Things to do in NYC this weekend: May 5-7 are the week of May 1-7, 2023.
Things To Do in NYC in the Week of May 1-7, 2023
- LATIN DANCE: Bryant Park Dance Party, DJ Eli Escobar, Latin Mondays at Taj, Salsa Tuesdays at Mamajuana Bronx, Tango Café, Tango La Nacional, El Destino tango
- LATIN FESTIVALS: Cinco de Mayo, Mother’s Day (Spain)
- LATIN FILM: Colombian Film Festival
- LATIN MUSIC: Omar Sosa & Seckou Keita, DJ Alex Sensation, Hagaán y cía, “Don Giovanni” Met Opera new production premiere, La Excelencia salsa, Pedro Giraudo tango.
- LATIN PARADES: Cinco de Mayo Parade
- LATIN SPORTS: Agility and Obedience championships, Westminster Dog Show, New York Red Bulls
- LATIN THEATRE: Dancing with Dictators
- FESTIVALS: Saint Florian, Las Fiestas de Cruz
- DAYS: Bronx Week
- BIRTHDAYS: Osvaldo Fresedo, Eva Perón, Rudolph Valentino, Enrique Iglesias, Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Monday, May 1, 2023
May is Asian American Heritage Month. Asians are not only East Asians, like many Americans seem to think. The Jewish community is from all over, but is originally Asian. Arabs, South Asians, and Filipinos are too. The Indigenous Peoples of the Americas came from Asia. There is historic and recent Chinese and Japanese immigration in Latin America and the Caribbean. Many of New York’s Chinese families have been New Yorkers for over a hundred and fifty years.
May is Haitian Heritage Month. Ayití is troubled now because of endless abuse from outsiders, but it is the historic heart of African culture in the Americas. The Haitian Revolution spread a diaspora across the Caribbean, including to New Orleans and Trinidad. So Ayití is the source of a lot of both Latin and African American culture. We have a lot to be proud of. 🇭🇹
In Catholic tradition, May is the Month of Mary. It’s when Spring is in full bloom.
May is National Salsa Month, so let’s dance.
Much of the world celebrates May Day or International Workers Day on May 1.
The Met Gala 2023 is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Central Park on Monday, May 1, 2023.
Dance salsa, cha-cha-cha, bachata, merengue and more at Talia Castro-Pozo’s Latin Mondays at Taj, one of NYC’s most popular Latin dance parties; at Taj in the Flatiron District, Mondays at 7pm (5pm doors). From $15. 🇨🇺 🇩🇴 🇵🇷, 🇵🇦, 🇨🇴 🇵🇪 🇻🇪
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Remember the Dos de Mayo uprising (Second of May uprising) when the Spanish people spontaneously rebelled against French occupation on May 2, 1808. This ultimately led to the independence of the Americas. 🇪🇸
From Food Dependence do Food Sovereignty women’s conference speakers include: Sommer Sibilly-Brown of the Virgin Islands Good Food Coalition, and Crystal Diaz of the PRoduce! app Puerto Rico; at 100 Washington Square E (NYU) in Greenwich Village; on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 from 6-8pm. Free with registration. eventbrite.com
It’s Salsa Tuesdays with live bands for dancing at Mamajuana Cafe Bronx in Pelham Bay, The Bronx from 8-11pm. No cover. It’s a Dominican restaurant. 🇩🇴
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
La Excelencia plays 1970s style New York salsa dura for dancing at the Bryant Park Dance Party in Manhattan’s Garment District on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, with a free dance lesson at 6pm and live music dance party at 7pm. Free. 🇨🇴
It’s Amateur Night at The Apollo, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $29. “Be Good or Be Gone!” 🇺🇸
Dance Argentine tango nuevo with younger dancers at the Tango Cafe milonga; at You Should Be Dancing in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC; on Wednesdays from 8-12pm. From $18. 🇦🇷 🇺🇾
Thursday, May 4, 2023
Multiple Emmy Award-winner Luis Santeiro’s “Dancing With Dictators” solo cabaret explores his family journey from pre-Castro Cuba to a traumatic exile in Miami during the turbulent 1960s; at Hostos Center in Mott Haven, The Bronx; on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 2pm (free with rsvp) and 7pm $10. Students $5. hostos.cuny.edu 🇨🇺
In Storytime and Bomba with Raquel Ortiz, the Puerto Rican author leads children through reading, singing, dancing and drumming at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in Crown Heights; on Thursday, May 4, 2023 from 2:30-3:30pm. Free with RSVP at brooklynkids.org 🇵🇷
The Colombian Film Festival NY 2023 brings the best of Colombian cinema to Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village, from May 4-7, 2023. 🇨🇴
Pedro Giraudo plays traditional Argentine tango for dancing at the Bryant Park Dance Party in Manhattan’s Garment District on Thursday, May 4, 2023, with a free dance lesson at 6pm and live music dance party at 7pm. Free. 🇦🇷
Thursday is New York’s main art exhibition opening night. It’s really fun to walk around the Chelsea, NYC art district from 6-8pm. The art is great and the people watching is great.
