Category Archives: Preview

BalletBoyz’s ‘Life’ Preview for Vue Weekly

arts-balletboyz-life-rabbit-credit-tristram-kenton-3

This week I previewed a contemplative ballet called Life from  London-based company BalletBoyz. The preview just went live this morning on Vue Weekly.

The 10-member, all-male BalletBoyz company comes to entertain this weekend with physical questions about what it means to be alive.

The company’s 80-minute performance, Life, is split into two halves, separately choreographed by Swedish artist Pontus Lidberg and Venezuelan Javier de Frutos. Edmonton marks the last stop on the North American leg of its current international tour. Read more

The company is putting on two performances on Friday and Saturday at the Northern Jubilee Auditorium, organized by Alberta Ballet. You can snag tickets on their site.

Wildfire Teen Improv Festival Preview for Vue Weekly

arts_teenimprov_feb8

I missed this preview going live on Vue Weekly earlier in the month, but the Wildfire Teen Improv is still ongoing. The junior high division finals of the competitive festival are on Saturday with additional performances tonight and tomorrow.

“Wildfire Teen Improv Festival is very strange,” says 17-year-old Darby Gynane.

She’s heading into her fourth run at the festival alongside her teammates from Louis St. Laurent. The improv competition, running from Feb. 7 to 25 at the Citadel’s Ziedler Hall, pits teams of junior and senior high students from across Edmonton and Alberta against each other to see who’s the most spontaneously entertaining.

“You see people who are creating art in front of your eyes that they’re never going to do again and you’re never going to see again,” Gynane says. “It’s very much an in the moment kind of thing.” Read more

Rapid Fire Theatre is an absolute force in Western Canada, and their festival that develops youth is no exception. You can get tickets for the last three shows of the festival through Eventbrite. Each performance starts at 7pm in the Citadel’s Ziedler Hall.

High Level Lit Salon Preview for Vue Weekly

Nasra-Adem-Photo.jpg

I previewed a salon series for a non-fiction anthology coming this October from Edmonton writers. I talked to Edmonton’s youth poet laureate Nasra Adem about the events. You can read the full preview over on Vue Weekly.

Edmonton literati plan to celebrate Canada’s sesquicentennial with the means they know best— the printed word.

A non-fiction anthology titled High Level Lit: Musings on YEG for Canada’s 150th birthday—featuring a dozen authors reflecting on Edmonton’s place within Canada’s history—will be published in Eighteen Bridges Magazine this October during the Edmonton International Literary Festival. Read more

The first Mar. 1 salon is fully booked right now, but there’s a waiting list service in place until Feb. 28, and the dates of other salons will be announced throughout the year.

‘International Print Exhibition: Canada and Japan’ Preview for Vue Weekly

arts-internationalexhibit-feb16

Here’s a preview I wrote about the “International Print Exhibition: Canada and Japan” at the University of Alberta Museums Galleries. It went live on Vue Weekly earlier today

In a bid to showcase Canada’s rich print culture, internationally decorated print artist Liz Ingram curated the “International Print Exhibition: Canada and Japan” with the help of April Dean, executive director of the Society of Northern Alberta Print-Artists. Read more

SNAP Gallery‘s Director April Dean spoke to me about curating Canadian print art with Liz Ingram. Ingram was on the way to beating lung cancer when Akira Kurosaki offered her the job, so Dean came in to help.

The exhibit runs from Feb.16 until Mar. 25 at the University of Alberta Museums Galleries at Enterprise Square, 10230 Jasper Ave. You can get in with a donation and it’s open on Thursdays and Fridays from 12pm – 6pm, and on Saturdays from 12pm – 4pm.

Cardinal Preview: Cold Case Comes Alive in Authentic Canadian Crime Thriller

cardinal
In our country where many may deign to ask, why are there so many missing and murdered aboriginal people unaccounted for? Cardinal tries to tackle the issue by putting us inside the mind of a tireless detective. One who did everything he could to find a missing aboriginal girl, Katie Pine.

Continue reading →

Winter 2017 Anime Preview: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

screenshot-2017-01-13-15-40-04
The juxtaposition Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid presents is a laugh out loud hilarious one that balances on sturdy character-building pillars in its premiere.

Continue reading →

Winter 2017 Anime Preview: ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department

screenshot-2017-01-11-23-53-27
Don’t let the long name of ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka) dissuade you. The political drama has great writing, directing and art design all going for it.

Continue reading →

Winter 2017 Anime Preview: Hand Shakers

screenshot-2017-01-11-00-23-28
For an animation with so many CG elements regularly moving around the screen, Hand Shakers has a distinct lack of flow to marvel at. When coupled with its offensive treatment of a woman in a discordant attempt at titilation, I wanted to shut off the premiere within the first two minutes.

Continue reading →

Winter 2017 Anime Preview: ēlDLIVE

screenshot-2017-01-09-21-30-28
ēlDLIVE is fairly standard, supernatural action meets middle school fare, but with a compelling enough conceit to to be worth a watch.

Continue reading →

Winter 2017 Anime Preview: Spiritpact

screenshot-2017-01-08-00-28-46

Spiritpact, like many Haoliners Animation League anime productions before it, has some of the foundations of a show that could be interesting, but skips the important parts that would make its viewers care.

Continue reading →