Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 137

Recently Released: Brazil's Club America with To Get There (Sonovibe Records - January 14 2014)

With material from a release:

Recently Released:
Club America's To Get There
(Sonovibe Records - January 14, 2014)

• Get the CD on iTunes

After two EP releases, countless performances, commercial campaigns for giants like Coca-Cola in Brazil and being selected as one of the six Brazilian songs for the worldwide launch of Windows 8, Club America finally released their debut album. It includes the single “Girls.” The video goes hand in hand with the lyrics depicting two girls in a “friends with benefits” situation, having fun and being carefree about what people might think or say about their amorous, lustful relationship. The band was recently recognized and featured on AltSounds.com and Kings of A&R.

The album offers a fun mix of dynamic synth sounds influenced by the 80's and with their own unique modern twist. Club America reworks atmospheric power pop with its melodic post-punk vocals and synthy electronic keyboards lit up by most excellent drumming. The combination of electronic instrumentation with acoustic drumming works admirably well, giving the music a real energy and momentum that's often missing from contemporary pop.

I liked the expressive vocals on tracks like Girls and they collaborate with bad boy Chris Brown on All the Things I've Done, a track with a really tight groove and a seamless layering of vocals, keyboards and rhythm section. Another highlight for me was the dance floor bound Blueberry Kiss.

Club America is composed of the brothers Andy and Bruno Alves, natives from the “Manchester City” of Brazil, Sorocaba. With influences that go from synth-pop, indie-rock and post-punk, the duo launched in 2012 with their first single Believe. The music video rapidly caught on and they've been played on Brazilian music channels such as MTV, PlayTV, MixTV, Woohoo, Music Box TV, VH1 and Canal Brasil. The instant hit gave them recognition on big-name magazines like Rolling Stone Brasil.

The duo has performed around 500 shows in their career including international festivals such as SXSW, CMW, VOV Festival, Planeta Terra Festival, Goiânia Noise and Demosul sharing the stage with big name acts like The Strokes, Toro y Moi, Interpol, Bombay Bicycle Club and Beady Eye.

Canadian Film Premiere: Michael L. Suan's AKP Job 27 - Opens February 21 2014 in Toronto

From a media release:

Canadian Film Premiere:
a Yakuza assassin finds his soul in Toronto
in Michael L. Suan’s wordless, elegiac feature debut
AKP Job 27

Opens in Toronto February 21, 2014
York Cinema - 115 York Blvd
Woodside Cinemas  - 1571 Sandhurst Circle
Square One Landmark Cinemas – 100 City Centre Drive
February 28: Cinestarz - 377 Burnhamthorpe Road East

**Red Carpet Arrival**
February 21 – PREMIERE - York Cinema
Talent in attendance followed by post-screening Q&A

“I can’t think of another country where a modern silent feature film with a chain smoking, politically incorrect gangster can even get made let alone gain the support of the country’s biggest film financing agency.” Michael L. Suan

(Toronto) They said it couldn’t be done. So first-time feature director Michael L. Suan did it. He created a full-length gangster narrative entirely without dialogue.

AKP Job 27 is a silent-noir film about a veteran Yakuza hit-man (Tyce Philip Phangsoa) whose repressed yearnings for a lost love resurface via his relationship with a Toronto prostitute (Roxanne Prentice).  But is love an assassin’s worst enemy?

The film – which was dismissed in its development stage as “not viable” by one production company – has toured film festivals worldwide, and has been in competition amongst Asian Indie giants like Takashi Miike and Kim Ki-duk and was later nominated for a Free Spirit Award (for uniqueness and originality) at the 29th Warsaw Film Festival, as well for Best Canadian Feature at Toronto’s ReelWorld Film Festival.

Acclaimed Canadian director Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice) lauded AKP Job 27, calling it a “wordless requiem for the professional killer. Poetic and romantic as it is brutal. A magnificent debut.”

In AKP Job 27, the hitman (whose lost love invades his consciousness in flashes of memory, punctuated by gunfire) receives orders in Tokyo for the 27th “job” of his career. Half a world away, in a fleabag hotel in Toronto, his focus is derailed by a beautiful prostitute who, to his eyes, is a double for the woman who haunts his waking moments. Soon, he is her self-appointed protector. But their mutual redemption leaves the hitman vulnerable. As the movie notes in its opening titles, “The Devil only desires those who have something to live for.”

