UN AÑO MÁS, LA COMUNIDAD DE MADRID CELEBRA UNA NUEVA EDICIÓN DEL FESTIVAL DE OTOÑO CON UN CARTEL DE PRESTIGIO. Y VAN YA VEINTISÉIS. DURANTE CASI CUATRO SEMANAS PASARÁN POR LOS TEATROS DE LA COMUNIDAD FIGURAS DE LAS ARTES ESCÉNICAS COMO ROBERT LEPAGE, DANIEL VERONESE, ANGÉLICA LIDDELL, EL CIRCO DE VIETNAM LANG TOI O EL COMPOSITOR JAPONÉS RYUICHI SAKAMOTO, ENTRE OTROS MUCHOS. Por Vanessa Ramiro.

UN CARTEL HETEROGÉNEO

Fiel a su estilo, consagrado ya en la región, el festival presenta un desfile de estrellas llegadas de todas las partes del mundo que contribuyen a crear un cartel heterogéneo orientado hacia un público variado que podrá disfrutar de montajes de teatro, danza, música y circo.

Del 4 al 29 de Noviembre.

Más información en www.madrid.org/fo/2009/es/index.html

Le collectif Ex Machina de Québec avait le projet Aurora Borealis à coeur depuis quelques années déjà lorsque le nouvel éclairage architectural des silos de Bunge a été dévoilé dans le Vieux-Port de Québec la semaine dernière.

Les coïdéateurs du projet, Robert Lepage (Ex Machina) et Martin Gagnon (Ambiance Lighting and Visual Design), ont travaillé d’arrache-pied afin que le Moulin à images, événement phare des célébrations du 400e de Québec, ait un successeur.

Finalement, le Moulin à images se poursuivra pour les cinq prochaines années, mais sera accompagné d’un spectacle d’éclairage inspiré d’aurores boréales. Les mouvements de lumières sur les silos à grain Bunge seront quotidiennement présentés 365 jours par année, pendant cinq ans, de la tombée du jour à 23 h 30.

Une équipe de 53 personnes a été constituée afin que Aurora Borealis prenne vie sur le bâtiment d’une largeur de 600 mètres et d’une hauteur de 30 mètres, un des plus gros éclairage architectural au monde.

J’ai rencontré Mario Brien, directeur de production du Moulin à image et de Aurora Borealis, et Jean-Pierre Vézina, vice-président aux finances d’Ex Machina qui se présente comme une boîte de création d’événements spéciaux et de productions scéniques.

Au menu : les objectifs visés de ce nouveau projet, les nouvelles technologies employées et la façon dont Ex Machina forme ses équipes pour réaliser chacun de ses projets.

Some reviews for the COC’s visually stimulating production of Stravinsky’s “The Nightingale”

A scene from the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Stravinsky’s “The Nightingale”

Tamara Goldstein\’s Review (Globe and Mail) October 19, 2009

John Coulbourn (Toronto Sun) October 18, 2009

John Kaplan (Toronto Now)

Heidi Waleson (Wall Street Journal) October 22, 2009

NO PEOPLE LIKE SHOW PEOPLE: Jazz legend Joe Sealy, cabaret queens Nancy White and Judith Lander, and We Will Rock You alumni Yvan

LANDER: October concert

Pedneault and Alana Bridgewater headline an afternoon musicale Oct. 25 at Rosedale United Church … Robin Williams plays Casino Rama Nov. 11 & 12 … Ron James is set to host the Nov. 14 Gemini Awards telecast from Calgary … good news for her Atlantic fans: Serena Ryder will play the first of six “intimate” east coast gigs November 26 in St. John’s … and Robert LePage’s nine-hour theatrical marathon, Lipsynch, is currently on view at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, with intermissions and a dinner-break, through this Sunday. The brilliant Quebec dazzle-master, set to world-premiere his predictably controversial new opera The Nightingale and Other Short Fables

