ART

COAST TO COAST London-based Greek artist Emo Avora and New York artist Julia Junin join forces in the exhibit “Against Nature.” The title is taken from a 19th-century novel by Joris-Karl Huysman, which describes elements of decadence, taste, and beauty from the perspective of the narrator, Des Essintes. Selections include Ms. Avora’s “Green Deco” (2006), top, and Ms. Kunin’s “Folly” (2006), right. Through Friday, June 22, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, the Crown Building, 730 Fifth Ave. at 57th Street, 212-445-0444, free.

UNDER THE BOROUGH “Revealing Hidden Layers: The Archaeology of Manhattan Island” is a free talk presented by the Arts, Culture, and Fun at Manhattan Recreation Centers series. Archaeologist Joel Grossman discusses details of prehistoric New York and how the landscape was altered by American Indians and the Dutch and English settlers. He uses 3-D terrain modeling and historic map correlations to reconstruct the subsurface survivals of former American Indian roadways and settlements throughout Manhattan Island. Tonight, 7 p.m., Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, 1 Clarkson Pl. at Seventh Avenue South, 212-242-5228, free. For more information, call 311.

DANCE

TAP DANCING YOUNG The Tap City Youth Ensemble dances a free con cert at the Capezio’s Flagship store for dance apparel and accessories Guests are invited to bring their own tap shoes and join the ensemble of young hoofers in the finale “Shim Sham Shimmy” performance Founded in 2005 by the American Tap Dance Foundation, Tap City Youth offers serious, young dance students professional training and performing experience at a variety of New York venues. Sunday, 2 p.m. Capezio’s, 1650 Broadway at 51st Street, 646-230-9564, free.

FESTIVALS

SWEEP SCENE “It’s My Park! Day,” a day devoted to cleaning and beau tifying one of the city’s beloved parks, is celebrated at Prospect Park on Saturday. The city’s resi dents are invited to join hundreds of volunteers as they fan out across the green with brooms and pails in hand for sweeping, painting, weed ing, and litter removal. All partici pants receive a complimentary T shirt and key chain. A barbecue and live entertainment hosted by the Unity Day Rally on the Nether mead (a rolling meadow near the park’s center), follows at 2 p.m. The event is organized by the New York City Department of Parks & Recre ation. Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m. registration for groups of 10 or more begins at 9:30 a.m., Prospect Park West, between Parkside and Ocean avenues, Brooklyn, 718-965-8930 free.

FILM

BEFORE ARCADIA Carl Theodor Dreyer’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc / La Passion de Jeanne D’Arc” (1927–28) stars Renee Falconetti Anthology Film Archives screens a new print of the film donated by David Mulkins. The film exemplifies Dreyer’s philosophy of simplicity renowned for its spare acts, lack of embellishment, and use of simple shots. Tonight, 7 p.m., Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave. at 2nd Street, 212-505-5181, $8 gener al, $6 students and seniors, $5 mem bers.

FOOD & DRINK

VINO EN ESPAÑOL The Interna tional Wine Center offers the first Spanish-language wine certificate course in America. The course is an eight-week program covering the major grape varieties and wine re gions of the world as well as the fundamentals of grape-growing and winemaking, and it includes a final examination. The instruction course materials, and exam are all in Spanish. Students who success fully complete the course will earn the Wine and Spirit Education Trust Intermediate Certificate in Wines and Spirits. Begins tonight 6 p.m., International Wine Center 350 Seventh Ave., between 29th and 30th streets, 212-239-3055 $668.

TALKS

SAIL ON, SAILORS The author of “Mayflower: A Story of Courage Community, and War” (Penguin Group), Nathaniel Philbrick, dis cusses the history of the Pilgrims on their perilous journey from England on a battered, leaky ship through their first bitter North American winter, to their estab lishment of a precarious colony Mr. Philbrick is the founding direc tor of the Egan Institute for Mar itime Studies on Nantucket Island. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444, $15 general, $10 students and seniors, $8 members.

LEARNING LESSONS The New Press and International Affairs at the New School present a conversation with two historians of the Vietnam War, Marilyn Young and Lloyd Gardner, editors of “Iraq and the Lessons of Vietnam: Or, How Not To Learn From the Past” (The New Press), as they draw out the connections between the Vietnam War and the Iraq war, and the many lessons that went unlearned by American foreign policy makers. The author of “Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal” (The New Press), Anthony Arnove, and the founder of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Jan Barry, also join the discussion. Tonight, 7 p.m., the New School, Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, 55 W. 13th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, second floor, 212-229-5667, $5.

THEATER

INTO THE WOODS The American Musical Theater Ensemble of the Manhattan School of Music stages its first-ever full-length musical with a performance of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.” The popular musical depicts the world of a pair familiar to readers of classic fairy tales. A childless baker and his wife cannot have a child until they follow the bidding of the witch next door, who instructs them to get, among other things, a cape as red as blood and a slipper as pure as gold. A band of fairy tale characters including Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella assist the couple in their pursuit of happily ever after. Dan Gettinger is musical director of the student production, and a member of the MSM voice faculty, Maitland Peters, is cast as “The Narrator.” Tonight through Saturday, 7:30 p.m., MSM, John C. Borden Auditorium, 120 Claremont Ave., between 122nd Street and Broadway, 917-493-4428, free.

AMERICAN HISTORY IN THE CITY Brooklyn writer James Grant, author of “John Adams: Party of One” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and composer Terry Quinn share their respective works on the second president of America during “An Evening of John Adams in Word and Song,” presented by the Brook lyn Historical Society. While Mr Grant was writing his book, which was published in 2005, Mr. Quinn was writing his operetta song cycle “John Adams in Amsterdam: A Song for Abigail,” about Adams’s time as America’s first envoy to Holland in 1780. The cycle is based on letters that Adams wrote to his wife during his two-year stay in Europe. Performers include baritone Richard Lalli. Tickets are on sale now. Saturday, 8 p.m., Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont St., between Clinton Street and Monroe Place, Brooklyn, 718-222 4111, $45 general, $30 members.

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