Michael L. Suan admits he had to stretch the truth to keep investors happy during the movie’s genesis – especially after its initial rejection.

“If you can polarize audiences, then I think you’re on the right path, artistically speaking,” says director Suan. “As Canucks, I believe we have an inner Maverick about us that is seldom seen, but admirable nonetheless.”

“I’m very proud to be living and working in Canada, because it’s one of the few places left in North America where unwavering support for the arts in its raw purity can still strive. “

Inspired by Luc Besson’s also-wordless Le Dernier Combat, Suan’s blueprint for AKP Job 27 was a 20-page treatment with 77 scenes. Directed by Michael L. Suan, AKP Job 27 was produced by KingSky Productions International Ltd., and White Night Studios Ltd.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/akpjob27

Free Play in Workshop: Little Goat Theatre's Parts To Whole February 24 2014 in Toronto

From a media release:

Little Goat Theatre Company Presents:
PARTS TO WHOLE
February 24, 2014 at Canadian Stage in Toronto
Workshop Presentation and Publication of New Play by Adam Seelig

“Toronto’s enterprising One Little Goat Theatre Company” (New York Times), with support from Canadian Stage, is pleased to announce a workshop presentation of Parts to Whole, a new play written and directed by Artistic Director Adam Seelig.

• The performance is one night only, Monday, February 24, at 8 p.m. at the Canadian Stage Main Rehearsal Hall, 26 Berkeley Street. Admission is free.

Sochi Fried and Ben Irvine star in Parts to Whole as a couple discussing and exploring their intimacy in ways so simple as to be radical.

Recently seen together in One Little Goat’s The Charge of the Expormidable Moose, Fried and Irvine were praised for their “great chemistry onstage” (Charlebois Post) as well as their “enchanting” “extraordinary” “hilarious” “moving” “splendid” “tour-de-force” performances (Now, Stage Door, Torontoist, Globe and Mail). Fried’s other recent credits include The Misanthrope (Guild Festival Theatre) and Stencilboy (2014 Next Stage), and Irvine’s include Alzheimer that Ends Heimer (Summerworks) and No Great Mischief (Tarragon, Thousand Islands).

Parts to Whole is being published in print and as an e-book by BookThug, now celebrating its 10th anniversary in innovative Canadian publishing. This marks BookThug’s third publication with One Little Goat. The book link is: https://www.bookthug.ca/proddetail.php?prod=201411.

Much like Seelig’s previous play (Like the First Time, praised in the Globe and Mail as “striking, fascinating and darkly comic”), Parts to Whole is written without punctuation so that the actors may choose how they emphasize the text. The unorthodox spacing on each page is generated by the vertical alignment of certain letters and words. Parts to Whole also marks Seelig’s further exploration into his notion of “charactor”.

One Little Goat Theatre Company is North America’s only company devoted to contemporary poetic theatre.  It “has done audiences a huge service” (Toronto Star) through its highly interpretive, provocative approach to international plays. The company’s Canadian and world premieres have garnered praise from the New York Times, Globe and Mail, Economist, Now and others. More information on the company is available at www.OneLittleGoat.org.

CD Release: Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate 'Faya' (February 18 2014 on Cumbancha Discovery)

From a media release

Cumbancha Signs Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate
Debut album Faya out February 18th 2014 on Cumbancha Discovery

• free download
•  buy the CD

Cumbancha is announcing their first release for 2014 from Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate. Their debut album Faya is out on Feb. 18, 2014.

The collaboration between a rapper/beatboxer/singer-songwriter from Syracuse, NY and an electrifying African kora sensation from Guinea pushes genre boundaries and earns raves across Europe.

The well-worn and often overblown expression "music is a common language" has never been more apropos in the case of Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate. US-born, England-based Driscoll speaks no French and Kouyate, who hails from the West African country of Guinea, little English. When they were brought together at the Nuit Metis (Mixed Night) festival in Marseille, France in 2010 and given a week to produce a concert, music was the only way they could communicate.

It turns out, they had a lot to "talk" about, and their first meeting sparked a collaboration that led to the formation of a band, the recording of an album, over 120 concert dates across Europe and rave reviews. Driscoll contributes the rapping, looping, beatboxing and songwriting talents he developed growing up in Syracuse, New York and during his own successful recording career. Kouyate, already a phenomenon in African music circles, has blown minds and ears with his hypersonic electrified riffs on the kora, bringing the exalted West African harp into the 21st Century with use of distortion peddles, effects and previously-unimagined technical prowess. Together, Driscoll and Kouyate blend hip-hop, spoken word, funk, and soulful, accessible rock with Afrobeat, reggae and irrepressible African grooves.

