From a media release:

Canadian dance icons – Peter Bingham and Denise Fujiwara -
headline international line-up at
MOonhORsE Dance Theatre’s Older & Reckless March 8-10, 2013 
performance: 2 SOLOS | A DUET | AN ENSEMBLE
                              
Toronto - Older & Reckless, MOonhORsE Dance Theatre’s celebrated series curated by Artistic Director Claudia Moore, continues its 2012/13 season with 2 SOLOS | A DUET | AN ENSEMBLE featuring ten dance artists from around the globe in works by Canadian choreographers Peter Bingham, Denise Fujiwara, Peter Chin and Nancy Latoszewski (Greyeyes). Edition #28 of Older and Reckless runs March 8 to 10 at Dancemakers Centre for Creation.

Vancouver contact improvisation master Peter Bingham presents Romantic Old Horses, a stunning duet for Daelik (Vancouver) and Kostas Gerardos (Greece). An intimate and powerful encounter between two men, the duet draws upon the extensive history of Contact Dance and Improvisation that underlies the careers of both Daelik and Kostas. The dance shifts between playful and highly physical to thoughtful and imagistic. Danced to the music of Robert Schumann, the duet reflects a long, deep friendship between two men.

Additionally, at 10am on Saturday March 9, Daelik and Kostas will conduct a workshop/master class entitled Back to the Future (exploring the back space). It is a contact improvisation class with specific focus on the “back space” as an area for discovery and motivation, aimed at professional dancers and dance students in their final year of training.

Choreographer Denise Fujiwara brings an excerpt of Eunoia to the stage. This compelling dance work is based on the 2002 Griffin Prize-winning work of the same name by poet Christian Bök. In the poem, the author imposed upon himself the severe constraint of working with only one vowel in each chapter. In the dance, Fujiwara uses the poem as text (spoken live and in multi-media projections) as a basis for the musical score, multimedia expressions and the movement invention. Like the poem, the dance work is rigorous, witty, unpredictable and frequently droll. Eunoia features six acclaimed dance artists: Sylvie Bouchard, Claudia Moore, Lucy Rupert, Miko Sobreira, Rebecca Hope Terry and Gerry Trentham, with a stellar creation team that includes composer Phil Strong and media designer Justin Stephenson.

Rounding out the program is the incomparable Peter Chin, artistic director of Tribal Crackling Wind, in a brand new solo work, con/Tempo/rare; and Nancy Latoszewski (Greyeyes), co-artistic director of Signal Theatre, performing her solo, Carriage.

And the public doesn’t need to just stand on the sidelines – they can sign up for an introductory hip-hop workshop for adults with Apolonia Velasquez and Ofilio Sinbadinho (both of Gadfly), 5:30pm on Saturday, March 9 ($10). And they are invited to join in a gentle and rejuvenating audience warm-up prior to each performance; and to stay for an after-party and a chance to talk one-on-one with the artists.

Older & Reckless, an informal performance series, features work from OLDER artists who continue to grow more RECKLESS as time goes by. Older & Reckless provides an opportunity for seasoned dance artists to perform short works and a chance for the audience to see some of Canada’s most celebrated senior choreographers.

Conceived by Claudia Moore, artistic director of MOonhORsE Dance Theatre, Older & Reckless is “an intimate exchange for both the performer and the observer; exciting, terrifying, and lots of fun. The performances are followed by a party with music, refreshments, and a chance to talk with the artists about work, process, and whatever else comes up!”

Older & Reckless – Edition #28 – 2 SOLOS | A DUET | AN ENSEMBLE
featuring works by Peter Bingham, Denise Fujiwara, Peter Chin and Nancy Latoszewski (Greyeyes)
March 8-10, 2013
Performances: Friday & Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm
Dancemakers Centre for Creation in the Distillery Historic District, 9 Trinity Street, Studio 313
Tickets $25/$22 CADA, students and seniors
For tickets to 2 SOLOS / A DUET / AN ENSEMBLE, call 416-504-6429 ext. 30
or visit www.moonhorsedance.com

From a media release:

Alwan for the Arts Shines New Light on Contemporary Iraq’s Art and Ideas with Eloquence:
A Festival of Iraqi Culture Resilience and Relevance

• Performances and events March 9, 16 & 27, 2013 in NYC (see schedule below)

Iraqi culture is of world significance. Though mostly considered in the context of the recent war—and this March marks the tenth anniversary of the U.S. and its allies’ invasion—Iraq deserves a radically different place and representation. From talented instrumentalists drawing on millennia of technique, and vocalists with an encyclopedic knowledge of complex traditions, to strikingly contemporary architects and writers, Iraq has nurtured and harbored a continuous, broad-minded stream of creative individuals of the highest caliber and global significance.

This March, to highlight this striking fact and shift prevailing conversations around Iraq, New York’s Alwan for the Arts is presenting a groundbreaking Eloquence: A Festival of Iraqi Culture in collaboration with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, St. John the Divine, and Alwan’s loft space in lower Manhattan (March 9-27, 2013).

Keynote speaker and world-recognized architect Zaha Hadid (recipient of the Priztker Architecture Prize, architecture’s answer to the Nobel); outspoken poet Fadhil Al-Azzawi; maqam master Hamid Al-Saadi; and oud (Arab lute) virtuoso Naseer Shamma and other participants will present their varied perspectives on heritage and innovation, on Iraqi tradition and the present reality in Iraq. Al-Saadi, on his first U.S. tour, and Shamma, who declined to come to the U.S. for a decade in protest of the war, will then proceed to four additional U.S. cities for rousing performances. Iraqi-American Music Curator at Alwan, Amir ElSaffar, responsible for the music portion of this Festival, will present his perspective as well, with the premiere of a new work performend by the Alwan Ensemble to open for Shamma’s performance at the Metropolitan Museum. (Other stops include Washington DC, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus OH, and Ann Arbor.)

