Each week, Arts Orange County and Culture OC deliver you this look at the stories and events happening in our arts and cultural community.

250th United States Marine Corps Birthday & Veterans Day Celebration

Honor this extraordinary landmark in the history of America's servicemembers with this celebration in Huntington Beach featuring live music, vendors, and food MORE

Creativity and Sustainability Collide at This Year’s ‘Art + Nature’

The latest iteration of this annual initiative, organized by Laguna Art Museum, explores the intersection of artistic expression and the beauty of the natural world.

Fullerton’s Metrolink Station Is the City’s Past, Present and Pulse

O.C. by Metrolink: Each of the 11 Metrolink stations on the Orange County Line – and the cities they serve – has its own deep-seated history with the railroad. Some, like Anaheim and Santa Ana, were already established communities before the first railway arrived in the 1870s. Others, such as Buena Park and Lake Forest/Mission Viejo, disappeared from the rail map for decades before being revived with Metrolink’s expansion. Still others – Orange, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente – were shaped by the rails that ran through their hearts.

But no city in Orange County owes its very existence, growth and ongoing vitality to the railroad quite like Fullerton.

Orange County Dance Company Heads to New Zealand Peace Conference

For nearly a decade, choreographer Boróka Nagy has been quietly shaping a corner of Orange County’s dance scene through Santa Ana-based Re:born Dance Interactive, a company known for transforming audiences from spectators into participants. Next week, her work will reach a new kind of audience.

On Nov. 7, Re:born will perform at the International Peace Research Association Conference in New Plymouth, New Zealand – one of the world’s leading gatherings devoted to peace research. The company will premiere “A Tale of Two Tables: Un/Covered,” a 45-minute contemporary work that contrasts the intimacy of family life with the cold calculus of political power.

It’s a rare opportunity for a dance company to take the stage at a conference better known for academic presentations than performance art. For Nagy, that invitation reinforces what she’s been exploring through Re:born since 2015 – the idea that movement itself can communicate what words cannot.

“When we watch another body move – struggle, fall, reach, surrender – something in us recognizes that experience,” Nagy said. “That shared response is empathy in motion.”

Each week, we recommend a variety of events and experiences from the listings at SparkOC.com, our free website for Orange County's arts and cultural community.

Dana Point Harbor After Dark

A recently-launched street fair invites visitors to spend the first Friday of the month walking among the shops and restaurants of Dana Point, enjoying special extended hours and live performances MORE

Layers of Self

A new group exhibition at Santa Ana's Orange County Center of Contemporary Art (OCCCA) explores how the making of art relates to self-examination and discovery through the works of five diverse and unique visual artists MORE

Fancy Nancy Tea Party with Robin Preiss Glasser

Dress in your best party attire and share tea and treats with the creator of the beloved star of children's books and cartoons at Irvine's Merage Jewish Community Center of Orange County MORE

Lost Landmarks of Orange County

The New York Times Bestselling Author delivers a talk courtesy of the Newport Beach Historical Society illuminating forgotten stories and marvels from Orange County's past MORE