Faya reached the number 2 spot on the prestigious World Music Charts Europe, a survey of top international music DJs across the continent. Their album earned Joe & Sekou a nomination for Best Cross-Cultural Collaboration from Songlines, the UKs definitive global music magazine. The Cumbancha Discovery release of Faya includes a bonus remix of the album’s title track by UK DJ collective Gentleman’s Dub Club.



Sekou Kouyate was raised in a respected and accomplished musical family in Conakry, Guinea. Trained in the ancient traditions of his instrument, it is his ability to transcend and build upon those traditions that has set him apart. In France, he is known as the ‘Jimi Hendrix of the kora’ because of his unique style of playing with various effects, in a variety of genres, and with an extreme intensity. Kouyate has toured the world over as a member of the Ba Cissokoband, comprised of his cousin and brothers.

Joe Driscoll, whom Cee-Lo Green labelled “the gangsta with an iron lung,” has been touring steadily for years, spreading his unique fusion of folk and hip-hop. The modern day take on the one man band, he uses live looping to create soundscapes full of beatbox, guitar, harmonica, percussion, harmonica, and just about anything else he can make use of. Now living in Bristol, England, Driscoll has performed his ground breaking solo show at the famed Glastonbury Festival, Electric Picnic in Ireland, and hundreds of major stages worldwide.

By teaming up, Driscoll and Kouyate have created a sum that exceeds even the large whole of its individual parts. According to Driscoll, “We’ve been raised in very different cultures in so many ways, but we share a lot of the same interests musically. Sekou was raised in the African rhythm and traditions, yet has always had a passion for reggae, hip-hop. I’m kind of the other way around. At the heart of it, we both just make the noises we love; we listen to each other, and try to flow in harmony. I think we just bounced off each other in so many ways: rhythmically, melodically, with craftsmanship. Through this, we found we had a language between us and that philosophically we were on a lot of the same pages as well.”

The songs on Faya address burning social issues, commenting on poverty, borders, immigration and inequality. According to Driscoll, ” We wrote about things that we knew and experienced, things that were important to us. We’ve both travelled the world extensively, so dealing with these issues was a very important part of the experience. We had things we wanted to say about them. The message is the seed. Some people just enjoy the fruit, but we try to spread the seeds with a positive vibe.” Kouyate sings in French and his native Susu language and Driscoll expounds in lightning fast bursts of cunningly crafted English.

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/joedriscollmusic

Dance & Puppetry: Coleman Lemieux Present Malcolm February 19 to 24 2014 in Toronto

From a media release:

ACCLAIMED COLEMAN LEMIEUX & COMPAGNIE PRESENT:
Malcolm - World Premiere
FEB 19-FEB 23, 2014
8pm with PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN show on Feb 21 

Choreography: James Kudelka
Created in collaboration with: Bill Coleman
Original composition and pianist: Dustin Peters
Lighting Design and Scenography: Simon Rossiter
Costume Design: HOAX Couture
Puppet Design: Nell Coleman

• Tickets

Toronto - Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC) Co-Artistic Directors Laurence Lemieux and Bill Coleman are pleased to present an eclectic and daring new season of four new and returning stage works for 2013-14. As well, the "joint will be jumping" as the acclaimed CLC hosts many more shows by great dance and theatre artists from Toronto and beyond at The Citadel, its home in Regent Park. Their next show features legendary choreography James Kudelka in a duet performance...

CLC's Resident Choreographer, James Kudelka has been working with the puppet Malcolm since 2009, when Malcolm took a role in Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie's Living Dances program in a short work by Kudelka set to an aria from Bach's St. Matthew Passion. This performance inspired Kudelka to include Malcolm in another short appearance in AllOneWord. He now creates a work exclusively for Malcolm in this intimate "duet" to the live performance and original composition by pianist Dustin Peters. Malcolm is presented to the live performance and original composition by pianist Dustin Peters and choreographed in collaboration with Bill Coleman. Malcolm premieres at the intimate Mimi Herrndorf studio-theatre at The Citadel on February 19–23, 2014.

