| The RED Letter, Jan 2008 |
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Table of Contents
1. Words from Lisa Pijuan-Nomura
Every New Year’s Eve, I hunker down and look back on the year that has past. I write down all of my accomplishments and am amazed at the amount of growth that has happened. This year started with a lot of work in preparation for the 2nd RED Festival that happened April 15 to 18th at the lovely Lula Lounge. Four days of 120 performers made it a truly amazing event. This year also marked the ending RED as we knew it on June 13th. The past five years of curating this event brought me joy and inspiration and taught me a lot about putting on a show! This year, I was also proud to receive a scholarship to go to the National Storytelling Conference in St. Louis, Misssiouri in June. I met, heard and shared stories with some of North America’s finest tellers. In September, I was proud to be accepted to the Canadian Stage Company’s Bash! Program where 10 of Toronto’s performance artists, producers, and creators gather every two weeks to support, inspire and teach each other about all they know. In October, I offered a first of many of my women’s creativity classes, entitled She Can Create. As far as performing, I was really proud to be a part of Kaeja d’Dance’s Nuit Blanche program, A Bird’s Eye View at Casa Loma. The night was long, but filled with great dance and was nominated the number one Nuit Blanche Event according to the Toronto Star. I was also pleased to start collaborations with Banjo Puppets’ Joel Brubacher on a few new pieces that will be showcased in the new year! After looking back to the past, I feel it’s important to make a few choices to the future. In 2008, GirlCanCreate will be presenting a new cabaret series at the Bread and Circus Bar in Kensington Market. The quaint space holds about 45 people and the BREAD Cabaret will begin on February 13, 2008. The night will feature some of your favourite artists in a smaller and more intimate setting. Keep an eye out for more details. I will also be offering more creativity classes for both women and men and am so interested in supporting others to create. So, as you see, things here have been brewing. I want to thank all of those who have supported our creative efforts here at GirlCanCreate and I wish you all a wondrous new year full of magic, creativity and happiness. Best wishes to you all, P.S. If you wondering why I look so tanned in the photo, I am writing from Mexico where i am teaching dance and storytelling!
2. Feature Event — New Year’s Day Mayworks Poetry Marathon
New Year's Day fundraiser for Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts Tuesday, January 1, 2008 $5 to $15. Nobody turned away for lack of funds
3. Feature Theatre – Opera on the Rocks
Artist collective The Ambient Opera Society presents Witness guerrilla opera while enjoying a pint – no formal wear required! The all-star team of librettists are Leanna Brodie (Schoolhouse), Dave Carley (Conservatives in Love), Lisa Codrington (Cast Iron) and Krista Dalby (We Need Help!). This is contemporary opera at its gritty best. Characters sit amidst the bar patrons, singing passionately of love and loss, hockey and karaoke. Music composed and performed by renowned sound artist David Ogborn (Metropolis, Street Songs) using a physically and electronically modified classical guitar, which he plays with a variety of unusual accessories, including a set of kitchen knives! Directed by Dora Award-winner Liza Balkan (Tapestry Opera Briefs ‘06, ‘07); Associate Producer Devon Bhim. Featuring four of Canada’s hottest opera talents: Alex Dobson, Carla Huhtanen, Jessica Lloyd and Keith Klassen. This is opera like you’ve never seen or heard it before! Opera on the Rocks Two performances only! Sunday, January 6, 2008 – 8 pm Monday, January 7, 2008 – 8 pm Pauper’s Pub, 539 Bloor Street West, 2nd floor $20 general admission / $10 students / space is limited! Tickets: www.operaontherocks.ca or (416) 316-4461
4. She Can Create – Creativity Classes for Women“As a workshop leader, Lisa brings a sense of excitement and passion few can match. Her enthusiasm rubs off on the participants, now co-creators, in a world of movement and creativity carefully explored and unleashed in a safe, fun-filled experience. Lisa is both a masterful facilitator and a catalyst for stepping into the unknown. With such warmth and humour, she truly creates a joyous atmosphere in her classes and workshops.” - Beth Mairs, Director of Wild Woman Expeditions
She Can Create: Creativity Classes for Women Join us for an experiential woman's creative group that meets once a week to play and create using a variety of different inspirations. Focusing on self-expression and the desire to bring more art to our lives we will use Collage, Storytelling, Movement, Doll making, Beadwork and Journaling to jumpstart our creativity and help create unique pieces of art and find ways how to continue creating after the classes are finished. Lisa will also talk about the overcoming creative blocks, taking steps to complete projects and letting the world know about your work. A sure fire inspiring workshop, register early to avoid disappointment as there is a limited amount of participants. When: Tuesdays Nights from 6:15 to 9:00
Where: Somewhere There Studios Price: If registered before Jan 15th: $150
