Dancer Dennis Alamanos of the Akram Khan dance company performs in Chotto Desh.| Photo courtesy of the Dance House.
It’s pretty cold out there these days! The holiday season is just around the corner, so dress warmly and check out some of the many events happening around the city. For entertainment, attend the many dance and theatre shows playing. Learn about and support a cause at a public panel or lecture. Take the kids out to enjoy an ice show at the planetarium or listen to lovely Christmas choral music!
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Akram Khan Company
Nov. 21–24
SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, Vancouver
The British based Akram Khan dance company will be coming to Vancouver at the SFU Goldcorp Centre this November. Akram Khan’s Chotto Desh (“small homeland” in Bangladeshi) takes a storybook view of Khan’s childhood, growing up under the stern eye of his authoritarian father. Freely mixing Kathak dance with storytelling and mime, Khan creates a series of worlds that run from the ordinary to the mythic. While themes of exclusion and identity are wound throughout, the work is light on its feet and filled with a luminous humanity that grounds the fantastical in the universal. For tickets and showtimes, please visit the Dance House website.
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Dancers of Damelahamid
Nov. 22, 12 p.m
Scotiabank Dance Centre, Vancouver
Dancers of Damelahamid is an Indigenous dance company from the Northwest Coast of B.C. with a rich history of masked dance, which inspires compelling performances. Through dramatic dance, captivating narrative, intricately carved masks and elaborate regalia, Spirit and Tradition shares the treasures of the company’s heritage and bridges the ancient with a living tradition. The Dancers of Damelahamid will be at the Scotiabank Dance Centre noon on Nov. 22.
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21st Annual European Union Film Festival
Nov. 23–Dec. 4
The Cinematheque, Vancouver
www.thecinematheque.ca/
Pay a visit to the Cinematheque Theatre to experience the cinematic offerings from 26 European Union countries during the 21st Annual EU Film Festival. Catch a Romanian drama about lost love and lost causes, a Portuguese fantastical family comedy about overbearing mothers and a psychological thriller set on the island Republic of Malta. From documentary to drama, comedy to historical, there’s plenty to see. For showtimes and movie information, check out their website.
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Turn up the Sound Systems! Generative Sound Art Today
Nov. 24, 12 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Surrey Arts Centre
www.surrey.ca/culture-
On Nov. 24, why not come on down to the Surrey Arts Centre for this year’s Sound Thinking event focusing on generative sound art. With advances in computer technology, artists and composers program more complex self-generating musical structures. They use algorithms to produce new music and sound forms. In doing so, they delegate some of their authority to machines. What is at stake for art and culture with the increase of computer-driven sound practices? For artist bios and more information, please check out the website.
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Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra
Nov. 24, 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 25, 3 p.m.
Shaughnessy Heights United Church, Vancouver (Nov. 24)
Good Shepherd Church, Surrey (Nov. 25)
Join one of Canada’s most celebrated choirs in Vancouver or Surrey for a family-friendly concert of familiar melodies and new choral music in celebration of the Christmas season. Elektra is thrilled to bring the artistry of Canadian opera star, tenor Ben Heppner, to its audiences at Chez Nous: Christmas with Elektra. Joining Heppner, Artistic Director Morna Edmundson, pianist Stephen Smith and Elektra’s award-winning voices are the delightful Vancouver Youth Choir Kids and their director Cassie Luftspring. Elektra promises to lighten the darkening days with beautiful, seasonal music.
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A Charlie Brown Holiday Double Bill
Nov. 24–Dec. 30
Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island, Vancouver
Good Grief, it’s twice the fun! Experience the ups and downs of everyday life in You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. When your friends are the Peanuts gang, no day is ever ordinary, and somewhere between Beethoven’s birthday, peanut butter sandwiches and team baseball, Charlie Brown and the gang learn about the joys of friendship and stumble upon the true meaning of happiness. Then in A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown directs his friends in the school Christmas pageant. With help from his friends and a ragged little tree, he discovers what the season is really all about. This special double bill feature is playing at the Waterfront Theatre on Granville Island from Nov. 24 to Dec. 30.
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Explore ice worlds like Enceladus at the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre.| Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.
Cosmic Nights: Ice Worlds
Nov. 29, 6:30–10 p.m.
H. R. MacMillan Space Centre, Vancouver
Grab a friend and come on down to the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre for Cosmic Nights: Ice Worlds. We will be exploring whether life can exist on the icy planets in our solar system and beyond. Learn more about current missions and hot topics in astronomy and space exploration in this fun evening of science and socializing. The centre has a custom planetarium show, guest lecturer, music, drinks, science demonstrations and games at this 19+ event. Doors open at 6 p.m. For more information, please check out the centre’s website.
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Eclipsed Cinema: The Film Culture of Colonial Korea
Nov. 30, 3:30–5 p.m.
C.K. Choi Building at UBC, University Endowment Lands
On Nov. 30 at the C. K. Choi Building at UBC, University of Oregon professor Dong Hoon Kim will present his book Eclipsed Cinema: The Film Culture of Colonial Korea that explores the seldom-studied film culture in Korea under Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945). Instead of looking at colonial film history merely with the framework of Korean national cinema, Eclipsed Cinema locates cinema in colonial Korea at the discursive junctures of colonial, regional and Korean and Japanese national cinemas. Eclipsed Cinema also excavates under-investigated aspects of colonial film culture, including the representational politics of colonial cinema, film exhibition, film reception and spectatorship, and Japanese settlers’ film culture.
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Landscapes of Injustice: Public Panel
Dec. 2, 1–4 p.m.
Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, Burnaby
Constitutions are stories the nation tells about itself. The histories of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians reveal that many chapters of those stories involve oppression, racism and injustice. And yet, constitutions are also built, maintained and transformed in moments of constitutional failure, resistance and faith in constitutional ideals. The public panel at the Nikkei Cultural Centre on Dec. 2 will explore a diverse array of constitutional stories involving Japanese Canadians and Japanese Americans and explore the important role of communities of Japanese descent in the constitutional history of Canada and the United States.
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United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities
Dec. 3, 1–9 p.m.
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
The Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre will host Vancouver’s annual community celebration of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Daytime programming highlights the achievement and talent of people of all abilities with hands-on activities, wellness and recreation demos and an art fair and exhibition featuring work by artists with disabilities. Evening programming features a cabaret-style film as well as art and performances created by, for, or about individuals who live outside the box. An annual sell-out event, please visit the website to book tickets early for a night to remember!