Toronto Dance Theatre & Musician Jennifer Castle - Henderson/Castle: voyager February 20 to March 1 2014

From a media release:

Dance artist Ame Henderson and musician Jennifer Castle join forces on Henderson/Castle: voyager, a new work for Toronto Dance Theatre
February 20-23 & February 26 - March 1, 2014

Toronto, ON – In her first work for Toronto Dance Theatre (TDT), Toronto-based performer and choreographer Ame Henderson collaborates with acclaimed singer/songwriter Jennifer Castle and the TDT company to explore continuous movement as a state of being. Henderson/Castle: voyager is on stage at the Winchester Street Theatre Feb 20-23 & Feb 26-Mar 1, 2014.

TDT Artistic Director Christopher House remarks “Few Toronto-based dance artists are held in such high esteem or have such an international reach as Ame Henderson. Part poet, part scientist, she draws the audience into her fascinating work through her infectious spirit of inquiry.”

Ame Henderson is known for her cross disciplinary work with Public Recordings, established in 2003, which explores and shares choreographic experimentation through artistic research and performance creation. In Henderson/Castle: voyager, Henderson proposes the question “What would happen if you never stopped moving?” The performance invites the audience to witness the unfolding of ongoing movement, and the transformation of the individuals on stage as they work.

Toronto-based singer/songwriter Jennifer Castle lends her unmistakable voice to the performance. Following the same principle of “never stopping” Castle provides the score for Henderson/Castle: voyager, a song partly composed and partly improvised, live for the duration of each performance.

Other collaborators on Henderson/Castle: voyager include lighting designer Kimberly Purtell, set and costume designer Bojana Stancic, the critical eye of New York dance artist Jeanine Durning, and Montreal-based guest dancer Marie Claire Forté. The TDT company members in collaboration include: Alana Elmer, Mairi Greig, Christopher House, Yuichiro Inoue, Pulga Muchuchoma, Jarrett Siddall, Kaitlin Standeven, and Naishi Wang.

Dates / Times / Location Winchester Street Theatre, 80 Winchester Street Thu, Feb 20 – Sat, Feb 22, 8:00PM Sun, Feb 23, 2:00PM (Pay What You Can) Wed, Feb 26 – Sat, Mar 1, 8:00PM
Tickets:  $20 Student/Senior/CADA | $26 General Box office:  416.967.1365 | www.tdt.org/henderson Direct ticket link: hendersoncastle.eventbrite.ca

Maurice Hines Hosts Apollo Club Harlem (New York City) - February 20, 21 & 22 2014

From a release:

Apollo Club Harlem
FEBRUARY 20, 21 & 22 2014 AT 8PM, 22 AT 3PM, 23 AT 5PM

• GET TICKETS

Host, Director, Choreographer: Maurice Hines
Featuring: Maurice Hines, Margot B., Kevin Mahogany, The Manzari Brothers, and The Wondertwins

HARLEM (NEW YORK CITY) - Enter the magic of the 30s and 40s when MAURICE HINES, dubbed “the hippest man alive” by the Wall Street Journal, returns with an all-new APOLLO CLUB HARLEM. This sparkling 90-minute, nightclub revue celebrates the glorious musical legacy of the Apollo Theater with sultry crooners, spectacular dance acts, a swingin’ 16-piece big band and a chorus line of Red Hot Steppers.

“Boardwalk Empire” star MARGOT B and KEVIN MAHOGANY, “this generation’s Joe Williams,” star in “high-energy, jazz-fueled theatrics” (WSJ) that explode in an elegant nightclub specially built within Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater. Joining them on stage will be fabulously talented acts, including dazzling double threat THE WONDERTWINS and the gravity-defying MANZARI BROTHERS.

Put on your best suit or break out your silk gloves and come experience the pizzazz and allure of the Jazz Age at the world-famous Apollo Theater!

Single event sales at full price: $150 (nightclub, orchestra seating), $65, $55, $45
In person or by phone at the Apollo Theater Box Office: 212.531.5305 at Ticketmaster.com or 800.745.3000
Apollo Advantage Price: $105 (nightclub, orchestra seating), $45, $38, $31 - Online at Apollo Account Manager

Apollo Club Harlem is supported by leadership gifts from the Reginald Van Lee New Works Fund, the Ford Foundation Fund for Global Programs, and JoAnn Price.