Omar Sosa and Seckou Keita, with Gustavo Ovalles, revisit their hit albums “Suba” (Dawn) and “Transparent Water” for Robert Browning Associates at Roulette Intermedium in Boerum Hill (Downtown), Brooklyn; on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 8pm. From $30. robertbrowningassociates.com 🇨🇺 🇸🇳 🇻🇪
#cuban #senegalese #venezuelan #latinjazz #afrobeats #latinfolk
Dance traditional Argentine tango at Tango La Nacional; at La Nacional in Chelsea, NYC; Thursdays from 8pm – 2am. Performances around 11pm. $25. 🇦🇷
Friday, May 5, 2023
(Cinco de Mayo)
Friday night is opening night at the movies.
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo, the American celebration of Mexican American culture on the day of the Mexican victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. That was the equivalent of defeating the American Marines today. It’s not Mexican Independence day, but Cinco de Mayo changed American history by preventing the French from joining confederate traitors during the American Civil War. ¡Viva México! 🇲🇽
Cinco de Mayo changed American history.
Remember Osvaldo Fresedo. The Argentine tango composer was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina on May 5, 1897. 🇦🇷
How to Look at Latin American Art is an online art exhibition and symposium about this interesting question (not the same way you look at European Art), curated by SUNY students from the collection of the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington D.C.; on Zoom; on Friday, May 5, 2023 from 1-2pm. zoom.us
NEW PRODUCTION PREMIERE
The Metropolitan Opera opens Ivo van Hove’s new production of Mozart’s Italian opera “Don Giovanni,” at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center on Friday, May 5, 2023 at 7pm. From $39.50. 🇮🇹
Bárbara Martínez joins Danza España Flamenco Co for Spanish flamenco at the Thalia Spanish Theatre in Sunnyside, Queens; weekends from May 4-21, 2023. 🇪🇸🇦🇷🇻🇪
DJ Eli Escobar spins the House of Grooves party; at House of Yes in Bushwick, Brooklyn; on Friday, May 5, 2023 from 10pm – 4am (9pm doors). Free – $41. 🇵🇷
Mora sings Puerto Rican reggaeton; at La Boom NY night club in Woodside, Queens; on Cinco de Mayo, Friday, May 5, 2023. 10pm doors. From $108. 🇵🇷
Saturday, May 6, 2023
Remember Rudolph Valentino. The first Latin film idol was born in Castellaneta, Apulia, Italy on May 6, 1895. 🇮🇹
Westminster Week (Agility and Obedience championships, and the Westminster Dog Show) is at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, Saturday-Tuesday, May 6-9, 2023.
Cinco de Mayo Festival Del Son 2023 is Mexican music and dance festival featuring Son Huasteco, Son Jaliscience and Son Jarocho at Kupferberg Center’s Colden Auditorium at Queens College (CUNY) in Flushing, Queens; on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 3pm. From $30. 🇲🇽
Los Pleneros de la 21 celebrate their 38th Las Fiestas de Cruz 2023, Puerto Rican style, with chanted rosaries, bomba, and plena, drumming, singing, and dancing. It’s at Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center in “El Barrio” East Harlem, Manhattan; on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 7pm. Suggested donation $5. 🇵🇷
[RIVALRY]
New York Red Bulls vs Philadelphia Union is Major League Soccer at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey; on Saturday, May 6, 2023 at 7:30pm. From $34. 🇺🇸 🇲🇽 | 🇯🇲 | 🇧🇷 🇨🇴 🇻🇪 | 🇮🇹 | 🇨🇲 🇺🇬
Colombian DJ Alex Sensation spins the Spanglish Saturdays urban and latin dance party; of dem bow, rap, reggaeton, trap; with bachata, cumbia, merengue, and salsa; at La Boom NY night club in Woodside, Queens; on Saturday, May 6, 2023. 10pm doors. Free on guest list before midnight. $26 after. 🇨🇴
Sunday, May 7, 2023
Remember Eva Perón “Evita”, the legendary first lady of Argentina, who was born in Los Toldos, Argentina on May 7, 1919. 🇦🇷
The Cinco de Mayo Parade NYC 2023 marches down Central Park West from 106th St in the Upper West Side; on Sunday, May 7, 2023 at 12 noon. 🇲🇽
Dance Argentine tango with some of New York’s best dancers at the El Destino milonga; at Solas bar in the East Village; on Sundays from 6-11pm. $20 + 1 drink. 🇦🇷 🇺🇾
Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra play Latin jazz at Birdland in Hell’s Kitchen; on Sundays at 8:30pm & 10:30pm. From $36+ $20 per person minimum. 🇨🇺
Hagaán y cía play Mexican rock; at the La Boom night club in Woodside, Queens; on Cinco de Mayo weekend, Sunday, May 7, 2023. 9pm doors. $60. 🇲🇽
Next Weekend
Things To Do in NYC Next Weekend: May 12-14
(Week of May 8-14, 2023)