“When your art gains international resonance, you become part of the world, not just an expression of your birthplace, your native culture, or your heritage,” reflects Ahmed Issawi, Alwan’s Literary Program Curator. “The Festival and the artists speak to that.”

Alwan for the Arts, a vibrant hub for the culture and thought of the Middle East, sees presenting an interplay of age-old and fresh, of reinterpreted tradition, from a country whose culture has been both endangered and misconceived abroad, as part and parcel of its mission for promoting the nuanced, complex culture of an often misconstrued region. By bringing contemporary lights like Hadid—born in Baghdad and now one of the world’s most renowned architects—and Al-Azzawi into dialogue with musicians based in and inspired by tradition, Alwan hopes to bring the integrating, creative vision of Iraq’s diverse artistic and literary communities to a broader audience.

Naseer Shamma:

By collaborating with other venues, institutions, presenters, and communities, Alwan demonstrates the universal beauty and constructive force of the culture of the Middle East. “We’re a coalition of the culturally willing, you might say,” Issawi muses. “We’re using cultural means to transcend, to find another way of communicating. Finding a different language and changing the conversation altogether is a critical mission.”

Naseer Shamma and the Al-Oyoun Ensemble: A founder of the world’s first oud conservatory, Shamma’s unique playing style and keen ability to apply ancient knowledge in fresh ways has propelled Shamma and his Cairo-based ensemble to stages across the world. After a ten-year hiatus, as Shamma stood against the war and refused to perform in the U.S., audiences will get a chance to hear.

Hamid Al-Saadi (U.S. debut): Al-Saadi is the only living vocalist to have all 56 of Bagdhad’s maqams, the centuries-old, highly detailed, orally transmitted basis for the music once found at courts and in coffeehouses across Iraq. Al-Saadi’s profound knowledge combines with a subtle sense for maqam’s rhythm, poetic lyrics, and melodic intricacies.

The Alwan Arab Music Ensemble : The resident ensemble of Alwan for the Arts, the Alwan Ensemble delivers a joyful and transporting feast of well-loved classical songs from the greater Arab World, built around mesmerizing textures of rhythmic and improvisational intensity. The group performs in the classical art music traditions of Cairo, Aleppo, and Baghdad, three important Arab cities with great legacies in art and culture. This performance will focus on the musical traditions of Iraq.

Two Rivers Ensemble: Joining Al-Saadi, in counterpoint, will be Two Rivers, a genre-crossing ensemble dedicated to finding the resonances between Iraqi maqam, the longtime fascination and object of study of trumpeter and sintir player, Amir ElSaffar (Alwan’s Music Curator and Two Rivers founder). Using the melodic elements of maqam and the improvisational exchanges of jazz, the group accentuates a different facet of Iraqi tradition, taking it out of its homeland and into new territory.

Zaha Hadid : A native of Baghdad, Hadid has won some of the architecture world’s most coveted honors and has created visionary buildings and urban environments around the world. Known for her detailed paintings and drawings (exhibited in a major retrospective at the Guggenheim in 2008), as well as her built works, her central concerns involve a simultaneous engagement in practice, teaching and research. Hadid designed The London Aquatics Centre for the recent Summer Olympics, as well as the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, and the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, the Gungzhau Opera House in China and the Dancing Towers in Dubai, among dozens of other projects.

Fadhil Al-Azzawi: Part of Iraq’s experimental generation of writers and artists in the 1960s, Al-Azzawi fled the Ba’athist regime and eventually settled in Germany. He is a widely respected writer of prose, poetry, and literary criticism, as well a scholar of both English and German literature, a translator, and an editor and founder of several international journals.

Alwan for the Arts, Eloquence: A Festival of Iraqi Culture:
New York City Schedule

March 9, 2013
Naseer Shamma and Al-Oyoun Ensemble
Metropolitan Museum of Art,Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium @ 1000 5th Ave., New York, NY
Tix: $25, Show: 7:00 pm
Ph: 212.535.7710

March 16, 2013
Hamid Al Saadi
The Cathedral Church fo St. John the Divine @ 1047 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY
Show: 8:00 pm
Ph: 212.316.7540

March 27, 2013
We are Iraqis: Aesthetics and Politics in a Time of War
Alwan for the Arts @ 16 Beaver St. New York, NY
Tix: $5 suggested at the door, Doors Open: 6:30 pm, Show: 7:00 pm
Ph: 646.732.3261

Maqam Mansuri – Hamed al-Sa’adi:

From a media release:

Theatre Smith-Gilmour presents
As I Lay Dying
By William Faulkner
March 8th-31st, 2013
Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace

“It takes two people to make you, and one people to die. That’s how the world is going to end.”

TORONTO - Following this year’s acclaimed workshop production, Theatre Smith-Gilmour presents the World Premiere of William Faulkner’s AS I LAY DYING at Theatre Passe Muraille from March 8-31, 2013. An original adaptation, AS I LAY DYING is the evocative Southern gothic chronicle of the Bundren family odyssey across the Mississippi countryside to bury their wife and mother. Calamity haunts their 40-mile funeral procession, an absurdly tragic journey through the grotesque intersection of character and circumstance. Tickets will be available via the artsboxoffice.ca, 416-504-7529, or at the door.

AS I LAY DYING transgresses triumphantly all the principles of good taste – it is a rich and unsettling tale that takes us to the edge of sanity as each member of the family struggles in their own way with the promise made to Addie Bundren. A dying Addie watches her eldest son build the coffin she’ll soon occupy. The family – including Addie herself, speaking from beyond the grave – reveal their foibles and secrets in overlapping narratives chronicling the journey, marked by flood and fire and family discord. There aren’t any angels aboard this wagon – just humanity, with all of its virtues and vices, beneath an ominous halo of circling vultures.