WILLIAMS: at Rama

FLICKERS: New season for the TIFF Cinemateque screenings at the AGO starts tonight, with Lisa Ray set to make an appearance tomorrow night for the screening of Deepa Mehta’s hit comedy Bollywood/Hollywood. For more info, just click here …  TIFF award-winner Cairo Time, with Patricia Clarkon and Alexander Siddig, opens in T.O. today. Film buffs, take note: Director Ruba Nadda will be attending tonight’s 7pm screening and tomorrow’s 2pm and 7pm

CLARKSON: in TIFF winner

screenings at the Varsity Cinemas for post-screening Q&A’s … award-laden writer-director Paul Haggis’ current film project has an intriguing title: The Next Three Days … and in celebration of International Animation Day and the National Film Board of Canada’s 70th anniversary, the NFB is launching a special edition of Get Animated! – a series of free public screenings, from October 23–31, 2009, in 13 communities across this country. Accordingly, the NFB’s Get Animated! website is already offering exclusive animation programming to all its visitors.

LITERATI: Royalists continue to be fascinated by the Queen Mother’s recently revealed diaries and letters, despite the fact that her younger daughter,

MURRAY: on the road again

the late HRH Princess Margaret, reportedly destroyed a lot of the Queen Mum’s correspondence in an effort to cover up the scandals created by Charles and Diana … look for new books this fall from both Peter Mansbridge and Rex Murphy … on your mark, set, buy: Top Five fiction finalists for this year’s Giller Prize are Kim Echlin, The Disappeared; Annabel Lyon, The Golden Mean; Linden MacIntyre (yes, the Linden MacIntyre,) The Bishop’s Man; Colin McAdam, Fall; and Anne Michaels, The Winter Vault … and Anne Murray is set to kick off her cross-Canada tour to promote her new autobiography, All Of Me, with a signing session at Indigo Books & Music on Oct. 29 at the Eaton Centre. To find out when she’s coming to your town, just click here.

And have a happy Thanksgiving.

-/-

“Free yourself from whatever cage the industry builds for you”
- Robert LePage

Monday of what is shaping up to be my busiest week in NYC found me at DUMBO this morning, the Brooklyn arts precinct that houses St Ann’s Warehouse & Galapagos Arts Space among others. I met the lovely Laura Roumanos (St Ann’s general manager) for a quick coffee and tour of this very happening, and visually unique area.

Then it was onto New York Theatre Workshop for one of their rehearsed readings, which their artistic associate (who I am meeting later this week) had invited me to. The piece was a solo show by Saverio Guerra, an Italian-American actor best known for some TV sitcom work. Entitled Adoptation, the work was extremely personally, detailing his and his wife’s experience adopting a child. The reading was very simple yet extremely funny, raw and moving. Despite Saverio’s obvious nerves, he is a natural story-teller and the captured the small audience completely. I hope the show gets up somewhere because it’s a riveting hour in the theatre. I was extremely impressed that NYTW have such a comprehensive reading program of new work. There are two-three readings each week to an invited audience and I’m looking forward to my meeting with them to talk about how the program works.

I finished off the day at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), listening to Robert LePage (one of my all time theatrical heros!) in conversation John Ralston Saul about cultural identity. True to form, LePage was inspiring, insightful, modest, passionate and beautifully articulate. His process is unique, and extremely conducive to his creativity. I can’t express how wonderfully it is to witness an artist mould the industry to his creative process rather than allowing the industry to dictate the terms. His dislike for a “purity” of language and theatrical culture makes him a true revolutionary artist immersed in the 21st century. I took so many useful notes – I’ll try add some more posts throughout the week. Tomorrow (apart form heading up the Empire State Building!) I’m meeting the Artistic Director of PS 122, heading back to the rehearsal room with The Wooster Group and seeing Aftermath @ NYTW. Wheww!

Voici un autre portrait fait dernièrement. Il s’agit bien sûr de Jean-Nicolas Marquis, comédien de Québec qui a récemment fait la tournée avec Le Projet Andersen de Robert Lepage. Il est également enseignant au Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique de Québec. Et il a de gros biceps.