Maurice Hines with his brother the late, great Gregory Hines in the film The Cotton Club:

Help Support Canadian Artists - wind in the leaves collective performances

From a release:

Help Support
wind in the leaves collective performances

• Their indogogo campaign

(toronto) happy new year and all the very best for 2014! thank you for your interest in the 'wind in the leaves collective' (http://windintheleavescollective.com/), a group combining my poetry with live and recorded music, dance and visual art.

i founded this group in 2009 and a growing number of dancers, choreographers, musicians and visual artists from diverse diasporic backgrounds have become involved and are shaping the work. the stories the 'collective' tells through my poems present moments in the lives of persons of african descent and we create our work with the input of all of the artists involved, each of whom draws upon their own memory and artistic practice to contribute to a unique performance that has no parallel in the canadian arts scene and that we feel represents a diversity integral to canadian life.

the 'collective' has performed in many different venues and our work has been well-received. we began 2013 with performances on all three u. of t. campuses, did a show at 'arraymusic' in may and this fall we concluded our year with performances for the 'decolonial aesthetics' conference and a showcase at ontario contact, a venue where presenters across the country come to see and select works to stage (http://ontariocontact.ca/showcase-artists/251). these are simply some of the highlights of the 'collective's' work and we're very proud to have performed at ontario contact as it is a highly regarded showcase where many artists compete to present. we were successful in our first proposal to them and were one of 32 selected out of over 200 applications by excellent performing artists from across canada.

i am currently working on four performances for 2014. the 'collective' self-presents under the banner 'wind in the leaves collective with allies and friends'. this format allows us an opportunity to do new work and to invite other like-minded artists to share the stage with us. you can see flyers on our website under the 'performances' tab. two of our performances for 2014 will feature collaborations with the Milton Acorn Poetry Group and TSAR Publications . the Milton Acron Group are a gathering of poets who have been influenced by the canadian poet, milton acorn, and his progressive values and stories of working peoples. TSAR stands for The South Asian Poetry Review and publishes work of aboriginal peoples and people of colour in canada and around the world (http://tsarbooks.com/). both groups share similar values to the 'collective' and TSAR will feature the release of my book of poems 'travelogue of the bereaved'. to enable us to give our artists the rehearsal time and space needed to create and stage these performances, the 'collective' is beginning a fundraising campaign.

i hope you will be interested in furthering the 'collective's' work by contributing to our fundraising campaign which will be online in early febuary. our goal for 2014 is modest. we aim to raise $4,500.00 by june and we are seeking financial contributions from friends and allies who are interested in what we're doing. if you choose to contribute $100.00 you will receive 50% off all ticket purchases to the shows that the 'collective' self-presents.  for $50.00, you will receive 50% off of ticket purchases for two shows.  for $25.00 you will receive 50% off for one show.  all other contributions will be acknowledged in our program for each of these performances.

charles c. smith, artistic director, 'wind in the leaves collective'

Young Jean Lee's Untitled Feminist Show February 12 to 15 2014 in Toronto #artlive

From a media release:

UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW 
reveals the ‘naked’ truth about identity politics at Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage 
Feb. 12-15, 2014 – #artlive

TORONTO, ON – Brooklyn-based playwright and provocateuse Young Jean Lee returns to Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage with the Canadian premiere of the critically acclaimed UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW (Feb. 12-15). Without dialogue, clothing or traditional gender signifiers on stage, six performers shake up gender norms and confront matters of sameness, differentiation and the seven stages of womanhood in this unconventional and highly adventurous dance-narrative.

Developed and choreographed by Young Jean Lee, Faye Driscoll and Morgan Gould, UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW is a daring theatrical experiment. Challenging and inspiring from start to finish, Lee’s bold choice to outfit the cast in the nude for the duration of the one-hour performance was a calculated risk worth taking. The cast consists of five women and one gender non-conforming person; through lengthy exposure to ‘the nude’ on stage, the audience is encouraged to see beyond the performers’ gendered bodies and discover the beauty of one’s self-affirmation.

From friendship to fantasy, love making to child birth, UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW uses an extravagant blend of tableaux, dance, pantomime comedy sketches, film, mask and movement to reveal various stages and ages of womanhood. The individual quirks and traits of each performer are embraced and celebrated through the show’s liberating choreography-like movement (and costuming) and disparate body types.

“UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW is witty and provocative,” explains Tina Rasmussen, artistic director of World Stage. “There’s a unique energy about this show that’s moving, thought-provoking and visually captivating. Young Jean Lee is fearless when it comes to breaking new aesthetic ground in the industry, we’re thrilled to have her back at World Stage this season.”

Young Jean Lee began writing plays based on the advice of her therapist following the abandonment of her PhD on King Lear. Instructed by her playwriting mentor and Brooklyn-based teacher, Mac Wellman, to ”write plays based on the worst idea imaginable,“ Lee has now written and directed nine shows in New York and has toured her work to over 20 cities around the world. Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company was founded in 2003 and is an Obie Award-winning company.

For full company and performance information, including photos, videos and details surrounding World Stage Extras, please visit harbourfrontcentre.com/worldstage and connect with the season on Facebook and Twitter using @WorldStageTO #artlive.

Please visit harbourfrontcentre.com/gettinghere for information about getting here during the Queens Quay revitalization.

WORLD STAGE EXTRAS

UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW – Opening Night Pre-Show Event
Wednesday, Feb. 12, 7 p.m. – Fleck Dance Theatre
In an effort to further understand the seemingly complex world of contemporary performance, World Stage invites ticket holders to attend an opening night artist talk and celebration with complimentary freshly brewed tea. This pre-show conversation will be hosted by a well-informed industry practitioner, who will facilitate a friendly, informal chat with patrons to help shed light on some of the ideas and approaches found within the piece. Cup, saucer and programming provided and curated by World Stage. Admission is free with the purchase of a ticket to the opening performance of UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW.

UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW – Talkshow
Thursday, Feb. 13, Immediately following the performance – Fleck Dance Theatre
Young Jean Lee’s Theatre Company discuss their work and UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW with World Stage audience members through conversation facilitated by curated guest hosts. Admission is free with the purchase of a ticket to UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW.

Performance for the Adventurous: The 35th Annual Rhubarb Festival February 12 to 23 2014 in Toronto

From a media release:

PERFORMANCE FOR THE ADVENTUROUS:
THE 35TH RHUBARB FESTIVAL
FEBRUARY 12 – 23, 2013

• THE FULL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS IS AVAILABLE ON-LINE AT BUDDIESINBADTIMES.COM/RHUBARB

TORONTO - For two weeks, over 100 artists transform Buddies into a hotbed of experimentation, sharing new experiments in contemporary theatre, dance, music, and performance art with adventure-loving audiences. Now in its 35th year, Rhubarb is the place to see the most adventurous ideas that artists have to offer and to catch your favourite performers venture into uncharted territory.

As the festival marks its 35th anniversary, Rhubarb will examine its past, imagine its future, and celebrate the incredible community of queer artists and spaces that have developed around it. This is all the more timely in light of a recent decision by the Department of Canadian Heritage to withdraw funding for the festival after years of support, without explanation.



On this year’s programming, festival director Laura Nanni remarks, “For me, Rhubarb is about forward momentum.  While honouring the 35th year of this festival with works that unearth and remix elements of our past, it has been a priority to persist in making space for our artists and audiences to fearlessly question our current conditions and radically envision possibilities for the future.  This 35th year of Rhubarb promises to be as loud, boundary pushing and epic as ever!”

Here are some of the highlights from this year’s festival. For a complete line-up visit buddiesinbadtimes.com/rhubarb

FESTIVAL KICK OFF WITH HEADLINING PERFORMANCE FROM HEATHER CASSILS
Performance artist Heather Cassils launches the festival with a special presentation of their haunting, visceral performance piece, Becoming an Image – February 12 at 9:30pm.

A trained body builder and internationally celebrated artist, Cassils has been presented by major art festivals across Europe and North America since bursting on to the scene in 2007. Their work brazenly challenges assumptions about gender and pushes the physical body to its most extreme limits through an innovative combination of strength training and striking physical imagery. Originally from Montreal, Cassils now resides in Los Angeles where their work was recently named one of the Solo Exhibitions of the Year at the 2013 MOTHA Art Awards.

Cassils’ appearance at The Rhubarb Festival is a unique chance for Toronto audiences to see one of the most daring and sought-after performance artists in the world, in an unforgettable performance that pits the artist’s brute strength against a 1,000 pound block of clay.

ARTISTS FIND CREATIVE WAYS TO MARK THE FESTIVAL'S 35TH ANNIVERSARY
The highlight of the festival’s anniversary celebrations is a pair of late night cabarets that celebrate the accomplishments of the past and imagines possibilities for the future.

