The circus, improv, and film retrospectives are here to love this Valentine's Day weekend

Love is in the air this weekend. That may or may not be your thing. Luckily, there's plenty to love outside of romance this weekend: the city is robust with film screenings, dance, and more. There is a Valentine's Day-themed improv show, but there's promise with something for everyone no matter their stance on the holiday, or their partnership or lack thereof (because dating yourself is just as rewarding, you know?). Whatever your speed may be, you'll surely find something to love in Philly.

Tongue & Groove performs The Love Experiment

On February 14 and 15, Tongue & Groove Spontaneous Theater company performs The Love Experiment. The show welcomes solo and partnered, pro- and anti-Valentine’s Day folks alike. The audience answer one of the infamous 36 ‘love experiment’ questions and the actors improvise scenes and monologues based on responses. The show also offers a preshow bar, love cards, a ‘four-minute booth’ in which you look into a partner’s eyes for four minutes, and more. The Skinner Studio (above Plays & Players Theater, 1714 Delancey Place) is hosting the event at 8pm and tickets are available online. The Skinner Studio is not ADA accessible.

Best Picture Weekend at the Philadelphia Film Center

Catch all eight of the Best Picture nominees on the biggest screen in Center City from Friday, February 15, to Sunday, February 17, at the Philadelphia Film Center (1412 Chestnut Street). The film roster includes A Star Is Born, Bohemian Rhapsody, Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Roma, The Favourite, Green Book, BREAK, and Vice. For tickets, pricing, and scheduling, check out event information online.

Our Bare Truths: An Evening of Three Premieres

The Temple Dance Department presents Our Bare Truths, an evening of dance choreographed by final-year MFA candidates Chenyu Xiong, Qijundai Liu, and Alissa Elegant. Each has a piece dancing her personal truth. Elegant tells the story of a city, a refuge, and a family that was uprooted. Liu’s performance is about humans building gender, race, and culture. Xiong explores the question of how to better explore and make use of our bodies to express our own ideas. The performances are Friday and Saturday, February 15 and 16, at 7:30pm at the Conwell Dance Theater (1801 North Broad Street). Tickets range from $5 to $20 and can be purchased online, by phone at 800-298-4200, or at the door (cash not accepted).

A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels

On Sunday, February 17, Cirque Mechanics debuts its Philadelphia performance of 42FT: A Menagerie of Mechanical Marvels at the Annenberg Center (3680 Walnut Street). This brand-new Cirque Mechanics show takes “an industrial spin on traditional circus with acrobats on mechanical wonders, ageless stories spun in midair and astonishing theatrics.” A diameter of 42 feet has been the measure of the circus ring for 250 years, and to capture the authenticity of the traditional, Cirque Mechanics has collected circus acts including the strongman, the Russian swing, the trapeze, the ladder, the slack wire, and a life-like mechanical horse to celebrate the role of animals in circus throughout its history.

Tickets are available online, and the show begins at 2pm.

From Page to Screen: The Chosen

Gershman Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival debuts its new biannual series “From Page to Screen” with a screening of Jeremy Kagan’s 1981 film The Chosen. Rena Potok, editor of The Collected Plays of Chaim Potok, will open the screening with an introduction to the film and the book of plays it’s adapted from. Kagan, via Skype, will be part of the Q&Aafter the screening, along with Potok. Catch the film on Sunday, February 17, at 6pm at the National Museum of American Jewish History (101 South Independence Mall East). Tickets are $15 and can be purchased online, by calling 215-545-4400, or at the door.