Here is another recent portrait of another actor, Jean-Nicolas Marquis from Quebec. He is currently involved in The Andersen Project from Robert Lepage. He is also a teacher at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique de Québec. And he’s got huge biceps.

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27 Aug Show extérieur avant Le Moulin à Images de Robert Lepage Québec,

Orange Orange : chanson de la semaine sur iTunes Canada

Sors-moi, le premier extrait du mini album d’Orange Orange (Sabrina Sabotage et Dom Hamel) disponible sur iTunes depuis juin a été choisi comme «chanson de la semaine» par iTunes Canada. Une belle façon de découvrir Orange Orange ou encore de patienter jusqu’au lancement de l’album le 25 août prochain sur l’étiquette star.ca.

iTUNES [liens]

Promotion Radio
Communications Julie Lamoureux
info@communicationsjulielamoureux.com
(514) 257 8781
Relation de Presse
Lyne DuTremble
dutremblus@videotron.ca
(514) 952 5047

This is the second year for the Moulin à Images (Image Mill) in Quebec City. The Moulin à Image was produced by Robert Lepage and his company Ex Machina to celebrate Quebec City’s 400th anniversary. It consists on projections and special effects on a range of grain silos 30m high and 600m long, making it the biggest projection ever (a Guiness record.)

This year, the second year of the Moulin, 20% of the content was changed. Some companies outside of Ex Machina were asked to produce a part of the new content. Ubisoft was given a 40 seconds segment to do on how videogame companies helped the rebirth of the St-Roch neighborhood. I was asked to create storyboards and help produce the animatics that were then presented to Ex Machina. That’s my first official storyboarding credits. Of course, there have been much changes since and many many others have spent more time than me working on the project. I’m still happy how it turned out. Oh, and I got the shirt to prove it!

Un regard singulier sur la création du Moulin à images de Robert Lepage et Ex Machina

Un film de Mariano Franco et Marie Belzil

Production de L’Office national du film du Canada et Les Productions du 8e art

www.onf.ca/dans-le-ventre-du-moulin

En salle au Cinéma Parallèle à Montréal, au Cinéma Cartier à Québec

à compter du 3 juillet

Last winter I spent a frustrating two weeks clicking F5 over and over again, hoping that a pair of tickets would be released for Eonnagata. I had read about this strange story – based on the the Chevalier d’Éon, a French swordsman and spy who was rumored to be both male and female (and pretending to be the other) at different points in hir life – way back in November, but found the concept rather too vague to commit to what with pantos and Nutcrackers occupying my attention; but as the first reviews (and more detail) came out, I became rather frantic to see the show – Japanese ballerina transexual samurai kung fu dance show! It was like every cultural thing I am interested in all rolled into one, and it was desperately, desperately sold out. Fortunately, they announced a second production of the show, and as it seemed to not quite hit perfection (per a critic whose opinions I value highly), I crossed my fingers that while I wouldn’t be able to see the premiere, I might be able to see an improved version of the original without the trouble of the pesky first viewing polluting me. (Really, I was just trying hard to grasp at straws about not getting those tickets.) It was a long wait until the June showtime rolled around, and last night was the great unveiling. WOOO!

Now that I’ve finally seen it, I’ll summarize the evening as “like Guillermo del Toro directing a gender-fluid, Japanese Dangerous Liasons, with fight scenes by Yuen Woo Ping.” It’s not so much a dance show as a production with movement that is just as much about costumes, lighting, and music as anything else. In fact, the dancing was rather thin. Ms. Guillem did do some great things in which her lifted legs looked like extra swords; but it was more as a part of creating a spectacle than dance. I didn’t mind, really. I was hypnotized by the gauzy kimono floating around the performers and hovering behind the creamy scrim (for a sort of human shadow puppet scene), by the strange Lincoln-log pannier skirts, by the stripey fencing pants and knee-high white boots (or stockings), by the dancers slipping across tables, duetting with mirrors (and then with each other) … I was amazed by the way they melded into each other and then were themselves again (especially when a man crawled into the shadow kimono and emerged a woman). Yeah, sure, we weren’t really sticking to the correct culture, but I was completely happy with the use of Chinese/Japanese martial arts weapons and clothing alongside 17th/18th century articles – it looked great and that was good enough for me.