AS I LAY DYING features Daniel Roberts (Home Ice, Theatre North), Julian De Zotti (Suits, USA Network, New Year, indie feature film), Dan Watson (Ahuri Theatre, creator/director of A Fool’s Life), Ben Muir (Storming Juno, The History Channel), Nina Gilmour (recently returned from two years of study at the school of Philippe Gaulier in Paris), alongside Theatre Smith-Gilmour founders Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour (Lu Xun Blossoms, Chekhov Cycle, Grimm too, Katherine Mansfield). Lighting Designed by Dora award-winner Andre Du Toit (TSG, Factory Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, LabCab Festival). Set and Costume Design by Dora and Gemini award-winner Teresa Przybylski (Stratford, Shaw, COC, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre). Stage managed by Heather Thompson.

Theatre Smith-Gilmour occupies an essential place in the landscape of Canadian Theatre; founders Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour have created physically bold and moving pieces of theatre, based on the teachings of Jacques Lecoq, since 1980. Their highly-esteemed body of work is known for its compassionate vision of the human condition, and includes the acclaimed Chekhov Cycle and Lu Xun Blossoms. Theatre Smith-Gilmour has been nominated for 29 Dora Awards, and won 8, including Outstanding Production and Outstanding Actor (Dean Gilmour), and Outstanding Director (Michele Smith), for both Chekhov’s shorts and Chekov longs – In The Ravine.

Show information for AS I LAY DYING:
Venue: Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace (16 Ryerson Avenue, Toronto)
Dates: March 8-31, 2013
Tues – Sat @ 7:30pm, PWYC Matinee Saturdays @ 2:30pm and Sunday 31 March at 2:30pm
Tickets: $15-$30 Will be available via artsboxoffice.ca or 416-504-7529

Much like we believe that winter will pass, so too will the exhibition by Mark Titchner at the #Toronto Art Gallery of Ontario. Mark is a British artist and will be the international artist-in-residence this fall and his words seek to communicate and inspire people. His work consists of a language-based, vinyl wall paintings and banners and a film work within the museum documents his observations and interactions with our city. The AGO display will remain until April 21, 2013 at the glass, dirigible building on Dundas Street West.

“Mark Titchner describes his work as “a dialogue about how you receive thoughts and ideas.” Drawing on place, dislocation and self-help mantras, the artist presents conflicting ideologies and outmoded ideas without mockery or cynicism, allowing viewers to form their own conclusions.” http://www.ago.net/mark-titchner-please-believe-these-days-will-pass

The saying reminds me of one of my favourite phrases “This too shall pass” found in medieval Persian poems. I think it can help people who are going through tough times because nothing lasts forever, although somethings do tend to last a little longer than people hope.

Filed under: art, digital, drawing, iPad Tagged: calico, Cat, Crunch

New Mixtape: Ritmo Machine by DJ Rhettmatic
• The CD Welcome to the Ritmo Machine is available on Nacional Records

Ritmo Machine is one of my absolute favourite acts to come out in the last couple of years and their CD Welcome to the Ritmo Machine is a permanent fixture on my MP3 player.

There’s a new mixtape by DJ Rhettmatic of the World Famous Beatjunkies. 

Ritmo Machine is a collaboration from CYPRESS HILL/BEASTIE BOYS percussionist Eric Bobo and DJ/turntablist Latin Bitman. Their album features guest appearances from Money Mark & Mix Master Mike (Beastie Boys), Sen Dog (Cypress Hill), Chali 2na (Jurassic 5), Ana Tijoux, P-Nut (311), and Sick Jacken (Psycho Realm).

Eric Bobo, the son of Latin jazz legend Willie Bobo, recorded and toured with the Beastie Boys during their groundbreaking albums ‘Check Your Head’ and ‘Ill Communication’, and has been a full time member of Cypress Hill since he first connected with the legendary hip-hop crew at Woodstock in 1994. This year, Ritmo Machine has performed at SXSW, Cypress Hill’s Smokeout, VIVE Latino, and Lollapalooza Chile & Brazil.

New Video from Don Kikas

Angolan superstar Don Kikas just released a new video from the album ‘Regresso a Base’.

• You can check out more about the CD here

From a media release:

Mop Mop “Isle of Magic” 
Release Date: March 5th, 2013  on Agogo Records
Featuring Fred Wesley, Anthony Joesph, Sara Sayed, and More!

Anyone familiar with Mop Mop will already know that their refined style has already lend them a unique place somewhere between the worlds of jazz, funk, Latin and the Italian Postmodern style allowed the band to enter the international film business as part of Woody Allen’s “To Rome With Love” movie soundtrack. But with this latest LP Isle Of Magic, Mop Mop digs even deeper to bring us one of their most engaging and organic records yet.

Run Around feat. Fred Wesley & Anthony Joseph (Radio Edit) by Mop Mop

Mop Mop’s fourth studio album has come together over the course of a couple of years where producer Andrea Benini has been searching for new directions with the band. Collaborations in the album include funk legend Fred Wesley, Trinidad-born poet/singer Anthony Joseph and Finnish-Egyptian vocalist Sara Sayed. Over fifteen musicians were involved during the production of the album, including Andrea Benini’s co-arranger Alex Trebo on piano, Pasquale Mirra on vibraphone and marimba, Guglielmo Pagnozzi on clarinette and flute, Johannes Schleiermacher (Bajka, Radio Citizen, Woima Collective) on baritone sax, Lorenzo Ternelli and Salvatore Lauriola on bass and Danilo Mineo on percussions — just to name a few.

Isle Of Magic contains 13 tracks of pure voodoo jazz, Caribbean flavors, Afro-funk, exotic rhythms and soul music. The album has been recorded between Germany and Italy with the use of vintage analog equipment to achieve a sound with all the warm qualities of vintage analog tape recordings; sessions have been recorded during the period March/ August 2011.

Isle Of Magic is an imaginary land populated by musicians who spend their time fishing, cooking, playing and practicing voodoo rites at night. The whole album represents the soundtrack of this imaginary life.