To register please email Lisa at lisa@girlcancreate.com or call 416-516-4925 Plus special deal for RED Letter readers, register and mention RED Letter and you will receive a complimentary creativity coaching session with Lisa Pijuan-Nomura. About Lisa: For many years Lisa has helped other artists when times were tough. It seemed to be a natural extensions of her work as an artist and curator. Lisa has studied with many great creative minds including author and creativity expert Eric Maisel, Art Therapist Jacqueline Gautier, dancer Lisa Nelson, singer Ysaye Barnwell, musician Babatunde Olatunji, storyteller Judith Black and many others! With over 15 years of working as a performance artist, writer and educator, Lisa is especially passionate about bring art, humour and creativity to lives of women, youth and children. 5. Classes and WorkshopsInter-Arts Workshop Series at Labspace Studio Labspace Studio is a multi-arts hub and rental facility focused on promoting and developing Toronto’s interdisciplinary arts scene. This winter, Laspace Studio launches its first Inter-Arts Workshop Seriesled by two of Toronto’s prominent interdisciplinary artists and educators. Foundations in Syncretic Art with Amanta Scott An integrated arts workshop designed for artists who want to push the boundaries of their current arts practice by exploring the fusion of visual art, music, dance and theatre. Workshop is also open to people wishing to explore their creative side. Focus is placed on group creation. Interdisciplinary Solo Creation with Meagan O’Shea A workshop geared to actors, dancers and performance artists. Drawing on techniques from movement composition, theatre games, improvisation, theatrical writing and more, participants are lead through the process of creating an interdisciplinary solo performance piece. Workshop Details: Registration: Location: Mime with Adam Paolozza "For me mime is an integral part of theatre, not a separate art form. The Mime which I love involves an identification with things in order to make them live, even when words are used." - Jacques Lecoq What does it mean to mime? To mime is not just to put on white face paint and tights. Mime is the most basic tool of the actor. The Mime imitates the world around them to better understand it. Inspired by the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq and Etienne Decroux this workshop will focus on developing mime skills to enrich the creative imagination and physical expression of the actor. Through games, exercises and improvisations we will focus on the following: PHYSICAL CHARACTERISATION, SILENT PLAY, PHYSICAL COMEDY The workshop will culminate in a small individual creation inspired by one of the areas covered in the workshop. This workshop is suitable for performers of all levels and disciplines who are interested in building stronger physical awareness-balance, agility, clarity and precision of gesture, clarity of physical acting choices and exploring the expressive limits of the human body. When: January 20 11-7pm January 23 5:30-10pm January 27 11-7pm Where: Pia Bouman school for Creative Movement 6 Noble St. (In Parkdale. Heading West on Queen St. it is the first street on your right hand side after the bridge near Dufferin St. Parking in the back) Fee: $200 non-union $160 union (ACTRA, CAEA, CADA) Contact: Adam Paolozza at adampaolozza@gmail.com *Space is limited so sign up early* Adam Paolozza studied at Écoles Jacques Lecoq, trained with the Decroux company Intrepido and Théâtre de Complicité founder Jos Houben. In Toronto he trained with Canadian mime master Adrian Pecknold. He is a founding member and co-Artistic Director of the international ensemble TheatreRUN. He has created several originally devised pieces and performed and taught in Europe, North America and Asia. He currently working on a new creation, the Mansfield Project, with Theatre Smith-Gilmour. Embodiment : Butoh-based Dance Workshop with Denise Fujiwara January 14 to 18, 2008 509 Parliament Street Cost: $190 or $45/day A dance-theatre workshop to train the body and the imagination by working from vivid internal conditions expressed through intense physicality. Using Butoh, the modern Japanese dance form as a foundation, we work to reveal the dances inner life of authenticity, depth and paradox, and to express one's humanity in all of its irrationality, ugliness, beauty and mirth. Limited registration: Priority given to those taking full course. Denise Fujiwara is a dancer and choreographer who performs and teaches internationally. For more info and to register, call: 416-532-5762 or email classes@fujiwaradance.com
6. Read this Book! With Book Lady Sarah Selecky
The spine of this book is only a little wider than a green bean and the chapters are as short as aphorisms - but it is the most powerful book about the creative process that I've found so far. I'm recommending it this month instead of fiction, because, frankly, I think that it's more important that everyone reads this book first. Pressfield begins by talking about what stops us from doing our creative work: Resistance. He is a screenwriter himself (fun fact: the introduction to this book is written by Robert McKee, famously introduced to many of us in the film "Adaptation"), so many of his examples of creative life come from the writing realm. But not all of them. Creativity/Resistance lives in artists, musicians, athletes - everyone, Pressfield says, who has a physical body. The Resistance that stops us from sitting down and starting that novel is the same force that stops us from eating well, starting a meditation practice, joining that non-profit organization, going to the gym. We often resist exactly that which brings us to a higher version of ourselves. Frustrating, isn't it? Pressfield goes on to describe how to fight Resistance. He also talks about that very-difficult-to-articulate magical or spiritual zone that helps us create. He names that force - he calls it our Muse - and he's not shy about it. Whether you agree with his language or not, the information in these later chapters is affirming and inspiring. Why has this book slipped past me before now? I don't know. Have any of you already read this book? If, like me, you've never heard of it, now you can relax. You've found it. Now, go buy it. Don't borrow a friend's copy - you will want your own.
