Harvey Phillips. Sunday, 6:30 p.m., Kaufman Center, Merkin Hall, 129 W. 67th St. at Broadway, 212-501-3330, $25.

PHOTOGRAPHY

SHOTS OF THE COUNTRY Cedric Smith’s first photography exhibit, “Playing God,” features shots he took in various sites across the South. Using his collection of vintage photographs, he toured the South to document contemporary black culture and compare it to that depicted in his old photos. Selections include “Boot Leggers I” (2006), above. Through Saturday, May 5, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Dillon Gallery, 555 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-727-8585, free.

POETRY

ISLAND VERSES Poets House celebrates National Poetry Month with “Cuba’s Bard: A Conversation With José Kozer,” a discussion with the Cuban poet about his poetry, politics, and translations of his work. He is joined by the poet and critic Ammiel Alcalay and translator Mark Weiss, who reads English translations of Mr. Kozer’s work. Tonight, 7 p.m., Poets House, 72 Spring St., between Crosby and Lafayette streets, second floor, 212-431-7920, $7 general, free for members.

CELEBRATE BROOKLYN New York University Press, the Brooklyn Historical Society, and the Poetry Society of America host an evening of readings to celebrate the publication of “Broken Land: Poems of Brooklyn” (NYU), a collection edited by Julia Spicher Kasdorf and Michael Tyrell. The poems range from 17th-century verse to contemporary, and include paeans to such Brooklyn landmarks as Coney Island. Among the featured readers are contributing poets Vijay Seshadri, Jessica Greenbaum, L.S. Asekoff, and Sapphire. Refreshments are served. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., BHS, 128 Pierrepont St. at Clinton Street, Brooklyn, 212-998-2576, free.

READINGS

INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR During the New York Festival of International Literature presented by the PEN World Voices series of the PEN American Center, events featuring international and American authors are offered at cultural venues around the city. The week-long festival begins with “Green Thoughts: Writers on the Environment,” a roundtable reading featuring prominent authors who read the works of others on the subject of the natural world. Readers include Salman Rushdie, Gary Shteyngart, Pico Iyer, and Jonathan Franzen. Tonight, 7 p.m., the Cooper Union, Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St. at Third Avenue, 868-4444, $15 general, $10 PEN members.

THE DIRTY WAR As part of its Conversations series, the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library hosts a talk with the author of “The Ministry of Special Cases” (Knopf), Nathan Englander. Mr. Englander discusses his novel about the Jewish community on the eve of Argentina’s 1976 military coup. Kaddish Poznan earns a meager living defacing gravestones of Jewish whores and pimps for children who want to erase their immigrant parents’ names and forget their shameful histories. When the idealistic college-student son of Kaddish and his wife is taken from their home, Kaddish learns what it really means to erase identity, because no one in authority will admit Pato has been arrested. A creator of the “Colbert Report” and a former executive producer of the Comedy Central network’s “The Daily Show,” Ben Karlin, leads the talk. Tonight, 7 p.m., NYPL, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, 212-868-4444, $15 general, $10 students, seniors, and donors.

ALMOST MIDLIFE CRISIS Claire Messud reads from her novel “The Emperor’s Children” (Knopf ), about three friends who struggle with work and love as they approach their 30s in New York. Ms. Messud reads and discusses her work as part of Hunter College’s Distinguished Writers Series. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., Hunter College, Hunter West, Faculty Dining Room, southwest corner of 68th Street and Lexington Avenue, eighth floor, 212-772-4007, free, reservations required.

A HEARTBREAKING FAILURE Open City Magazine and Press and the blog Moistworks.comhost an evening of readings by writers Sam Lipsyte and Jenny Offill. Mr. Lipsyte is the author most recently of “Home Land” (Open City), a comic novel written as a series of strangely baroque, intimate letters to a high school alumni newsletter 20 years after graduation. The author of the letters, the underemployed Lewis Miner, or “Teabag,” eventually reunites with his classmates at a “togethering.” Ms. Offill is a Brooklyn-based writer whose stories have appeared in such literary journals as Story, Gettysburg Review, and the Black Warrior Review. A culture and arts writer, Alex Abramovich, and an editor of Open City, Joanna Yas, are hosts of the event. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., KGB Bar 85 E. 4th St., between Second and Third avenues, 212-769-6816, free.