From a media release:

Rabbit in a Hat Productions
In collaboration with Infinithéâtre presents
Cornered
Written by Jim Burke, Directed by Paul Van Dyck
Starring Howard Rosenstein & Christopher Moore
Tuesday, March 6 – Sunday, March 17, 2013

• Tickets: (514) 987-1774 ext. 104
• Or online with PayPal (cash only at the door) 

MONTREAL – Rabbit in a Hat Productions in collaboration with Infinithéâtre presents a remount of Jim Burke’s Cornered directed by Paul Van Dyck and starring Howard Rosenstein and Christopher Moore. At Bain St-Michel from March 6th to March 17th.

A nasty, brutal comedy set in a seedy Manchester gym. Rex and his apprentice, Vinnie, are two corner men working a youth boxing tournament. Their boy, Little T, is the favourite to win, but the sinister gangster Doxy has other ideas. Unaware of each other’s agenda, Rex and Vinnie seek to take advantage of Doxy’s activities. But nothing is what it seems, and the two incompetent corner men’s attempts at fancy footwork leave them both sprawling on the ropes.

The award-winning play received a short but stellar run at Theatre St-Catherine in November, 2011. With the help of Infinithéâtre and an onslaught of critical and audience acclaim, this well deserved remount was inevitable.

Writer Jim Burke provides the script, which won The Manchester News Theatre Award for Best New Play in 2000. “It’s not really a boxing play,” explains Burke, “It’s about people on the outskirts of boxing. Kind of on the ropes, looking in. We never see the fight, only the before and after.” Burke himself has never boxed. When he was growing up in Manchester, England, he briefly considered taking boxing lessons in order to protect himself, but decided against it. He wrote Cornered about 12 years ago and was pleasantly surprised when it won the award for best new play. One of his previous works, an adaptation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick had previously won the same award. Now 51 and the father of two, Burke moved to Montreal six years ago, partly for family reasons (his wife was born here). He teaches English and creative writing at Dawson College. The expression ‘corner man’, which he noted while reading an article on Muhammad Ali, triggered the play: “It rang a Samuel Beckett chord. Something about watching from the fringes as an outsider waiting for something to happen. It’s kind of a comedy. The corner men are a little inept, a little bit Laurel and Hardy. It’s not a very macho, testosterone type of play. It’s basically about good intentions being corrupted.”

Hot on the heels of the ambitious and beautiful Oroonoko at The MAI, Paul Van Dyck (Miss Sugarpuss Must Die!, Haunted, Paradise Lost) directs this walloping two-hander. His attraction to the play came from his first read. “The script is a phenomenally beautiful two-hander. Lots of plays have whistles and bells but no substance. Cornered is a complex story, simply told. The writing turns slang into poetry and two pathetic, desperate buffoons into surprisingly sympathetic anti-heroes. On the surface, Cornered is a hysterical black comedy, but at its heart is the hopeful message that although we live in a world where corruption runs rampant at every level of society, despite the devastating consequences, there exists the courage to come clean.”

Montreal actors Howard Rosenstein (Kafka’s Ape, The Leisure Society, Elizabeth Rex) and Christopher Moore (Oroonoko, Hamlet, Titus Andronicus) give Mancunian voices to the otherwise odd pairing of characters Rex and Vinnie respectively.

Despite Rex’s gruff exterior, Rosenstein feels “you have to learn to love your character. Rex doesn’t necessarily see himself as a bad person, so neither can I.” Vinnie, played by Moore, is “a wannabe thug.” He’s younger and gets a lot of abuse from Rex, as the weaker member of the team. “He’s always on the outside looking in. He seeks acceptance, especially from Rex, and I think we all want to be accepted by the people we look up to.” The first thing both actors noticed about the play was the Manchester accents they would have to adopt. Both Moore and Rosenstein were prepared for the challenge, understanding they would have to master the skill in order to properly capture the spirit of the characters. Rosenstein has a great amount of respect for the play itself and hopes to do justice to the story. “It’s a really well written, smart drama and we’re going to honour it.”

With multi award-winning lighting designer Jody Burkholder and stage manager Anne-Marie Pierre rounding out the team, Cornered is sure to be another knockout in its new digs at Bain St-Michel.

Cornered
Presented by Rabbit in Hat Productions in collaboration with Infinithéâtre
At Bain St-Michel, 5300, rue St-Dominique (corner Maguire)
March 6-17. Tuesday to Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm

March 6 is opening night
March 10 at 2pm is pay-what-you-can to encourage word of mouth
Tickets: (514) 987-1774 ext. 104
Or online with PayPal (cash only at the door)

From a media release:

THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO – FOLLOWED BY THOUSANDS
(March 5th, 2013 on MWPC Records)

The Battle of Santiago: Call it a sound clash with a victorious outcome. This Toronto-based instrumental ensemble comprises seemingly disparate musical elements. Out of potential conflict, however, comes a bracingly refreshing new sound that is quickly turning ears.

Group founder Michael Owen explains “Within The Battle of Santiago (TBOS) we have a Latino section and a Canadian section. Everyone comes with such a variety of experiences. That can create something of a battle within the group, I think that kind of energy or tension creates a really good environment. You can feel the push and pull.”

The Latino component of TBOS comprises Venezuelan-born Joel Perez and Cuban-born and raised Reimundo Sosa. They were both studying and performing percussion in their homelands before they were even teens, and they bring a wealth of rhythmic experience to the group. The Anglo section comprises bassist Michael Owen, saxophonist/flautist Michael Butler, and guitarist/sonic manipulator Lyle Crilly.

Full Colour was the title of the 2011 full-length debut of TBOS. Preceded by an EP that quickly made converts at campus radio, the debut album hit No. 14 on the Top20 national Canadian college radio charts, spending four consecutive months in the National Top 20.

The Battle of Santiago has also quickly earned a reputation as a dynamic and exhilarating band live, one that uses video and lighting to striking effect. In partnership with artist/designer Patricio Davila, the group integrates digital visual art, live musical performance and audience interaction, creating an organic audio / visual installation designed to stimulate the senses in vivid fashion.

