THE VALLEY This Weekend

Dance

Dance promoter Albert Torres presents the salsa sounds of Johnny Polanco y su Conjunto Amistad on Friday night at the Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City.

* Johnny Polanco y su Conjunto Amistad, Friday, 10 p.m., Sportsmen’s Lodge, 4234 Coldwater Canyon Blvd., Studio City. $15 cover. (310) 450-8770.

Celebration

The Jewish Federation / Valley Alliance presents “Celebrate!,” a concert featuring singer-songwriter Debbie Friedman, Saturday night at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Friedman, who has played to capacity audiences at Carnegie Hall and recorded 15 albums, combines Hebrew prayers with American folk music. Her musical influences include Joan Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary, Judy Collins and Melissa Manchester. The Jewish Federation / Valley Alliance helps people suffering from HIV / AIDS, battered women and children, and refugees around the world.

* Debbie Friedman’s “Celebrate!,” Saturday, 8 p.m., Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. $18-$100. (818) 464-3230.

Tribute

In honor of the 100th anniversary of composer Kurt Weill’s birth, the Skirball Cultural Center presents the East Side Sinfonietta in concert Wednesday night. Weill, who was born March 2, 1900, in Dessau, Germany, studied music composition with Humperdinck and Busconi in Berlin. His early works included the operas “The Threepenny Opera” (1928) and “The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” (1929), which featured words and stories by Bertolt Brecht. The songs “Mack the Knife” from “Threepenny Opera” and “The Alabama Song” from “Mahagonny” were later adapted for pop music recordings in the 1960s. After moving to the United States in 1935, Weill broke with the European art-music tradition and wrote for the Broadway stage. Later works included “Knickerbocker Holiday” (1938), “Lady in the Dark” (1941) and “One Touch of Venus,” with lyrics by poet Ogden Nash (1943). The East Side Sinfonietta was formed in 1988 to celebrate Brecht’s centennial.

* Kurt Weill Centenary, the East Side Sinfonietta, Wednesday, 8 p.m., Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Sepulveda Pass, $8-$12. (323) 655-8587.