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This weekend is packed with activities for Mother’s Day (I already mentioned one last week – Global Mother’s Day tomorrow afternoon at Regent College), but it’s also packed with cheap theatre!

Every year The Firehall Arts Centre hosts BC Buds Spring Arts Fair, a fair celebrating new and experimental theatre works. It’s all by donation to get in, so the price tag is whatever you want it to be, and the weekend is full of theatre, dance, film, and music taking in unusual locations around the Firehall – think the courtyard, bar, lobby, stairwell, rehearsal hall, and yes, even the occasional piece set in the actual theatre.

I have a confession about BC Buds: every year I have intended to go check it out, talked about checking it out, and then not actually gone to check it out. This year, however, I am committed to going. Not just because I want to check out some cheap entertainment, but because this festival provides awesome opportunities to emerging artists. It’s not very often these folks get an opportunity to just plain create something and have it presented at a major venue. Exciting!

Stacy Sherlock and Emily Griffiths in At First I Thought it Was…

There are performances happening all weekend, below is the entire lineup, and you can view the schedule with helpful info like performance times here.

If this list is way too daunting for you, I recommend just going by schedule: pick a time you’re free, see what’s starting around then, and show up. It’s by donation, so your risk factor is pretty darn low. In fact, this could be your chance to live your secret dream of experiencing the thrill of Russian Roulette minus any unfortunate death-like side effects.

Michael Unger in The Johnny Tomorrow Chronicles

Let’s Play Make Believe (music/performance)
Brad Muirhead, Carmen Rosen, Soressa Garner, Hugh Fraser & Katie Rice

Beginnings One
Signal to Noise (dance/media)
Craig Alfredson, Kelly McInnis and Arash Khakpour
The Wolf in the Mirror (theatre/dance)
Andrew Barrett (Impulse Theatre)
Caught (dance)
Lara Barclay, Cai Glover & Crystal Wills – Lamondance

Beginnings Two
JSK – a mini musical (musical)
Brad L’Écuyer & Clayton Baraniuk (Gotta Getta Gimmick)
At First I Thought It Was… (theatre)
Stacy Sherlock & Emily Griffiths (New Colour Productions)

The Tim Sars Band featuring Ross Barrett (music)

Unrelated (dance)
Daina Ashbee, Laura Avery, Maxine Chadburn

Cutting Room Dance Floor (dance)
David Yates & Diane Garceau (Night & Day Dance)

throwing coin squeezing soy (dance theatre)
Ziyian Kwan & Anne Cooper

Goodnight Dollface (video installation/dance)
Lina Fitzner & Caroline Liffman (Light Box)

Georges Aperghis’ Recitations (music)
Dorothea Hayley

4 places and a set of circumstances (dance)
Karissa Barry & Alex Tam

Film Screenings
companion (dance film)
Julianne Chapple & Ed Spence
Twixt (dance film)
Anna Kraulis & Majid Bagheri
(Dancers: Philippa Myler & Lindsey Ridgway)
Daniel (dance film)
Brett Owen
4 places and a set of circumstances (dance film)
Karissa Barry & Leon Feizo-Gas

Studio Age of Anxiety (music/sound)
Wendy Atkinson & David Lester

Tee-Pee Theatre (kids/theatre)
Terri-Lyn Storey & Grandview Elementary students

KidStuff
Downtown Animal (theatre)
Tara Travis, Amy Clausen & Joel De Stefano (Sticky Fingers Productions)
The Johnny Tomorrow Chronicles (theatre)
Michael Unger
Rainbow Star (family storytelling)
Tim Sars & Lisa Sars (Dixiestar Storytelling)

The Toilet Paper Caper (theatrical reading)
Michelle Deines, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Frances Perras, Sebastian Kroon, Alex Willows, Jeff Gladstone (Working Spark Theatre)

Superhero Boy Band: Seads of Change (music/theatre)
Aaron Malkin, Alistair Knowles & Islando Bocock

Kid Gloves (theatrical reading)
Sally Stubbs, Patrick Keating, Colleen Wheeler, James Macdonald, Andrew McNee & Marlene Ginader

Medicine (theatrical reading)
TJ Dawe

Daina Ashbee in Unrelated

For the record, I’m most excited about Beginnings One with its combo of dance and media pieces, Downtown Animal featuring the always hilarious Tara Travis, and Super Hero Boy Band: Seeds of Change because it will either be the funniest, awesomest show of all time or a total flop, and either way, that’s something I want to see.