A second full-length album, Followed By Thousands, is set to be released on March 5, 2013. Followed by Thousands is “a record that helps define our sound and our direction,” notes Owen. It will feature new compositions alongside inventive remixes of earlier material. One such remix, of “Jackson Rain,” showcases noted Toronto artist Lady Son on vocals and percussion, and gives the track a reggae treatment. Also being remixed in three versions (a dub, club and down-tempo mix) is “According To Legends,” the opening track on their previous release Full Colours.

The Battle Of Santiago’s unique music blend is simultaneously rhythmic, ambient and atmospheric; a tricky combination they achieve with graceful ease. TBOS are not sonic purists: “I’m not a world or Latin music guy. I’ve always produced rather ambient experimental music,” Owen explains, “we’re not doing Latin rock like Santana, we’re not doing orthodox post-rock because we’ve got these Latin rhythms, and it’s not traditional Afro-Cuban either.”

Progression and excitement are twin pillars of The Battle of Santiago mandate. Following their artistic progress promises to be an exciting pursuit.

Fraser’s brother’s artwork- on top of the world   art studio for childrenSometimes(almost always) I wish I had an eight year old boyOther times I wish I was an eight year old boy.I am not kidding one bit.I got a…

Filed under: art

Diplomatic immunity came in handy as delegates to the Dachshund UN made a binding resolution to ban cats in #Toronto. The many members of the UN did manage to keep the rhetoric down at the Harbourfront Centre World Stage performance installation by B…

From a media release:

Soundstreams Presents:
Fujii Percussion and Voices
March 5, 2013
Koerner Hall, Toronto


Part of Spotlight Japan, this concert includes classics by Toru Takemitsu and Claude Vivier, a rare sanukite stone performance, and a world premiere by Michael Oesterle.

(Toronto) — Soundstreams continues its 30th anniversary season with Fujii Percussion and Voices at Koerner Hall on March 5 at 8:00 pm. Part of a Canadian tour that will also include performances at the Montreal New Music Festival and Ottawa Chamberfest Concert Series, this concert features Japan’s virtuoso Fujii Trio, percussionist Ryan Scott, pianist Gregory Oh, and the renowned Toronto Children’s Chorus, who together will explore the rich colours of Japanese music written for percussion and voice. Program highlights include classics from the Japanese and Canadian repertoire and the world premiere of Michael Oesterle’s Carrousel.

Mutsuko Fujii, one of Japan’s most prominent and influential marimba and percussion artists, has performed to rave reviews at major concert venues around the world. She joins her daughters Haruka Fujii, a member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and Rika Fujii, a theatrical and orchestral percussionist based in Tokyo. Their repertoire includes works by Maki Ishii, Toru Takemitsu, Akira Miyoshi, Claude Vivier and Yasuo Sueyoshi, and offers a rare opportunity to experience the ethereal sound of the sanukite, a mallet instrument produced from volcanic stone.

Also featured is the Toronto Children’s Chorus, one of the world’s leading treble choirs, conducted by Elise Bradley. Thirty-six young choristers will perform the Japanese folk song Hotaru Koi, and join Mutsuko and Rika Fujii for Akira Miyoshi’s Letters to God and Yamagara Diary. Finally, three-time Soundstreams collaborator Michael Oesterle will premiere his new work, Carrousel, a quartet for glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba and piano exploring the spiral motion of time, nature and sound.

Fujii Percussion and Voices is part of Spotlight Japan, a city-wide celebration of classic and contemporary Japanese culture presented by Soundstreams, TIFF, Canadian Stage, Japan Foundation and the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. For more information, please visit www.spotlightjapan.ca

Fujii Percussion and Voices
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at 8:00 pm
Koerner Hall, TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning, 273 Bloor St. W.

Mutsuko Fujii, percussion
Haruka Fujii, percussion
Rika Fujii, percussion
Gregory Oh, piano
Ryan Scott, percussion
Toronto Children’s Chorus, conducted by Elise Bradley

Maki Ishii: Hiten Seido II
Yasuo Sueyoshi: Mirage
Hotaru Koi (Japanese folk song)
Akira Miyoshi: Letters to God, Yamagara Diary (Canadian premiere)
Michael Oesterle: Carrousel (world premiere)
Toru Takemitsu: Seasons
Claude Vivier: Pulau Dewata

Tickets range from $20-$65 and are available through The Royal Conservatory Box Office at  416-408-0208  or online at www.soundstreams.ca
Thanks to the generosity of BMO Financial Group, nearly 100 tickets to all 2012-2013 Soundstreams concerts are available for just $20.

OTHER TOUR DATES:

Montreal New Music Festival
Friday, March 1 at 7:00 pm
Salle Pierre-Mercure, Centre Pierre-Péladeau
www.festivalmnm.ca

Ottawa Chamberfest Concert Series
Sunday, March 3 at 3:30 pm
Dominion-Chalmers United Church
www.ottawachamberfest.com

From a media release:

Théâtre Aux Écuries presents a Candles are for Burning production


BLISS

Written by Olivier Choinière, Translated by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Steven McCarthy
5 SHOWS ONLY- Tuesday, March 5 – Saturday, March 9, 2013


“The hardest thing about work is other people – hearing what they think. You wonder if there’s a kind of work where people are all alone – really all alone.” -Oracle/Caro

Montreal – Théâtre Aux Écuries is privileged to bring back the award-winning Candles are for Burning production, Bliss. Written by gifted Québecois playwright Olivier Choinière and translated by the notable Caryl Churchill, Bliss is playing at Théâtre Aux Écuries for five shows only from March 5-9. Directed by the ever-inventive Steven McCarthy, the talented cast stars Delphine Bienvenu, Jean-Robert Bourdage, Trent Pardy and France Rolland in this exciting and challenging piece spiked with humour. When worlds collide…

Ostracized at work, Oracle stands in a Walmart lunch room and directs her fellow employees in a wild and slippery fantasy ripped from the pages of a Québec tabloid. ‘See you later Celine,’ reads a headline. What’s wrong with Celine Dion and why is she turning her back on her glamorous life and adoring fans? And how is her story connected to the story that sits on the opposite page: the completely unknown Isabelle Côté abused by her family? The two stories aren’t related, until Oracle intervenes. Choinière’s surrealist theatricalization of sensationalist press stories about Gods and monsters is the ultimate revenge. Bliss is about being a powerless, anonymous person and exacting retribution for that humiliation.