In 35 Performances for 35 Years (February 13 at 8:00pm), Festival Director Laura Nanni curates an epic night of short works by artists from throughout Rhubarb history, including Sky Gilbert, Chad Dembski, Daniel Brooks, Guillermo Verdecchia, Cathy Gordon, Shannon Cochrane, Keith Cole, Ryan G. Hinds, Brendan Healy, and dozens more. The following week, Nat Tremblay and Vivek Shraya curate a vision of things to come in the Queer Futures Cabaret (February 20 at 10:00pm).

RHUBARB CREATES AN ARTISTIC NETWORK BETWEEN THE CITY'S LGBT SPACES
Toronto is home to five of the largest and oldest queer institutions in the world. This year, Rhubarb opens up these places to the public with a series of free events that celebrate their ongoing impact on our city.
- At Pink Triangle Press, members of indie company lemonTree creations present the latest instalment of their ongoing investigation into the seminal queer newspaper The Body Politic.
- At the Glad Day Bookshop, Gein Wong curates a series of intergenerational exchanges as queer elders give the audience gifts in the form of stories and memories from Toronto’s queer history.
- At The 519 Church Street Community Centre, Golboo Amani sets up The School of Bartered Knowledge where passersby can offer what they know in exchange for something they don’t.
- At the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, sound artist Christopher Willes hosts a 24-hour listening party, starting February 21 at 6:00pm, as archived audio materials are recaptured, digitized, and broadcast live into the neighbourhood.
- Buddies also comes alive on the opening night of the festival, with new projects from Alvis Parsley, Evan Tapper, Paul Couillard & Ed Johnson, Birdtown and Swanville, Mark Reinhart, and Kathrin Whitehead that animate unusual spaces inside the queer theatre’s historic home at 12 Alexander Street.

BOLD NEW EXPERIMENTATIONS IN MUSIC
This year’s festival has attracted an eclectic group of artists working in the meeting place of performance and music to produce new musical experimentations that take the traditional concert into bold new territory.
- The Hidden Camera’s Maggie MacDonald offers up a high-camp sci-fi story about one woman trying to save our planet’s pop music after the earth is destroyed by aliens
- A new project from performance band Mortified (Jenn Goodwin & Camilla Singh) that revels in the musical possibilities of boxing, tap dancing, and cheerleading.
- A 19th Century rock-and-roll melodrama from Henri Faberge.
- Catherine Hernandez uses a music playlist to tell the story of her experience as a single mother and a queer femme of colour, in the first full-length presentation of her ongoing project The Femme Playlist – one night only, February 15 at 8:00pm.
- Light Fire’s Regina the Gentlelady (Gentleman Reg) presents her very first theatrical offering Do I Have to do Everything my Fucking Self – one night only, February 14 at 9:00pm.

A STAGE FOR QUEER ARTISTS
As always, Rhubarb is the go-to venue for exciting new work by queer artists. Queer names to watch at this year’s fest include Gein Wong, Nat Tremblay, Humboldt Magnussen, Hope Thompson, Mark Reinhart, Golboo Amani, Steph Markowitz, Gerard Reyes, Judy Virago, Thom Gill, Paul Couillard & Ed Johnson, Kathrin Whitehead, Alvis Parsley, Roy Mitchell, Regina the Gentlelady, and the members of Buddies’ Young Creators Unit

SHOWCASING THE BEST OF CANADA'S THEATRE COMMUNITY
This year also hosts a stellar collection of Canada’s most acclaimed theatre artists and rising stars as they test the boundaries of their work. Look for new works by Small Wooden Shoe, lemonTree creations, Hope Thompson, Jill Connell & Katie Swift, Birdtown and Swanville, Catherine Hernandez, and Gein Wong.

Images:
Henri Faberge & Humboldt Magnussen - photo: Tanja-Tiziana
Heather Cassils - photo: Manuel Vason
Kat Letwin & Carolyn Taylor - photo: David Hawe
Golboo Amani
Gerard Reyes
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre presents
THE 35TH RHUBARB FESTIVAL
festival director Laura Nanni
February 12 - 23, 2013
TICKETS: Week One Single Tickets $10, Week Two Evening Passes $20, many events free or PWYC
Box Office 416-975-8555 or buddiesinbadtimes.com/rhubarb  Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, 12 Alexander Street, Toronto ON