Got a cheap-living tip you’d like to share? Send it in!

Did you know that this is National Dance Week? I’ll admit, I didn’t know until about half an hour ago, but luckily have done some crazy dances already this week in an unintentional celebration. In fact, just last week I learned and taught a group of friends the Napoleon Dynamite dance for a surprise performance, and the whole experience reminded me of how good dance is for the soul – to get all mushy-ushy on you for a second, learning this crazy dance was a fun, hilarious, healing experience for everyone involved. So it feels like kismet that National Dance Week came right on the heels of this wonderful experience!

Sadly, the week is almost over, but luckily it’s capped off with International Dance Day on Sunday, and there are some awesome free events throughout the day at The Dance Centre. You can spend the day watching and learning about dance, dance, and more dance!

dumb instrument Dance, performing at 5pm

International Dance Day Events at The Dance Centre

11am-1pm Raven Spirit Dance: Pow-Wow Boot Camp with Nyla Carpentier.
Participants will learn the history of Pow-Wow styles and intertwine it with building stamina and strength alongside the fast heartbeat of the drum. Ages 16+.
11am-1pm Modus Operandi
An opportunity to view emerging contemporary dance artists from Out Innerspace’s intensive professional training program in class and rehearsal.
12-1pm Contemporary dance showcase
An informal presentation of works featuring Meredith Kalaman (choreography by Noam Gagnon), Give Me Brilliance, and The Contingency Plan/Vanessa Goodman followed by a moderated discussion.
1-2pm Kinesis Dance somatheatro
A studio showing of a new ensemble work in progress by Artistic Director Paras Terezakis.
2-3pm Book launch
Local author Lori Henry’s Dancing Through History: In Search of the Stories that Define Canada. Readings, discussion, and dance demonstrations by artists including the Dancers of Damelahamid.
3-4pm Mandala Arts and Culture
Bharata natyam lecture-demonstration, hosted by Artistic Director Jai Govinda.
4-5pm Karen Flamenco
An open flamenco class, all levels welcome.
5-8pm dumb instrument Dance throwing coin squeezing soy
An interactive public research of the I Ching, the ancient Chinese method of fortune telling. Stationed in the main lobby, Ziyian Kwan and her assistants, Anne Cooper and akaSuzi, will translate questions from passers-by through dance and words.

Company Give Me Brilliance, performing at 12pm. Photo by Thor-sten.

If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

Dance crews have become more popular than ever. The once underground art of breakdancing and bboying has found a new stage with the world as its audience. TV shows and the internet have brought us the magic of choreographed contortionists right into our living rooms. One of Vancouver’s veteran crews is Now Or Never. I asked crew member Eloquence if he could answer a few questions for us about life in the pack.

Photo: Courtesy of N.O.N.

Who are the members of your crew?

Jax

B-Minus

Twist

Muggy Mug

Trickey

Savage Rock

Pay Day Ray

Style Jack

Taiyo

G

Hao2

Eloquence

How and when did you all meet and get started?

The crew has been established since 2002. Most of the members joined the crew at separate times in the past few years. Jax, Hao2 and G are the remaining original members. Having similar goals helped bring us together as one unit. Our main goals are worldwide recognition and to represent Vancity to the fullest.

Are any of you involved in other dancing events outside of the crew?

A few of our members like to branch out and try other styles of dance such as hip hop and house. This helps with the performance aspect of the dance. Its always good to get inspired elsewhere, that way you can come back with fresh new ideas.

How does one enter the international scene and begin traveling with a crew? How did it happen for you?