Aux Écuries is the collaboration of 6 Artistic Directors (including Bliss playwright Olivier Choinière), their 4 companies and 1 vision. Artistic Director Steven McCarthy is thrilled that his company, Candles are for Burning, has been invited by Choinière to perform at the recently redesigned Théâtre Aux Écuries. “Olivier is in my mind one of the most exciting theatre makers in Canada at the moment; a provocateur in the best way.”

Bliss is Greek tragedy meets pop concert- demanding something from both performers and audience. When McCarthy first read the play and its wild, twisted rollercoaster ride through the looking glass of our celebrity-obsessed culture, it scared him, “We get invited into the life of the most famous celebrity and into the home of the most abused young girl in recent memory. We love to read about celebrity, we love to read about victims of violence, but the theatre’s greatest potential is to remove the barriers between who we are and what we might imagine ourselves to be. On assiste à un spectacle, we witness a tragedy; it is an act of community.”

A few years ago, playwright Olivier Choinière was struck by a story because of its violence: the case of Isabelle Côté. This young girl had been held captive all her life and had served as a sex slave to her parents; the rest of the family was also involved in incest, rape and abuse to varying degrees. Not only was it difficult for Choinière to understand how such a tragedy could occur, the question for him was how this young girl survived the unbearable for all those years, “The only way to imagine survival was by fleeing completely into one’s imagination, in this case the music and life of Celine Dion. In Bliss, the world on stage starts off magical but becomes a nightmare. In comparison, Isabelle’s horrific life almost makes ours bearable.”

McCarthy sees other art forms mix in Montreal but very rarely with theatre. He created this production while living in Montreal as he believed there was something each tradition could learn from the other, “I felt I could create a kind of art that blended the poetry and viscera of the Francophone tradition with the more realist tradition of the Anglophone model. I was right. We learned so much from each other while making this show and are excited to share it with Aux Écuries’ audience.”

Known for contemporary works, this Candles are for Burning production of Bliss is no different. Here, Celine Dion is basically the goddess/Virgin Mary of the show and a kind of sacrificial altar has been created. The actors and designers help facilitate a story that unspools in the audience’s mind. Well-known Montreal designers include: Set and costumes, James Lavoie; sound, Diane Labrosse; and lighting, Sarah Yaffe and Andrea Lundy. The stage manager is Kira Maros.

Bliss (5 shows only) March 5-9
A Candles are for Burning production
At Théâtre Aux Écuries
7285, rue Chabot (around the corner from metro Fabre)
Tuesday to Friday at 8:30 pm, Saturday at 4:30pm
Tickets: $12.50-$25.00
Box Office: 514 328-7437 (514 Écu-ries) no service charge or online www.auxecuries.com/billetterie


(Olivier Choinière’s Mommy is also playing at Théâtre Aux Écuries until March 9)

From a media release:

After a long break from the music scene NADJIWAN returns March 5th with ‘A Beautiful Darkness’.
This is the first 2 tracks to be released from a 10 track record that will be unfolding between now and December 2013. 
EP Release Party: March 5, 2013 – Joe Bidali’s 156 Front St West Toronto (9:30pm) – FREE event

• To be released on Heading North Music
• His catalogue is available on iTunes

The man behind the NADJIWAN project and the music is Marc Nadjiwan. Born in northern Manitoba and raised in the untamed beauty of Northwestern Ontario, Marc knew from an early age he would perform music.

The first single from the upcoming CD is “Idle No More” which has already received airplay nationwide in Canada will be released on 116 stations in the United States on March 5th as well.

The studio version features guest musicians such as Bob Wiseman, Jani Lauzon, James McEleney and Din from the Toronto band The Soles.

The “B-Side” titled ‘Running Alive’ is a haunting track inspired the rugged beauty of the North.

From a media release:

Canadian Screen Awards Nominate Deco Dawson for Best Short Documentary
Inaugural awards to take place Sunday March 3rd, 2013

Toronto, ON- The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television announced this morning nominations for the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards.  Among the nominees is Canadian and international award-winning filmmaker Deco Dawson for his film Keep A Modest Head, a biographical short documentary about French Surrealist Jean Benoît.

“I am truly honoured to be nominated for this award. The irony being the film has garnered more attention for Jean Benoît in Canada now, then he had ever received while living.  A private yet wholly capricious artist, I am glad people are finally getting the chance to witness the astonishing tour-de-force that was Jean Benoît.   Keep A Modest Head was one of my most difficult films to create, and the continued accolades mean so much to me,” said Dawson adding, “Thank you to The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for recognizing the film and for all they do to support Canadian media creators.”

Jean Benoît was born and raised in Quebec City before moving to Paris to join the Surrealists in 1948. In the film, Dawson illustrates Benoît’s formative and highly sexual years by mixing interviews recorded in Benoît’s Parisian studio with Surrealist-inspired, visually stunning, re-enactments.  Equal parts narrative, documentary and experimental film, Dawson uses an inventive and unfaltering aesthetic to honour the last great surrealist.  Keep A Modest Head premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival where it received the Best Short Film Award.

Hosted by famed Canadian comedian Martin Short, the Academy’s Canadian Screen Awards will air on Sunday March 3rd, 2013 on CBC.    

