DANCE Mark Morris Dance Group is back in town with the Seattle premiere of Festival Dance and a reprisal of 2004’s Violet Cavern, with live music by improv jazz trio the Bad Plus. Dec 1–3.

Choreographer Zoe Scofield and artist Juniper Shuey apply a surrealist lens to the space between cause and effect—inspired loosely by the stillness in the chaos of a car crash—in art-dance performance A Crack in Everything at On the Boards. Dec 1–4.

FILM FEST Get your fix of snow stunts and jaw-dropping alpine shots at Banff Mountain Film Festival, with screenings in Seattle, Olympia, Tacoma, and Port Townsend. Thru Dec 10.

THE MET: LIVE IN HD In a live performance of Handel’s Rodelinda beamed in to movie theaters from the Met, Renée Fleming reprises her 2004 title role of a queen who endures usurpers with a string of soaring arias. Dec 3 at 9:30am.

CONCERT Portland-based indie band Blind Pilot are craftsmen in the tradition of fellow Pacific NWers Death Cab for Cutie, playing mellow indie pop with enough chamber instruments (violin, accordion, standup bass) to fit a small orchestra. Neptune Theatre, Dec 2.

Bearded local trio the Cave Singers offers a woodsy blend of folk rock tinged with fiddle jigs and Civil War dirges. They tour behind 2011’s No Witch. Neumos, Dec 2.

HOLIDAY OUTING Wassailing gets serious in the annual (friendly) Great Figgy Pudding Street Corner Caroling Competition, as 40-plus caroling teams compete for bragging rights outside Westlake Center. All proceeds support the Pike Market Senior Center and the Downtown Food Bank. Dec 2.

BOOKS & TALKS Stationed near Geneva, Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider is the world’s biggest particle accelerator, built to recreate the conditions of the Big Bang. Oxford physicist Frank Close will explain the atom smasher’s 40-year history of high political drama at Town Hall. Dec 2.

THEATER Local variety-show maven and devilish emcee Kevin Joyce throws on his white dinner jacket for a revival of his ’90s cult hit A Pale and Lovely Place. As the “Charmer,” he croons “with the gusto of a speed-addicted Bing Crosby” (wrote The Stranger) about the rules of unhealthy living. Thru Dec 11.

SPECIAL EVENT Created with a Parisian flea market in mind, Century Ballroom’s flea market boasts a wide range of independent vendors offering locally designed goods, vintage clothing, housewares, and baubles. Perfect for that growing holiday gift list. Dec 3.