Hopefully your 2023 has been going well so far! The Lunar New Year ushering in the Year of the Rabbit was on Jan. 22; hopefully you had a chance to partake in some of the month-long new year festivities! Also, why not take some time to check out some of the dance and music performances, film screenings and theatre showings happening around town?
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FADO – The Saddest Music in the World
Jan. 14 – Feb. 5
Acclaimed Portuguese-Canadian playwright Elaine Ávila’s play, FADO, is a tale of love and ghosts set in the back alleys and brothels of old Lisbon. This musical, which premiered at The Firehall in 2019 and enjoyed a wildly successful run, tells the story of a young woman confronting her country’s Fascist past and her own identity is interwoven with the heartbreaking national music of Portugal known as Fado, which means “fate.” Please visit the Firehall Arts Centre website for tickets and more information.
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2023 LunarFest
Jan. 20–Feb. 20
Started in 2009 and built to be a Vancouver Winter Olympics Legacy event, LunarFest is Canada’s premier presenter of contemporary expression in Asian arts and culture. It endeavours to reach new Canadians and those who have been here for many generations to share in the diversity of Canada. It also encourages and fosters the collaboration of Canadian and International cultural presenters to create new forms of artistic expression. LunarFest is a festival that brings together soul, art and life on one stage. Check out the LunarFest website for details for this year’s celebratory events.
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Spirit Journeys: Walking with Resilience, Wellbeing and Respect
Opening Jan. 26
Spirit Journeys: Walking with Resilience, Wellbeing and Respect, opening at the Museum of Vancouver on Jan. 26, provides an opportunity for emerging and mid-career artists to exhibit their artworks. Through the YVR Art Foundation Scholarship Program these artists continued their studies or worked with mentors to expand their personal knowledge of Indigenous art and design. MOV will showcase the work of ten talented artists, and the results are breathtaking and inspiring. For more details, check out the museum’s website.
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The Cull
Jan. 26–Feb. 26
The Arts Club will be premiering The Cull, being performed at the Granville Island Stage until Feb. 26. While a forest fire rages out of control in the nearby mountains, a group of close friends gather for an anniversary celebration. But when an unexpected gift turns a civil conversation about the local wolf cull into a heated argument, personal interests begin to threaten the stability of the “pack.” This riveting dissection of human relationships and the forces that control our deepest motivations will keep you on the edge of your seat. For tickets and more information, check out the Arts Club website.
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Romanticism Unleashed
Jan. 27–29
The Vetta Chamber Music is delighted to have the dynamic duo from Barcelona, Kai Gleusteen and Catherine Ordronneau, join them for a classic program of romantic chamber music. They will be performing works by Franz Schubert, Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann. For venue locations, showtimes and more information, please check out the Vetta Music website.
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Haiti Betrayed
Jan. 28, 12:30–3:30 p.m.
Moving Images Distribution announced today that Haiti Betrayed, will have its theatrical premiere at VIFF Centre in Vancouver on Jan. 28. The documentary feature, from award-winning Nanaimo-based filmmaker and photojournalist Elaine Brière, outlines the role Canada had in the 2004 coup d’état in Haiti that brought an end to a decade of democracy and progressive reforms. In the film, Brière reveals how Canada, in contravention of international law, allied with the U.S. and France to overturn Haiti’s democratically elected government, playing a strategic military role in the removal of a democratically elected government. Seven years in the making, Brière’s film meticulously reconstructs Canada’s role in the removal of Haitian president, Jean Bertrand Aristide; the immediate bloody aftermath and the manipulated elections that followed. Canadian leaders continue to support an illegitimate regime rejected by the Haitian people.
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Monsters and the Zombie Apocalypse
Jan. 30, 7 p.m.
The Langara College Department of History, Latin, & Political Science department will be hosting a lecture series on catastrophe on Monday and Thursday evenings at the Hastings and Dunbar Community Centre respectively for the next several weeks. On Jan. 30, Langara English faculty member Erin Robb will be leading a talk on Monsters and the Zombie Apocalypse, which will consider the purpose and function of monsters throughout history, with a particular focus on how and why monsters have changed throughout film, ending with the monster of all monsters, the zombie, whose very existence promises to harken the end of the world.
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The Yellowhead-Blue River Road Camps
Feb. 1, 7 p.m.
In 1942 when Japanese Canadians were forcibly uprooted from their homes in the coastal regions of British Columbia, they were treated as a labour resource. Male individuals were ordered to labour camps and work projects, including the Yellowhead-Blue River Highway Project. In this talk, Tashme internee descendant Leanne Sumiko Riding will give an overview of the road camps and the men who lived there, including the names and locations of the camps, local geography and environment, populations, building types, opening and closing dates and current conditions of the camps. She will also share her insight on the passive and active resistance in the camps, camp gardens and issei (first generation) self-expression, entertainment such as baseball and hiking, and local reactions of the broader
Canadian community.
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The Wolves
Feb. 1–11, 7:30–9 p.m.
Squats, jumping jacks, lunges, repeat! The Wolves Junior Girls’ Soccer Team trains at the air dome every Saturday morning without fail. As they warm up they chat about everything from world events to menstrual cycles, navigating the joys and complexities of being part of a pack. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, The Wolves, playing at the Telus Studio Theatre at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts this February, is a celebration of female adolescence at its most chaotic and buoyant. For tickets and more information, check out the UBC Theatre website.
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The Improv Centre February Shows
Various dates in February
The Improv Centre (TIC) on Granville Island is pleased to announce its Valentine’s programming for the month of February. Shows include Single, Not Single; Kiss & Tell; Date Night and Happy Un-Valentine’s Day. These improvised shows explore relationships, love, heartbreaks, dating and romance from a comedic perspective! For tickets and show information, please check out The Improv Centre’s website.