About Deco Dawson:
Deco Dawson is a Winnipeg based filmmaker and a two time winner of the Best Short Film Award from the Toronto International Film Festival for his films Keep A Modest Head(2012) and FILM(dzama) (2001).  Often working between genres, and always with a unique and inspired visual palette, his select film credits include FILM(Dzama) (2001),  Dumb Angel (2005),  Elizabeth Short (2006) The Last Moment (2007) Help I’m Alive (2009), Sluice Box and a Rocker (2010), Sins of a Father (2011) and Keep a Modest Head (2012).           

From a media release:

KINOSMITH presents:“Eco-terrorist” or Enviro-freedom fighter?
The Peace River Community Goes To War in
Trouble In The Peace
a film by Julian T. Pinder

• Vancouver, VanCity – March 1 – 6, 2013
• Screens in Toronto at The Royal – March 8, 9, 10, 2013

Trouble in the Peace is supported by the release of a companion video game called Pipe Trouble (available online and for select tablets in March – www.pipetrouble.com )

(Toronto)  On horseback, herding cattle, farmer Karl Mattson evokes the Old West. And as in the Old West, the law can seem meaningless as “homesteaders” clash with those who covet their land.  But in the 21st Century, in Northern B.C.’s Peace River Valley community of 50,000, the “black hats” he sees are oil and gas companies. And when Karl warns, “People are going to get killed,” the subject is toxicity, not gunfights.

Julian T. Pinder’s documentary Trouble In The Peace is about a natural gas flare-up in more ways than one – with flaming wells, fire-bombs and a population divided with many feeling themselves getting sicker with every flare of sour gas.

The conflict: a provincial government that depends on massive revenue from the fossil fuel industry and the sale of sub-surface mineral rights, offers little solace to increasingly angry Peace River citizens, short of advice to duct tape their windows.  Petitions and lobbying are ignored. But the province finally takes notice: when a series of mysterious pipeline bombings take place. A bounty of $1 million is offered up, one that threatens to create a rift in the community, but ultimately becomes a symbolic insult around which it can rally.

In the end, Trouble In The Peace evolves into a symbol of a quandary we all share, living as we do in a world ravenous for cheap, non-renewable energy. As that energy becomes more difficult to obtain, and the stakes become higher, what and who will we be willing to sacrifice to get it. And what will we lose as a society as a result?

“This film inhabits similar territory to my last film, Land,” says director Pinder, “where personal dreams, failures, motivations, and intentions are the focus within a much greater context. Individuals make up the world. And people, not oil, nor the environment, nor territory, are at the core of every conflict, global or local.“

Preceded by pre-release controversy, Trouble In The Peace has its theatrical release in March, with dates at the Royal (March 8-10), and in Vancouver at Vancity (March 1-6).

Produced by Six Island Productions in association with TVO and with the participation of the Ontario Media Development Corporation and Rogers Documentary Fund, and with the assistance of the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Fund and the Ontario Arts Council.

Trouble in the Peace is supported by the release of a companion video game called Pipe Trouble (available online and for select tablets in March – www.pipetrouble.com).  Pipe Trouble takes a clever new spin on an old arcade classic and uses over-the-top satire to prompt larger mainstream discussion for ongoing real-world issues surrounding the exploitation of natural gas.  Tasked with building their own pipeline, players try to balance the financial demands of using the least pipe to make the most money against the impact on the local environment and neighbouring farms.

Note – the video embed is from Vimeo and as such I find I often have to refresh my screen once or twice to get it to pop up, so if you don’t see it right away, give refreshing a try.

TROUBLE IN THE PEACE trailer for a documentary 1:43 from Six Island Productions on Vimeo.

From a media release:

Made IN Toronto Festival & Institute for a Resource-Based Economy
Present a 3-Day Festival of Film, Music and Engaging Discussion
With Sacred Economics Author Charles Eisenstein
And filmmaker Velcrow Ripper
March 1 – 3, 2013


• Film, Concert and Discussion at AGO Jackman Hall – 317 Dundas St. W.
• Author Talk and Workshop at U of T’s Earth Sciences Centre – 5 Bancroft Ave.
• Author Workshop Beit Zatoun – 612 Markham St.
• Info and advance tickets are available at www.mintff.org


(Toronto) Here’s good news for fans of “paying it forward,” and of the progressive movement’s intellectual superstars.

Made IN Toronto (MINT) Festival is celebrating its second year by joining forces with the Institute for a Resource-Based Economy (IRBE) and hosting the first-ever Toronto visit by leading-edge economic theorist Charles Eisenstein. This much talked about three-day festival of film, live events and engaging discussions, takes place March 1 through 3, and will demonstrate  and explore how Torontonians together can create a more vibrant and sustainable economy.

Co-presenters IRBE and MINT are launching what will become a series of quarterly calendar festival events. This inaugural weekend showcases the works and philosophies of Eisenstein, the father of the revolutionary “de-growth” school of economics. Eisenstein’s hot ticket sessions will take place Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3. He will also be on hand to add expert perspective on our opening night film event, Velcrow Ripper’s Occupy Love.

The festival kicks off Friday, March 1st, at the AGO’s Jackman Hall, with a screening of Occupy Love  – a film that provides a thought-provoking take on the Occupy movement and the possibility of embracing love as an ideology and a global movement. The evening begins with an intimate concert featuring a must-hear trio comprising of singer/pianist Robert Graham, singer/songwriter Glen Alan, and veteran guitarist/producer Chris Birkett, who has worked with Memphis greats like Rufus Thomas and Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of famers like Led Zeppelin and Randy Newman. Both Ripper and Eisenstein will be on hand for a post-screening discussion of this award-winning film and the issues it raises.

On Saturday, March 2nd, at U of T’s Earth Sciences Centre, Eisenstein will give a lecture/discussion of his renowned book Sacred Economics: Money, Gift & Society. The book traces the history and creation of money, society’s addiction to growth at any cost and proposes alternative solutions including negative interest, more localized economies and other innovative approaches.