SOIRÉES

LADIES WHO RENOVATE The New York Junior League hosts its 2007 Spring Auction, an evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dancing, and an auction to benefit the 16th annual Playground Improvement Project at Seward Park, and other charitable activities of the New York Junior League. Seward Park is located on the city’s Lower East Side along the east border of Chinatown. Each year the NYJL and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation renovate a playground in Manhattan to create a safe, inviting, and educational play space for children the community. Cocktail attire is required. Friday, 8 p.m.–midnight, 9:30 p.m. live auction, Capitale, 130 Bowery at Grand Street, 212-288-6220, $135-$150 general, $115–$150 NYJL volunteers, e-mail reservations to fundraisers@nyjl.org. For complete information, go to nyjl.org.

TALKS

HELPING A CONTINENT New York University’s Africa House presents “Fighting Poverty through Entrepreneurship,” a panel discussion about the successes and challenges facing African entrepreneurs and the implications for the fight against poverty in Africa. Participants include a professor of economics at NYU, William Easterly; a professor of economics at George Mason University, Peter Boettke, and a director of research at the Mercatus Center, Karol Boudreaux. Tonight, 5:30 p.m., NYU, Stern School of Business, Kaufmann Management Center, 44. W. 4th St. at Greene Street, room 5-50, 212-992-9939, free.

YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS As part of its ongoing Adventures in the Global Kitchen series, the American Museum of Natural History hosts “The Incredible, Edible Dandelion.” An environmental educator and the author of “The Teeth of the Lion: The Story of the Beloved and Despised Dandelion” (McDonald and Woodward), Anita Sanchez, gives a talk on the natural and cultural history of the dandelion, including its medicinal and mystical uses. Guests are invited to taste dandelion tea, a salad made with dandelions and other wild greens, and a dandelion wine. A question-and-answer session follows. Tonight, 7 p.m., AMNH, 175 Central Park West at 79th Street, 212-769-5100, free with museum admission, $14 suggested donation, $10.50 for students and seniors, $8 for children. For complete information, go to amnh.org.

CHAT WITH THE ARTIST As part of its ArtTalks series, the American Federation of Arts, together with Target, presents artist Matthew Ritchie, who gives the inaugural lecture of the spring season. Mr Ritchie discusses his conceptually driven work, for which he often finds inspiration in philosophy physics, and mythology. The artist was included in Time magazine’s “100 Innovators of the New Millennium,” and although he is often described as a painter, Mr. Ritchie works in a variety of media, including paper, prints, projections, installations, freestanding sculpture Web sites, and short stories, which tie his sprawling works together in to a narrative structure. A ques tion-and-answer session and a reception follow. Tomorrow, 6:30 p.m., National Arts Club, the Sculpture Court, 15 Gramercy Park South at 20th Street, between Park Avenue and Irving Place, 212-988-7700, $15 general, $10 for AFA members, National Arts Club members, and students. Business casual attire and reservations are required.

AMERICAN ANALYSIS The Richard Gilder Distinguished Lecturer Series at the New-York Historical Society presents “Ending Tyranny The History of an Idea,” a lecture with a professor of history at Yale University, John Lewis Gaddis. Mr Gaddis discusses President Bush’s proclamation, made during his second inaugural address, of “end ing tyranny in our world,” and how feasible it is to make it an objective for national and international policy in the 21st century. Thursday 6:30 p.m., N-YHS, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444 $18 general, $10 students, educa tors, and seniors, $8 members.

To submit an event for consideration for the Calendar, please wire the particulars to calendar@nysun.com, placing the date of the event in the subject line.