7. Calls for Entries7a*11d International Performance Art Festival
This is the call for submissions for 7a*11d's 7th International Festival of Performance Art in 11 years, taking place in Toronto from October 22 - November 2, 2008. Organized by an unincorporated non-profit group of artists, 7a*11d presents a series of performance art events and artist projects in a festival setting. Our purpose is to offer a Artist organizers will select emerging and established artists of the highest quality from around the world that showcase the breadth and depth of performance art as a genre. We pay artist fees and try to subsidize travel, but please note that our budget is limited and not adequate to support troupes or companies. PLUS: D2D Direct to Documentation: A video program of performance documentation. Deadline: Proposals must be postmarked no later than January 15,2008. For pdf and html versions of the full application, see www.7a- 11d.ca Call for Flight Attendants or Flight Ground Staff For Contemporary Art Project Brazilian artist Carla Zaccagnini is looking for Flight Attendants and/or Airport Ground Staff who are familiar with the in-flight security procedures for a project she is completing during a two month residency at the Art Gallery of York University (AGYU). Carla will be in Toronto from July – September 2008 producing a new work for her solo exhibition (September 10 – December 17, 2008) that requires 20 flight attendants or ground staff from different AIR LINES to participate in a one evening private performance that will be videotaped. An announcer will call out a series of security procedures in different languages. Each attendant who understands the language will follow through with the visual demonstration that corresponds to each security procedure called, for example: Life Jacket instructions; placement and use of oxygen mask, etc. This will take approximately three hours of your time to complete the performance. If you want to be a part of this exciting contemporary art project New and Emerging Artists for Juried Art Show The Living Arts Centre is accepting submissions from new and emerging artists for a juried art exhibition. Selected works will be exhibited in the centre's on-site gallery, Laidlaw Hall from May 3 - May 25, 2008. Eligible artists must be living, working, or attending school the City of Mississauga or Peel Region. Works in all media will be considered. Works must be original and completed within the last two years. For Submission guidelines and requirements, please go to livingartscentre.ca/submissions For more information, please email exhibitions@livingarts.on.ca or call 905.306.6161. SUBMISSION DEADLINE: January 30, 2008 at 5pm
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit 2008 ARTIST APPLICATION FORM NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE! Now in it’s 47th year, the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition [TOAE] is a juried showcase featuring contemporary fine art and craft that takes place on Nathan Phillips Square every July. As the largest outdoor art exhibition in Canada, the TOAE offers a fresh-air alternative to conventional art shows and galleries. Approximately 500 artists participate and over 100,000 visitors attend the exhibition every year. Side by side, established artists, undiscovered talents and innovative students sell their work directly to the public and make lasting connections with art dealers and collectors. In 2007, the TOAE presented over $30,000 in cash awards and prizes to participating artists. We welcome applications from artists working in a wide range of traditional and experimental art forms. The Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition is a charitable non-profit organization supported by a group of volunteers active in the art and corporate communities. The exhibition is financed through registration fees, and by government, corporate and individual sponsors, enabling the TOAE to charge one of the lowest registration fees in North America. No percentage of the artists' sales is taken by the organizers. The TOAE gratefully acknowledges the support of the many sponsors and award donors that made the 2007 exhibition a success. Applications can be downloaded from the TOAE website at http://www.torontooutdoorart.org or call 416.408.2754 for more information. APPLICATION DEADLINE: MARCH 1, 2008 For further information, please contact: http://www.torontooutdoorart.org 8. Photography by Dave Pijuan-Nomura
You can buy Dave's photos online at nomuraphoto.etsy.com
9. Last Thought
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