You have to most definitely be prepared both physically and mentally when entering international battles. There are larger numbers of dope crews representing around the world that come to these jams. You enter small jams nearby your city ex. (Seattle) that help you prepare for the big ones. The more you battle, the better you get. We sharpen our skills until were really ready to take on the rest of the bboy world.

Tell us about the trip to europe, France.

We make it a point to go to at least one huge jam a year. So in 2010 and 2011, we went to IBE international Breakdance event. Its most definitely one of the largest events in the world, with over 10,000 people in attendance. Anyways, we made it to the semi-finals for both years out of almost 100 crews entered. We made a big impact in Europe, getting recognized by the top heads in the world.

What are the challenges of organizing/planning/practice with such a large crew? ex.

Having a large crew is not the easiest thing in the world to maintain. We usually give each other tasks, that way we run more efficiently. It’s like running a small company. Organizing practices is quite easy, we have set practices that are mandatory to attend. The most challenging is when we travel abroad. There are lots of things to plan ahead for, especially when we’ve never been to any of these foreign countries before.

What is next for n.o.n.?

We are currently in a hiatus. Its always good to re-group and not enter every single battle that comes to you. We are constantly helping each other improve individually and as a whole. We just had a meeting about which jams we will be going to this year to represent. Our big trip this year will most likely be Asia. We have never toured Asia before as a crew. Japan and Korea are countries were considering. These two countries have huge boy scenes. You can find jams weekly, as opposed to Vancouver jams, which is about a jam every few months.

Why Vancouver? (general question we ask. Why you live here, what is good about it, what you love. etc.)

Our crew is very thankful that we can do what we love to do and be able to support ourselves. We developed a niche market here. For shows, we offer something unique and highly entertaining. We do quite a bit of shows actually. These shows actually help fund our trips for battles as well. We love the support that people give us in this city.  Vancouver is most definitely awesome!

This past Wednesday I attended opening night in Vancouver of The Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. This time I had the pleasure of sharing this experience with my mom. It brought back fond memories and I now have new memories to hold dear. My mom and I both enjoyed ourselves immensely. She loved the music and dancing. She adored the dance of the Sugarplum Fairy. I, of course, enjoyed the music and dancing as well, but my favourite part by far was the costumes and sets. They were designed by Emmy Award-winning designer Zack Brown and they were absolutely amazing! A must see.

Something that makes this production so wonderful is that it’s one the whole family can enjoy. I look forward to the day that I can share the magic of The Nutcracker with my son. I highly recommend adding The Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker to your list of things to do this holiday season. Share it with your loved ones and end this year with some extra special memories to cherish for a lifetime.

Alberta Ballet’s The Nutcracker
with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, December 28-30 at 7:30 pm
Friday & Saturday, December 30 & 31 at 2 pm

Summer’s over in case you didn’t notice. 6 weeks of sun this summer was a bummer but seems like there is always tons of action going on this time of year. Olio, VIFF, yada. I checked out the 11th annual New Forms Festival on Sep. 9 and also was at the Concrete Park jam at the Woodwards’ atrium on Wednesday night. New Forms really should be higher on the radar in the city. I think for doing what they do and combining what they combine together they are not worth missing. The media art and electronic music festival has been doing it up for over a decade which of course is no joke in this town. And as we sadly are missing the Livestock block party this year (though they had that thing at Strathcona park earlier this summer), the Hastings Set and W2‘s Concrete Park jam in the Woodward’s atrium could turn out to be a cool replacement. It was in the spirit of the old school hip hop park jams with the soundsystem, bboying and best of all, a free event in a nice public space.

Check out the review and tons of pics below.

The Waldorf Hotel has been delivering on its’ hype to be one of the city’s art/music/and beyond hubs. Doing New Forms was a straight up perfect match. As the New Forms Festival’s mandate is “exploring the convergence of media arts and electronic music,” the versatile multi-room Waldorf housed this festival like a glove. There were 4 rooms set up for music performances (both the Leeteg room and Tiki Bar upstairs and the Cabaret and Hideaway downstairs) and the individual hotel rooms acted as the art exhibition space. There were also a WHOLE lot of visuals everywhere as you can see in the pics below including projections on the hotel’s outside walls and even to the building across the street. And another art exhibition in a trailer outside the cabaret and last, but dam not least, a BBQ set up outside serving Argentinian style sausages (last pic below).