And the lighting design! It helped the performers slip into and out of shadows, it let them end a scene in one spot on the stage gracefully as another “thought” started somewhere else … but my favorite bit was when all three performers were doing staff fighting in little bands of light which changed shape as their staves (or were they swords?) hit the floor – it was like something out of The Matrix or even a video game. It was, in a word, gorgeous.

Was the performance just perfect? Well, no. Russell Maliphant had a horrible clunky moment in which his microphone kept picking up the sound of his clothing dragging across it, and most of the spoken bits seemed completely superfluous and a drag on the evening. The bit where Ms. Guillem was reading letters from the Chevalier’s mother actually made me long for the end to come at last; I was getting tired. And, in the end, I’m afraid it overstayed its welcome. While I was with it for at least sixty minutes, I think around seventy its energy started to flag – and I slid downhill with it.

But, in the end, who cares how historically accurate it was or how much of a dance piece it was, it was a treat for the eyes and engaging and well worth burning a sunny evening indoors. Who knows, maybe it’s in the summer that the best theatre really happens, because that’s when only the most devoted can be convinced to spend their time this way. Overall, it was a very good evening and I’m pleased as punch that I finally got to see it.

(This review is for a performance on June 23rd, 2009. Eonnagata continues through June 27th.)

via shadowclown flickr

last thursday, the kimmel center hosted the united states’ east coast premiere of The Andersen Project by robert lepage.  named for, based off of + inspired by hans christian andersen’s fairy tales: The Shadow + The Dryad, The Andersen Project begins with yves jacques as a young street artist creating a daguerreotype-esque image of andersen and defacing said photo.  jacques is the talented french-canadian actor representing lepage’s vision and enacting the one-man show brilliantly. beyond jacques’ performance and lepage’s script, the set design deserves explicit praise.  for a two hour show <no intermission> the transitions were seamless and elegant.  the large white screen was creatively integrated and built with a shelf so that jacques could stand within the motion and interact more gracefully.  jacques’ convincing depiction of each character was enhanced by the outstanding puppeteer responsible for evoking a chaotic dog from wire and leash alone.

also from shadowclown's flickr

the show not only danced with andersen’s themes but also touched upon lepage’s personal experiences in paris <perfect for the dryad> and delved into more intimate arenas exploring sexual identity, unfulfilled fantasy and thirst for recognition <which it seems both lepage and andersen shared>  one review writes:

“This is a production like a matrioshka doll; both character and themes are exposed by the delicate peeling of fine layers. Each small action and omission will come to have meaning; each betrayal, each lie, each Fall will claim its price in time. Even an apparent joke, such as the rope that features ridiculously in a solemn commentary in the museum that commemorates Denmark’s greatest national figure, turns out to have far more significance than any in the audience might have imagined.”

childhood favorite

if i may make one very small critique it would be about the brief moments of spoken french with accompanying subtitles.  the english translation was displayed towards the ground and often hard <for me> to read.  if only i paid better attention in my 1/3 year of french in the 8th grade. <mrs. smith put me in the back of the room for cheating.  little did she realize that this actually encouraged the audacious behavior.  doh.> residual problem: i missed some jokes about the english and the french.

my first introduction to andersen was the snow queen. my mother’s favorite fairytale, it was a book i read often as a child and plan to return to in the coming week.  like le petit prince, i strongly suggest it for adults and youngster alike.  for serious.

the most popular tourist attraction in Denmark

for those unfamiliar with any of the andersen works listed, arguably his most famous piece – the little mermaid – was made popular, and named ariel, by disney.

several years ago, on a return flight from st.petersburg, russia, with a 7 hour layover in copenhagen, i took a quick boat tour through copenhagento to visit the famed little mermaid statue.  she gracefully transitions this performance review  into a sneak peak of this week’s coney tuesday: this coming saturday is the fabulous mermaid parade!  look out for more details tomorrow.  and also look out for lepage’s work in your town today.