ArtwordBlog

Wacky and elegant: two qualities that are not generally associated. And yet, Friday’s art crawl saw the two hand-in-hand more than once.

Brian Kelly’s sculptures, at the You Me gallery on James Street North, are free-standing assemblages of cast-off objects. They are high-spirited, witty, whimsical — all of that. And yet, something more. Let your eye draw away from the detail, and each melange of random objects resolves into a structure that’s graceful and pleasing to the eye. More »

Andrew Burashko’s Art of Time Ensemble concerts are more than mere concerts. They are explorations into the cross-connections, and contrasts, between different artists and different art forms. You are asked not only to listen, but to consider and compare. The choices of repertoire are unusual and wide-ranging, and the musicianship is superb. They have some of the spirit of the programs Glenn Gould used to do on the CBC, or Leonard Bernstein’s children’s concerts – music to think about. More »

As a boy, Allen Kaeja worked in his father’s business: an abattoir. Forty-some years later, co-artistic director (with partner Karen Kaeja) of Kaeja d’Dance, he reaches back to these experiences in the full-length dance creation, Abattoir. (March 25, 27-29, 2008, at Premiere Dance Theatre. See listing in ArtwordList. )

Abbatoir is a hybrid, incorporating a text written by Jason Sherman and spoken by actor Aaron Willis, who dances along with the company quite convincingly (avoiding the more demanding lifts and leaps). More »

I haven’t been blogging for a while. A huge amount has been happening in our lives (good, exciting things), which I will go into another time. Also, I’ve been working on ArtwordList. Excuses, excuses. The other day, a friend of ours who lives in a small town phoned to find out if we were all right. Seems she keeps in touch with our doings by reading the blog. Wow! A regular reader! Someone to write for! So I’m back. More »

From: OMO Dance Company-
If you could take a few moments to send us your thoughts on the following questions – it would be greatly appreciated.

1. What role does dance serve in our community?
2. What role does OMO serve in our community?
3. What role do you feel OMO should serve in our community?
4. What would you personally like to see OMO do?
5. Why should someone support the arts?

From: Ronald Weihs

1. What role does dance serve in our community?

I think dance is terribly important. Dancers are highly unusual and strange people, and very special. They should be allowed to work in freedom. They shouldn’t have to spend so much time in school. More »

We saw the OMO dance program at the Betty Oliphant twice. We paid for the first one, and then when we said to Amanda, the General Manager, that we’d like to see it again, she said “Just come”. I’m fond of the work of this company, and friends with the people in it. (Full disclosure here.) I find Debbie Wilson’s choreography full of qualities that I look for — a fondness for the human body, expressiveness, wit, variety, surprises. I like the varied look of the dancers, sizes and shapes and complexions. I like that Debbie is not afraid to tackle difficult themes, and not afraid to just have fun and be funny. More »

Went out early in the morning to get day seats at the National for Caucasian Chalk Circle. Arrived at 9:30 a.m to discover that the lobby was already open! As late as last summer, the opening hour was 10 a.m, and people would line up outside starting at 9:00. A most civilized lineup it was, too, with people borrowing chairs from outside the cafe and returning them afterwards. What will happen now? Will the lineup start at 8:30? I hope not.

We saw the matinee of Caucasian Chalk Circle. It was a fine piece of work indeed, capturing the irony, the contradictions, the warmth of Brecht’s most sympathetic play. More »

COBA, the Collective of Black Artists, is giving us a chance to see some of its early work at the Premiere Dance Theatre, March 2 – 4. The program is called Deekali: Roots Re-lived II, and features four of the company’s works from the ’90s. This is the second year that the company has been revisiting early work. More »

Here it is, March 1, and you have only until March 4 to catch Volcano’s The Four Horsemen Project at Factory Theatre.This is a smart, fast, engaging show that takes highly esoteric work by four avant garde Toronto poets, adds some snappy, sexy choreography, some clowning, some tuneful harmonies — and turns it into a great night out that everyone will enjoy. More »

At the Diesel Playhouse, there’s a glitzy, sassy musical show from Montreal passing through Toronto on its way to Las Vegas. What makes this one different is that the stars are all puppets.

The puppetry is skillful indeed. The approach is based loosely on “bunraku”, whereby visible puppeteers (usually three) operate each puppet. In Japan, the conventions are very strict, but the western variety allows for many variations, and Cabaret U-Mano finds most of them. Puppets have human legs, arms, bodies. The dresses of the Dreamgirls puppets are giant columns of white circles that expand, contract, bend and slither. In one instance, a puppet head held in front of the operator’s face is passed from dancer to dancer. More »