So…..your experience was being able to check out 4 different music sets, cruising upstairs to the see the hotel rooms all decked out in creative ways, visuals at every turn (inside and out) and topping it off with a hearty ass hot dog, Buenos Aires style. It was so unexpectedly good, my jaw was sore from stretching to chomp it down so far fast.

As stated by Malcolm Levy, the festival director: “This year we are completely excited about having the entire festival at the Waldorf.. Under the thematic of Public Domain, we are creating a festival concept that will include installations in the rooms, lobby, and facades of the building, as well as different music in each room of the building. On Sunday we are doing our first outdoor show in the parking lot with Sun Araw Band, Deadbeat, No Gold, Tyger Dhula and Danuel Tate and V Vecker Orchestra. Each night will be completely different so we encourage people to come down and experience the entire narrative…”

I only checked it out on the Friday night but that one night packed a whole lot of an experience for a single outing. There were a lot of sick beats and soundscapes but I think I’ve walked away intrigued most by singer Evy Jane who I saw perform with Erica Dee sometime back at Fortune. She does not seem to have an official site up yet but her voice caught me off guard as I walked into the Leeteg Room as she was performing with a voice that reminded me of Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon or Esthero.

One of the hardest working men in our music scene, Jeff Herrera and the Hastings Set along with W2 threw a little jam called Concrete Park this past Wednesday night at the Woordward’s atrium area (the space between Nesters, London Drugs and now the new W2 media cafe and event space). With husband and wife DJ tandem, Hedspin and Bles-sed providing the beats, the event goers plus curious onlookers checked out the bboy battle taking place.

It was cool to see these curious onlookers passing by checking out how hip hop did it early on, with DJs and Bboys representing the true elements of the art. The event also was supported by and brought out many of the like-minded heads from the shops in the gastown area like Rose from Queens and Savage from Beats & Bikes.

L-R: Jeff from the Hastings Set, Savage from Beats & Bikes

Rose from Queens

If you think there is someone or something that needs coverage in this city in regards to the Hip Hop / Electronic community then get in touch with us.

On Saturday July 2nd was the 10 year anniversary of the Vancouver breakdance crew Filthee Feet. To celebrate the event Famous Circle, a breakdance event promotion company, decided to host a 4 versus 4 battle at The Russian Hall in Strathcona. As well as the 4 on 4 battle there was a 1 versus 1 IBE qualifier. The IBE qualifier was to see who will go on to be a spectator at the international event in Holland. Canada does not yet have a team that represents them in the IBE competition, hosted every year in Rotterdam, but the attendance of Canadians at this years event will hopefully motivate the hosts to invite a team for future events.

Photos: Joel Levy

The event on Saturday had a preliminary round which decided the final eight teams. By the time the  spectators had arrived the final eight had been chosen and 4 battles of 4v4 could commence. Crews from across the city and as far as the Yukon and Montréal were in attendance. Vancouver notables were members of Now or Never crew, O Mighty and of course Filthee Feet. After 4 battles consisting of 5 rounds each the winners, O’ Mighty, came out on top over co-finalists Dance Moves. O’Mighty’s Reflex also took home the IBE qualifier.

Famous Circle which was started out of the crew Filthee Feet looks to throw events that the whole family can enjoy. This event had one family of one of the organizers prepare pupusas. a traditional Salvadoran dish, for people to snack down on during the event. “We are looking to throw a summer even every year if we can” says Famous Circle rep Rory. “Events have to be done a certain way to be worthwhile. It takes a lot of planning and organization. The hardest part is being able to find affordable venues to host the events so if you know any make sure you let us know.”

To follow famous circle and check up on what is new with them you can visit their website at www.famouscircle.com or follow them on twitter @famouscircle.

Former Mad Pudding bandmates (l-r) Boris Favre, Amy Stephen and Allan Dionne will be performing with some of Vancouver’s best African musicians at the Edgewater Casino on Friday. (Photo courtesy of CelticFest.)”

