Nuit Blanche: These Are Worth the Under Eye Circles

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If you need one more reason to get your butt off the couch and away from Netflix, Nuit Blanche is coming. Art and culture events take place until the wee hours, complete with buses to take you around.

There’s a snazzy app for your smartphone of choice that lets you use the camera to “see” activities around you, as well as a radar function that lets you identify what is nearby.

So You Think You Can Dance?

If you start out at 8 p.m., there’s belly dancing at the Musée des Beaux-Arts. The current exhibition on Orientalism is spectacular with giant salon pieces that bring imagined worlds to life. Ah, the fantasies of those crazy Parisians. Aside from a kick ass class at the Y, belly dancing is just one more opportunity for westerners to be seduced by their idea of east. Not only do you get to watch, you get to participate too. 1380 Sherbrooke St. 8 p.m. – 9 p.m. If you want to see others keep on dancing, you can check out Bouge Anyway at the Agora de Dance. DJ Nans spins the beats, and a panel of judges decides amongst the best urban stylists whose kicked their sneakers to the sky best. 840 Cherier St. 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The rest of the night, check out Lumière noire. Black light art and performances are part of the ambiance at this all night dance party. Bain Mathieu. 2915 Ontario E. 12:55 a.m. to 8 a.m.

Take a Tour
Station 16 is leading fans of urban/street art on a tour of the MURAL festivals. The night begins with a drink an a chance to schmooze with some of those who have ambidextrous spray paint can hands before heading out on a journey up (or down) St. Laurent. Tours are at 7 p.m., 9 p.m., and midnight. 3523 St Laurent Blvd. Free. Kaleidoscope tours is offering tours of a number of different areas of the city, including one of the boutique hotels and their architecture, another on the different groups that founded the city, and one of Chinatown. 1001 Jean-Paul Riopelle. 6:30 p.m. $15. If fashion is more your thing, Dinh Ba design will take you around the studio and provide a silhouette analysis by a stylist. Prizes too! 1455 Amherst. 8 p.m. – 2 a.m. It’s not quite a tour, but you can check out the Pumpking station and interact with actors who will teach you about enviornmental and social issues. 50 St. Catherine W. 8 p.m. – 2 a.m.

Weird and Arty
The first thing that struck me as super weird is the “interactive visit” at Hotel Le Germain. You take a tour of the hotel rooms, but inside are artistic performances. Not sure what to expect. Hotel Le Germain 2050 Mansfield St. 8 p.m. to midnight. If it’s happening at Café Cléopâtre, I know it’s going to be weird. SPASM showcases a film festival of horror, trash, and whatever else wicked this way comes. There will be drag queens, and not just on the screen. $5. 1230 St. Laurent 7 p.m. – 3 a.m. If you’re pining for the cinematic mash-up of Fantasia, you can catch free screenings of short films from the festival at Place des Arts/Theatre Maisonneuve. 175 St. Catherine W. midnight – 4 a.m. If joining the circus would be your thing if you could bend a little more, you can at least dance with the old-fashioned traveling circus better known as the TOHU Freak Show! The event promises that you can dance with the freaks. Tohu. 2345 Jarry E; 11 p.m. – 3 a.m. I always end up at the Belgo building. It’s chummy with the Quartier des Spectacles, so after freezing my butt off trying to watch something on the stage and the inevitable jog through the MAC, I make my way to this art hub. There’s generally a raucous party of arty types running in and out of every studio with beer, djs, weird and awesome things to check out. A few things in the Belgo — 80 short films by Coral Short and Angela Gabereau (space 303) and an all night Talk Show with guests (space 507). Belgo is at 372 St. Catherine W.

Nuit Blanche takes place on February 28.