Stir Vancouver

1 week ago | createastir.ca | Janet Smith

COMEDY WILL TAKE YOU to some unexpected places. In 2007, Colin Mochrie found himself in the White House trading stories with the U.S. President. Skulking in the corner, if the Oval Office had corners, was VP Dick Cheney. “He was bent over rubbing his hands together like Mr. Burns,” recalls Mochrie.

1 week ago | createastir.ca | Janet Smith

JOHN DAVID LAWRENCE IS a collector. That’s not just a polite way of saying the long-time Vancouverite has a lot of stuff, although that, too, is certainly true. A new book from the Vancouver Art Gallery and Figure 1 Publishing, The Place of Objects, makes an eloquent (and visually stunning) argument that Lawrence’s collecting is driven by something more than simply a desire to acquire things.

1 week ago | createastir.ca | Janet Smith

FITTINGLY, IT TAKES a minute to process what’s happening among the five dancers rippling and rushing around the Scotiabank Dance Centre’s studio floor. In this rehearsal for Sloth Canon, a new collaboration between Vancouver’s Company 605 and Singapore’s The Human Expression (T.H.E) Dance Company, bodies reach, tumble, jump, and crouch in offset echoes of each other—in a kind of fluid counterpoint to Matthew Tomkinson’s driving electronic score.

1 week ago | createastir.ca | Janet Smith

HAUS of YOLO came to be several years ago when The Dust Palace was touring PULP, a dark, gritty circus show based on the story of Persephone. But when a performer who was integral to the execution of that piece suddenly up and left in favour of another gig, the company was left with two weeks to put together a cabaret instead. Gordon—who admits they ordinarily find cabarets “a little bit boring”—decided that a wild concept was needed to up the ante.

1 week ago | createastir.ca | Janet Smith

EACH VIEWER OF Luciana Freire D’Anunciação’s art installation Becoming will have a unique experience, depending on where they are standing during the exhibition. Presented as a multi-screen video installation, the work involves poetry, movement, and sound. D’Anunciação collaborated with the Roundhouse Community Dancers to create the piece through structured improvisation and writing prompts. The four screens of Becoming work in conversation with one another.