Blind Date: Rebecca Northan Clowns Around
After a sold out run and massive criticial acclaim in 2009, Mimi (Rebecca Northan) returned to World Stage last night for two scintillating weeks of Blind Date. In the show, Mimi is stood up by her date and randomly selects a man from the audience to be her romantic stand-in. What follows is awkward, unpredictable, hilarious and sexy! Every show is as different as that night’s “date”. A skilled artist with exceptional timing and balance, Rebecca embraces the social awkwardness of the blind date in this wholly original piece. What follows is a first-person account of the process of creating and developing the Mimi clown character.
I confessed to a friend at lunch recently that I really get the willies when it comes to discussing my “process”. I’ve always felt that it’s PRIVATE, and for anyone outside the acting profession, probably a bit boring, or worse, self-indulgent! And yet, I’m asked again and again, “How did you develop the character of Mimi?
The short answer is I don’t really know, and the medium answer is I had a red dress I wanted to wear, then I added a clown nose and a French accent. The long answer is . . .
Solomon Spearheads African Guitar Summit
Toronto has been a nexus for African music since the 1980s although the buzz has quieted considerably since the shuttering of the original Bamboo club on Queen Street West in 2002. The ’Boo was the center of a music scene that positively percolated and it has been sorely missed by Toronto’s reggae and world music communities. “There’s still no other venue where you can regularly hear live reggae and world music,” says guitarist and bandleader Adam Solomon, left. “Lula Lounge reserves the weekends for Latin music, but at least they’ll host reggae and African bands between Monday and Thursday.”
Solomon is behind this Thursday’s African Guitar Summit at Lula, a benefit for Haiti featuring Adam’s band, Tikisa, Jean Fojeba, Show Do Man, JP Buse, Ado Mantiamina Band, Altaf, Patu Bokelo and Masaisai. The real blow-out will come sometime after midnight when some of the best African guitarists in Canada join forces to recreate the Juno Award-winning African Guitar Summit: players include Alpha Yaya Diallo and Naby Camara (balafon) from Guinea; Ghana’s elder master of the guitar, Pa Joe, Theo Yaa Boakye (golden voice) and drummer Kofi Ackah; Kenyan native, Solomon; the bluesy Mighty Popo (Burundi/Rwanda) and Madagascar’s Donné Robert and Madagascar Slim. That’s a lot of bang for 10 bucks!
Friends For Life Inspire Mackie To Do More
Like so many other performers, jazz and R&B singer Jeanine Mackie has done loads of benefit shows over the years. But it wasn’t until she met Friends for Life Erick Bauer and Steve Cameron that she decided to step up and take on a PR role helping to raise awareness and money on behalf of these inspiring young men who spent their adolescence battling life-threatening illnesses together.
“Steve and Erick’s story touched me so deeply that I agreed to do more than just show up and sing,” says Mackie. “The two boys met when they were 11-years old but their friendship really developed when they were both patients at the Hospital for Sick Children at age 16. Steve was fighting cancer and Erick was fighting Cystic Fibrosis. Steve’s cancer is now in remission but Erick continues to struggle with CF every day.”
Our City, Our Stories powered by Canon
Sometimes a photographer’s story is just as interesting as the pictures he or she takes. That’s definitely the case with Our City, Our Stories powered by Canon, a youth photo contest initiated by Toronto’s Economic Development and Culture division and Canon Canada, produced in association with Arts Etobicoke, Lakeshore Arts, the Scarborough Arts Council and the UrbanArts Community Arts Council.
This community arts project has tapped into the wealth of young talent across the city. Entrants were encouraged to tell a story that reflects who they are and where they come from. The work of the 10 finalists, including Dance with the Shadows, above, by Kevin Graham) is being shown in Toronto City Hall’s Rotunda from February 16 to 21; the exhibit then moves on to the Etobicoke Civic Centre from March 11 to 25 and to the Scarborough Civic Centre from April 12 to 21.
Pteros Tactics: Eros is a Verb
Artistic Director Christopher House can’t wait to get to rehearsal of his new Toronto Dance Theatre piece, Pteros Tactics. “This process of exploration is so necessary,” says House. “There isn’t a typical day at this point in the process!”
He clears his head of worries about tomorrow night’s opening, about grants or box office and focuses on the real time rehearsal. “Everything else goes out of focus when you’re dealing with the business at hand of working on the group. As a choreographer, you respond to what the performers do. You’re challenging each other, and the audience will help in crafting this, by the end of the five performances.”
The starting point for Pteros Tactics is an essay by Canadian poet Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet. House explains, “The piece is about desire—the instant of desire rather than the history of a personal love affair.” Carson writes about how desire moves between the lover and the beloved, like a ball being thrown from one person to another: “Desire moves. Eros is a verb.” READ MORE