Eisenstein will also take centre stage on Sunday, March 3rd at Beit Zatoun on Markham St., with a workshop on Creating A Sacred Economy. In it, he will exchange ideas with Torontonians on how to nurture alternative living, via local industry, resourced based economics and the restoration of “the commons.”

Made IN Toronto (MINT) Festival was founded in March 2011 to promote Toronto documentary filmmakers, musicians, and speakers, connecting them to new audiences through inspiring environmental and socially themed events. Made IN Toronto has produced 15 live events and seminars since its inception on a wide range of topics featuring acclaimed artists and entertainers such as Jackie Richardson, Sterling Jarvis, MTV Warm Act and Host Derek Forgie and Silver Elvis along with Toronto filmmakers Lalita Krishna, Paul Saltzman, Liz Marshall and Summer Love to name a few. The festival has been endorsed by the Council Of Canadians Chair Maude Barlow and Polaris Institute Executive Director Tony Clarke.  10% of every MINT ticket sold supports Toronto filmmakers, musicians and artists who make a measurable social and environmental impact in their community and the world at large.

Institute for a Resource-Based Economy (IRBE) envisions a sustainable future where our economy and our environment are connected in a state of dynamic equilibrium. Founded in 2011 as a registered non-profit, IRBE offers education and raises awareness of sustainable economics and implements shared resource projects including Toronto’s first Tool Library.

From a media release:

And Slowly Beauty…
BY MICHEL NADEAU
TRANSLATED BY MAUREEN LABONTÉ
Continues to March 31, 2013

“I never thought theatre could be as good as that!”


TORONTO – Tarragon Theatre proudly presents the Toronto premiere of And Slowly Beauty, a Belfry Theatre/National Arts Centre English Theatre co-production directed by Michael Shamata. This acclaimed and poignant celebration of life and art runs February 27 to March 31 in Tarragon Theatre’s Mainspace (with previews beginning February 20). Tickets range from $27-$53 (inclusive of HST) and are available by calling the box office at 416.531.1827 or by visiting www.tarragontheatre.com.

Tarragon continues its long tradition of presenting English translations of outstanding French-language plays with this work by Quebec City’s Théâtre Niveau Parking Artistic Director Michel Nadeau, in collaboration with Marie-Josée Bastien, Lorraine Côté, Hugues Frenette, Pierre-François Legendre, Véronika Makdissi-Warren and Jack Robitaille, translated into English by Maureen Labonté.

When Mr. Mann wins tickets in an office draw to a modern version of Anton Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, he ends up going alone as his family is busy elsewhere, even though he rarely goes to the theatre. But in those few precious hours watching the play, something unexpected stirs inside of him. And Slowly BeautyŠ tells the story of the transformative effect of theatre (and beauty) on a perceptive – albeit average – middle class, middle-aged man. A love letter to art and the poetry of life.

Michael Shamata is Artistic Director at Belfry Theatre in Victoria, B.C. since December 2007, where he originally directed the English-language premiere of And Slowly Beauty… as well as numerous other shows including The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which won him a Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Direction.Shamata also directed the National Arts Centre 2011 production of And Slowly Beauty…

Dennis Fitzgerald (Alberta Theatre Projects’ Our Country’s Good, Zastrozzi, Problem Child; Great Canadian Theatre Company’s A Doll’s House) is Mr. Mann. Caroline Gillis (Tarragon’s Was Spring, After Akhmatova, Communion, A Beautiful View) is Mr. Mann’s wife Claudette, Shawn Ahmed (Driftwood Theatre’s Macbeth, Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA) is his son Quentin and Celine Stubel (Atomic Vaudeville’s Legoland, Belfry Theatre’s My Chernobyl – Jessie Richardson Award, Electric Company’s Studies in Motion for Citadel and Canadian Stage) is his daughter Nadine. Mary-Colin Chisholm (National Arts Centre’s Creation; Neptune Theatre’s The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Little Years) is the coffee-shop waitress Anita and Christian Murray (National Arts Centre’s The Little Years, Artistic Fraud/World Stage’s Afterimage, Neptune Theatre’s The Producers) is his co-worker Sylvain.

All of the talented cast, except for Ahmed, appeared in Shamata’s original Belfry and National Arts Centre productions in the fall of 2011; at the time, they were members of the 2011-12 National Arts Centre English Acting Company. And all of the cast, except for Fitzgerald, play multiple roles – transforming into characters from The Three Sisters, as well as family members, office colleagues and more as the play moves through the present as well as simultaneously through Mr. Mann’s memory and imagination.

Set and costume design is by John Ferguson, lighting design is by Michael Walton while sound design is by Brooke Maxwell. Marie Fewer is the stage manager.
Tarragon Theatre presents the Toronto premiere of
And Slowly Beauty…
By Michel Nadeau
in collaboration with Marie-Josée Bastien, Lorraine Côté, Hugues Frenette, Pierre-François Legendre, Véronika Makdissi-Warren and Jack Robitaille
Translated by Maureen Labonté
A Belfry Theatre/National Arts Centre English Theatre co-production
Directed by Michael Shamata
Starring Shawn Ahmed, Mary-Colin Chisholm, Dennis Fitzgerald,
Caroline Gillis, Christian Murray, Celine Stubel

Set and Costume Designer: John Ferguson
Lighting Designer: Michael Walton
Sound Designer: Brooke Maxwell
Stage Manager: Marie Fewer

Opens February 27 and runs to March 31, 2013 (Previews from February 20)
Tarragon Theatre’s Mainspace, 30 Bridgman Avenue, Toronto, M5R 1X3
Tuesday-Saturday at 8pm; Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30pm starting February 24.

 Tickets range from $27-$53 (including discounts for students, seniors and groups)
AND a Pay-What-You-Can 2:30pm matinee on March 23
Tickets can be purchased through the box office at 416.531.1827 or visit www.tarragontheatre.com
- $13 Rush Tickets at the door Fridays (on sale at 6pm) & Sundays (on sale at 1pm) starting March 1-