ART

STRUGGLING TO ESCAPE The exhibit “Daring To Resist: Jewish Defiance in the Holocaust” celebrates individual and collective acts of resistance, which sought to undermine the Nazi goal of annihilating the Jewish people. Photographs depict efforts either to physically escape various confines, or culturally escape the pain of oppression through art. Selections from the exhibit include a picture of children studying in a clandestine school in the Kovno ghetto in 1941, above. Through July 4, 2008, Sunday–Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m.–5:45 p.m., Wednesday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, 36 Battery Place at Little West 12th Street, 646-437-4200, $10 general, $7 seniors, $5 students.

SPEAKING IN FIGURES “Body Beware: 18 American Artists” features paintings and sculptures that eachpresent an individual view on anatomy or human interaction. Artists include Pavel Tchelitchew, Walt Kuhn, Romare Bearden, and Federico Castellon. Through Friday, July 27, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 24 W. 57th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-247-0082, free.

SIDEWALKING “The Secret Lives of Streets” is an exhibit organized by 10 Brooklyn high school students who researched how Brooklyn’s streets were originally named. The students used the resources of the Brooklyn Historical Society to complete their research, in a pilot after-school program called Exhibition Laboratory. The teenagers curated the entire exhibit, showing how historic Brooklyn events and notable Brooklyn residents factored into the naming of the streets. Through Sunday, September 2, Wednesday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m., Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepoint St. at Clinton Street, 718-222-4111, free.

NEO-GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents an exhibit of new paintings by a German artist, Neo Rauch. The show includes 14 paintings that feature Mr. Rauch’s distinctive industrial palette. The works depict a parallel world of hypertrophied humans, for which the acclaimed 47-year-old artist references surrealism, public murals, and the heroic 1950s workmen and women of Eastern Bloc political posters — all elements of the Socialist Realist aesthetic of communist East Germany, where Mr. Rauch grew up and received his artistic training. Gary Tinterow is curator of the exhibit. Through Sunday, October 14, the Met, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, 212-535-7710, $20 suggested donation, $10 seniors and students, free for members and children under 12. For more information, go to metmuseum.org.

DANCE

UPSTATE CELEBRATION The Bard SummerScape 2007 festival opens tonight with a performance by Doug Varone and Dancers. The choreographer created a new piece to music by Edward Elgar, an English Romantic composer best known for his series of “Pomp and Circumstance” marches. The entirety of this year’s festival is dedicated to the composer and his music. Tonight, 8 p.m., Bard College, Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, North Broadway and Old Post Road, Annandale-on-Hudson, 845-758-7900, $20–$50.

FILM

MIRROR, MIRROR Filmmaker Jennifer Fox is known for her documentary films “Beirut: The Last Home Movie” and “An American Love Story.” For her latest film, “Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman” (2007), she turns the camera on herself for a visual autobiography, documenting her struggle in balancing her work and a pregnancy while maintaining two long-distance romantic relationships, one with a Swiss boyfriend and the other with a married South African man. In the film, she also interviews 17 women from around the world who offer their own perspectives on love, marriage, and independence, The six-hour film is shown in two parts: Each is a separate screening and is just under three hours. Part 1, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 1:15 and 8 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, 5 p.m.; part 2, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 5 p.m., Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, 1:15 and 8 p.m., Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St., between Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, 212-627-2035, $10.50 general, $5.50 seniors and members.

SHIBUYA SURPRISE As part of its centennial celebration, the Japan Society presents “Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film,” a series of over 80 films presented over 11 days. The festival is split among “Long Cuts,” full-length feature films that include 15 American and New York premieres; “Short Cuts,” which feature free screenings of short films; “A Cut Above the Stars,” a free outdoor family screening, and “NY-Japan Cuts,” a screening of films by New York and Japan based directors that culminates in a public networking reception with filmmakers and industry insiders. The festival begins with a screening of Takashi Miike’s “Big Bang Love, Juvenile A” (“46 okunen no koi”) (2006), which opens with what might be a questionable murder, and revolves around two young prisoners who are connected by violence and jealousy. Also taking place tonight is a presentation of the work of Open Art, an archival company that has collected more than 1,000 films. The organization screens the best of animated films from last year, including Daihiti Hashimoto’s “The Naked Ape,” and Dino Sato’s “The Line Magic by Red and Blue and Scrapland.” Opens tonight, 6:45 p.m., through Sunday, July 15, screening times vary, Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., between First and Second avenues, 212-715-1205, $10 general, $7.50 members and seniors, $4.50 students.

MUSIC

SOUL ON GRASS The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum kicks off the first of its “Summer Sessions” series with “Design + DJs + Dancing,” an evening of revelry and eclectic sounds provided by DJs among the most in demand in the city. Guests are invited to spend the night dancing or simply lounging on the grass. A flutist and saxophonist, Jay Rodriguez, of the ensemble Groove Collective, is a featured performer. DJ Jeannie Hopper is curator of the musical lineup. Friday, 6–9 p.m., first Fridays through September 7, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden, 2 E. 91st St. at Fifth Avenue, free with museum admission, $12 general, $9 seniors, students, museum and Smithsonian Institution members, free for children under 12.

GROOVY KIND OF LOVE The City Parks Foundation presents a free summer outdoor concert series. The first installment in Brooklyn features the Delfonics, known in the 1960s for what they called the “Philly sound,” which featured traditional R&B harmonies paired with raw-sounding instrumentals. The group is best known for its single “La-La (Means I Love You).” Tonight, 7 p.m., Von King Park, Tompkins Avenue, between Lafayette and Green avenues, Brooklyn, 212-360-8290, free.

SUNDAY STRINGS The Music in the Garden series at the Noguchi Museum in Queens presents the Gli Altri ensemble in a performance of Jefferson Friedman’s String Quartet No. 2. The quartet includes violinists Amie Weiss and Annaliesa Place, violist Miranda Sielaff, and cellist Clarice Jensen. Sunday, 3 p.m., the Noguchi Museum, 9–01 33rd Road at Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens, 718-204-7088, free with museum admission, $10 general, $5 students and seniors.

SOIRÉES

ANIMAL BUSINESS The Brooklyn Animal Foster Network holds its third annual benefit party, “Stray Pride,” to raise funds for medical services. Food, bingo, face painting, raffles, karaoke, and pet adoptions are all offered. Sponsors include the Veterinary Emergency and Referral Group in Cobble Hill. The network consists of more than 400 foster homes that work to place stray and abused pets in safe homes. Sunday, 2 p.m., Ginger’s Bar, 363 Fifth Ave. at 5th Street, Brooklyn, 718-789-6865, free.

THEATER

THE A TRAIN TO WEST 4TH The Manhattan Theatre Source presents Andrew Frank and Doug Silver’s “The Greenwich Village Follies,” a spirited musical about the history of the neighborhood. Songs include “Oh, Chumley’s” (about a Prohibition-era barbershop quartet) and “Splatter Me All Over” (a tribute to painter Jackson Pollock). Mr. Frank directs the play, and featured actors include John-Andrew Morrison, Charlie Parker, Guy Olivieri, and Patti Goettlicher. Tonight through Saturday, July 28, Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., special presentation tonight, 8 p.m., Manhattan Theatre Source, 177 MacDougal St., between Waverly Place and 8th Street, 212-260-4698, $18.

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.