I watched a "video":http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_strogatz_on_sync.html the other day that dealt with the theory of synchronicity and how everything on earth will, in an involuntary way, naturally come together in some sort of sync. The speaker’s demonstration was simple, can an audience automatically clap in sync? I believe this has some relevance to *Steve Reich’s Drumming*, which I attended at the Heritage Hall on Main Street in Vancouver on February 3rd as part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home.
*Maryse Zeidler* who stares bravely into the void every morning while the coffee brews
*Andrew Templeton* who stares in the mirror and wonders "who the hell is that?"
*Ashleigh Dalton* who likes to assemble puzzles, IKEA furniture and food such as lasagna
*Rachel Scott* who likes to assemble complex relationships, yoga sequences and logic traps
Who took in Radix Theatre’s *Assembly*, part of this year’s PuSh Festival.
Modern life getting you down? Try Assembly; Paul Ternes in the box, photo: Janet Baxter, photomontage Andreas Khare
Dubbed “the greatest living composer” by the New York Times and “the most original musical thinker of our times” by the New Yorker, the notion of reviewing *Steve Reich’s Drumming* was intimidating to say the least. I had high hopes for Tuesday night’s sold out show at Heritage Hall, part of the ongoing "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=shows&spage=main&id=79#show. I was not disappointed.
Last night I watched Nanay, a testimonial play. Staged at Chapel Arts, it is an archival look at Canada's Live-In Caregiver Program (LCP) and its impact on Filipino families. When you arrive, you will be given a clipboard, a pen and a piece of paper which allows you to write down your questions during the performance. It also contains a short survey to complete which is intended to as an information-gathering tool for those who put together this play - namely researchers Geraldine Pratt and Caleb Johnston who are working in collaboration with the Philippine Women Centre of BC.
"Trampoline Hall":http://www.trampolinehall.net/ is a Toronto-based event consisting of lecturers presenting information about subjects that they are not experts in. This does not mean that the subjects are not well researched, however. The lecturers seem to have done varying degrees of preparation, ranging from a few pages of notes to an elaborate power point presentation. After the lectures, the audience had the chance for some Q&A, which could be delightful test of the presenter’s ingenuity.
We couldn't find any photos of Trampoline Hall so here's a picture of a pie from their website!
The last time "Tim Crouch":http://www.newsfromnowhere.net/ came to Vancouver for the "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php?mpage=home he stirred my soul about the potential of theatre. On that occasion, he performed two productions: _my arm_ and _an oak tree_ (a piece which famously involved a different local actor every night). To my mind, *ENGLAND* forms a sort of trilogy with those shows. They are not linked by events or characters (well, unless, you think of Crouch as a character, I guess) but rather in the themes they explore. Crouch’s work is about reconfiguring the relationship between performer and audience; between performer and performance;...
ENGLAND: too much money will ruin your heart - and hair; photo: Chris Dorley Brown
*Maryse Zeidler:* who tries to be hip, but in the process just tries too hard and comes across as a flake
*Rachel Scott:* who once was hip, but then moved to Vancouver and has had to start from scratch
Journeying through the performances at this year’s "PuSh Festival":http://pushfestival.ca/index.php is like being invited to a wine tasting where none of the labels are familiar and the genres blur, making it difficult to know what to expect in advance. "Tribal Crackling Wind’s":http://tribalcracklingwind.ca/ piece, *Transmission of the Invisible*, along with Peter Chin’s untitled solo, used a multi-disciplinary approach, incorporating mostly dance and video, to address Cambodia’s horrific past; after reading the description of the work, I was very excited to see these two pieces and although I liked them, I actually went away feeling like the use of many modes...
Transmission of the Invsible; Photo by Cylia von Tiedemann
