Your Perfect Weekend: November 6-8

FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY

Friday, November 6

You’ve been gobbling Halloween candy for the past week; now it’s time to work it off. The Pond at Bryant Park (Sixth Ave between 40th and 42nd Sts; 212-661-6640, thepondatbryantpark.com; Mon–Thu, Sun 8am–10pm; Fri, Sat 8am–midnight; free, skate rental $12), which is the city’s only free ice skating rink (if you own your own skates, that is), reopens today. Strap on a pair and glide around the ice, and you’ll lose that Kit Kat–induced bulge in no time. If your ankles buckle at the mere thought of skating, skip the triple lutzes and wander through the adjacent Shops at Bryant Park, also opening today.

Make sure you go to the Cask Ale Festival (The Brazen Head, 228 Atlantic Ave between Boerum Pl and Court St, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn; 718-488-0430, brazenheadbrooklyn.com; Fri–Sun noon–2am, free) after, not before, ice skating (it’s a balance/broken-bone thing). This tri-annual event of “living brews,” i.e., beers that are still fermenting in the cask, feature 38 rare and exceedingly strong tipples for $6 10-ounce or $8 16-ounce pours. With names like "Fuggelicious Wet Hopped Harvest Ale" and "Norm's Raggedy Ass Ale” you know they’re going to be good.

Attention, fashionistas: You’re spoiled today. Two free events allow you to admire beautiful cuts and folds and still have money left over to shop. The first is one of five museum exhibitions opening today: “American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion” (The Museum at FIT, Seventh Ave at 27th St; 212-217-4558, fitnyc.edu; Sun–Fri noon–8pm, Sat 10am–5pm, through Apr 10, free) showcases 25 innovative American designers, including Isabel Toledo and Ralph Rucci, illustrating how couture designs become ready-to-wear pieces. You know ready-to-wear—it’s the stuff you don’t buy.

Afterward, gawk at artist E.V. Day’s “exploding couture”—reconstructed, dynamic opera costumes suspended in midair—at the New York City Opera (David H. Koch Theater [at Lincoln Center], Columbus Ave at 63rd St; nycopera.com; 5–8pm, free), on the opening day of a season-long installation. The pieces include both costumes from NYCO’s archive and clothing inspired by this season’s productions (such as Madama Butterfly). The installation is normally open to NYCO ticketholders only, but if you’re too broke for the opera, tonight’s public preview will let you see Day’s work gratis.

What’s that sound? Self-promotion, and giggling. We get in on the New York Comedy Festival with a showcase of emerging comic talent like Morgan Murphy, Donald Glover and more at TONY Approved (Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 307 W 26th St between Eighth and Ninth Aves; 212-366-9176, ucbtheatre.com; 7pm, $10). Alumni include Reggie Watts and Kristen Schaal, so consider this your chance to see some future big names (we hear Donald Glover is about to add some extra syllables to his stage name).

Venture into the unknown tonight—well, to an undisclosed location. However, the headliner at club night Blkmarket Membership (R.S.V.P. to sasha.underground@gmail.com for price and location; 10pm–noon) is very well known: Techno international-superstar DJ Sasha. You should also get to know DJ Three who opens. He’s the boss of Hallucination Limited and is considered something of a DJ’s DJ, mixing deep, impassioned electronic-house. Now you know.

Beijing’s experimental rock scene is growing in international standing, and after China’s Maybe Mars Records’ New York showcase of its biggest acts in The Chinese Underground Invasion (289 Kent Ave between South 1st and 2nd Sts, Williamsburg, Brooklyn; glasslands.com; 7pm, $TBA) they’ll be standing tall. Tonight’s Beijing vs. Brooklyn gig, with Carsick Cars + P.K.14 from China (and No Wave combo These Are Powers representing BK), is one of three shows. Get the scoop on these and the well-established scene with our concert preview.