Albano said that the AfroCeltic dance party, which goes down Friday night at the Edgewater Casino, was inspired by 2009′s combination of salsa and Celtic music.

“It’s a collaboration that the festival tries to encourage every year, to fuse Celtic music with other ethnocultural communities. In 2009, we did an event called Celtic Salsa,” she said. “We decided based on that success, and based on the fact that people liked it and like to dance, we wanted to find a new prospect this year.”

Amy Stephen, formerly of the Celtic dance band Mad Pudding, helped select the music for the event. She’ll be performing along with former Mad Pudding bandmates Allan Dionne and Boris Favre,  fiddler Stephanie Cadman, African musicians Yoro Noukoussi and Alpha Yaya Diallo and dancer N’ato Camera.

She said that she’s always loved world music.

“It’s always been a love of mine, different grooves from different parts of the world. Especially based in traditional music, because everyone has their own traditional styles that are so rich in themselves, but at the same time, you can put things together with other cultures,” she said. “As long as it’s organic and you find stuff that actually works musically, then it always produces this really fantastically rich kind of mix.”

West African music is based on the same time structure as Celtic music, so Stephen said the two styles were a natural fit.

“Even though it’s not the same feel, they work in the same musical time, so that’s an interesting thing for us to explore. And they’re both dance rhythms,” she said. “There’s a lot of joy, and I think that joy is a huge theme running through the Celtic and the African tunes that we are choosing to play.”

Stephen said that cultural fusion is healthy for musicians and audiences, and she hopes that the performers will be able to share the positive energy that they created in rehearsals with the audience.

Juno Award-winning Guinean musician Alpha Yaya Diallo will be performing at CelticFest Vancouver’s AfroCeltic Dance Party this Friday. (Photo courtesy of CelticFest.)

Alpha Yaya Diallo, who won a Juno for his last album, agreed.

He took inspiration for his Juno-winning album from an English group that fused African and Celtic styles, so, for him, performing at the Celtic fest was “fluid, easy.”

Diallo said that music is all about learning.

“Lots of people, like Peter Gabriel…a lot of western musicians play with African musicians. We like to share,” he said. “We all learn. It’s giving and learning.”

He said that the AfroCeltic dance party is an opportunity to bring two “very exciting styles” of music together.

It’s a great opportunity for Vancouverites to see some of the city’s most talented musicians all on one stage.

“It’s a huge celebration, you can only experience it live when it happens.” Amy Stephen said of the event.

“In a world where there’s so much conflict going on, this really highlights that music and joy are always with us, and it doesn’t matter where we’re from.”

The AfroCeltic Dance party is Friday at the Edgewater Casino. Doors are at 7 p.m., show starts at 8 p.m.  www.celticfestvancouver.com for more info. Check back here for photos and audio from the event!

The Tomahawk BBQ located in North Vancouver, BC, Canada is my favourite place in the world to eat. When I first started to go regularly to the Hawk with my Dad, the servers always recommended for me NOT to order the Skookum Chief Burger because it was “too big” for a little boy such as myself. Of course this made me want it even more, the burger with three meals in one! Sandwiched between two slabs of bun are; bacon and egg, representing breakfast; weiner, representing lunch; and meat and cheese, representing dinner! Add lettuce, tomato, relish, onion, mayonnaise plus a dill pickle and this is what comprises a Skookum Chief Burger! Check out what happened when I took the rock band Southern Culture on the Skids to taste not only the Skookum Chief, but the massive MIxed Grill ( Nine generous slices of Yukon style bacon, two country fresh fried farm eggs, two slices of Klondike toast, hamburger pattie, cheese, weiner, onions and fresh sliced onions, hashbrowns, salad, served on a 14″ platter!):

Nardwuar vs. Southern Culture on the Skids:

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand , Nardwuar and the Cribs feasting at the Tomahawk BBQ in North Vancouver, BC, Canada!

Stay tuned for another interview next week and if you can’t wait then head over to NARDWUAR.COM, FACEBOOK.COM/NARDWUAR or TWITTER.COM/NARDWUAR!