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Podcasts
PuSh Play: New in 2024
On the stage, in the rehearsal studio, and now: in your podcast library! PuSh Play, our freshly-pressed podcast, is now online. Join Gabrielle Martin, PuSh’s Director of Programming, in conversation with PuSh artists who are pushing boundaries and playing with form.
New episodes every Monday and Thursday, wherever you listen to podcasts!
Episode 1: Ramanenjana (Nov 9)
A captivating docufiction performance, presented with The Dance Centre and Inner Fish, Ramanenjana is about a dance that made history, when thousands of people in Madagascar danced to drums in the capital city for weeks, as if hallucinating. Co-choreographers Simona Deaconescu and Gaby Saranouffi join Gabrielle to discuss the social role of dance, what is mass dance, and more.
Gabrielle Martin chats with Christopher Morris, artistic director of Human Cargo and writer of The Runner, which will be performed from January 24-26 at the 2024 PuSh Festival. Urgent, visceral and complex, The Runner invites us into a nuanced exploration of our shared humanity and the value of kindness.
Gabrielle Martin chats with Inbal Ben Haim, the Israeli circus artist behind PLI, which will be performed from February 2-3 at the 2024 PuSh Festival. They discuss how Inbal’s work draws connections between the intimate and the spectacular, what defines a work as “circus,” the power and originality of imperfection, and more.
Gabrielle Martin chats with Donna-Michelle St. Bernard’s new work Sound of the Beast, which will be performed from January 20-23 at the 2024 PuSh Festival. Donna-Michelle shares why people are creating work that looks more like itself and less like each other and her relationship with the people whose stories she’s telling. What is our contribution to the lived reality that we are fictionalizing?
Gabrielle Martin chats with Nellie Gossen about her intriguing performative installation Returns at the Dance Centre, which will be part of PuSh and showing for the duration of the 2024 Festival.
Gabrielle Martin chats with Ben Target, writer and performer of LORENZO, which will be presented at the 2024 PuSh Festival from January 18-20. They discuss how we treat the concept and theme of loss on stage, how Ben’s work has evolved from Fringe Festivals and standup comedy to his broader theatrical work today, and Ben’s mantra that “Entertainment is the engine, boring an audience is a crime and art must provide hope”.
Gabrielle Martin discusses asses.masses with co-creators Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim. Their show, a performance that takes the form of a participatory video game, will be at the 2024 PuSh Festival on January 20, 27, and February 3. They talk about their collaboration, the democratization of theatre through participation, and how to make a theatre comfortable for 4+ hours.
Gabrielle Martin chats with Basel Zaraa about the installation Dear Laila, which will be presented at the 2024 PuSh Festival from January 20 to February 3. They talk about how this intimate installation uses objects to connect with patrons; how we use art to deal with personal and collective trauma; and how we can show big events as experienced by normal people.
Listen to the trailer:
Full episode and transcript will be released Dec 3.
See Dear Laila at the 2024 PuSh Festival on Jan 20-Feb 3.
The 2022 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival Industry Series ran from February 2-6, 2022, and included panel and round table discussions, curated pitches, walks with local artists, artist talks and select studio showings. It highlighted touring from an Indigenous perspective, multilingual creation, experiments in concept touring, Indigenous performing arts protocols, and new curatorial perspectives.
Roundtable Discussions
Indigenous Performing Arts Practices: Artistic Processes – What we Carry (With Us) February 3, 10:00am-12:30pm Round Table Discussion Facilitated by Lindsay Lachance
Indigenous Performing Arts Presenting: Touring from an Indigenous Perspective February 3, 2:15pm-4:45pm Round Table Discussion Facilitated by Dolina Wehipeihana
Indigenous Performing Arts Protocols: Modeling Right Relations February 5, 1-3:00pm Round Table Discussion Facilitated by Mique’l Dangeli
Creative Producing with Rob Thomson, Bek Berger, and Anthony Gray
A creative producer sits between the creative process and the operational process in a project, orchestrating ideas, resources, and people to turn the seed of an idea into reality. Creative producers shape how a work is realized, which often impacts how the work is experienced. While it can be a difficult role to define, the Digital Cultures Research Centre (UK) describes it as one that combines attention to detail with an ability to see the big picture and make connections between the two, realizing the vision of a project and making it possible for a creative team to achieve their best. In this panel discussion, Rob Thomson (Full Circle: First Nations Performance and the Talking Stick Festival), Bek Berger (New Theatre Institute of Latvia and International Festival of Contemporary Performance, Homo Novus), and Anthony Gray (Fuel Theatre) share how they got into producing and what they’ve learned along the way. Moderated by Gabrielle Martin (PuSh Festival).
New Curatorial Perspectives; Supporting Artistic Practice
This panel brings together performance curators who are leading initiatives in supporting artistic practice, from establishing co-production networks to creating hubs of exchange; from hosting residencies and taking on production risk to sharing curation, and more. In conversation, these curators will share their perspectives on the role of presenters within the ecosystems of local and international artistic communities. Speakers include Martine Dennewald (Festival TransAmériques, Canada), Quito Tembe (International Contemporary Dance Platform KINANI, Mozambique), Erin Boberg (Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, USA), Daniel Blanga Gubbay (KUNSTENFESTIVALDESARTS, Belgium), and Fernando Zugno (Porto Alegre em Cena, Brazil). Moderated by Gabrielle Martin (PuSh Festival).
Multilingual Creation; its dramaturgy and implications
Moderated by Pedro Chamale of rice & beans theatre, this panel discussion features artists versed in multilingual storytelling. Drawing from rice & beans’ DBLSPKresearch on what is lost and gained in translation, the conversation will examine the relationship between language and culture within performance. Speakers Mayumi Yoshida, Johnny Wu, Howard Dai and Carmela Sison will be joined by Laurence Dauphinais and Nancy Saunders of Aalaapi. Part of the 2022 PuSh program, Aalaapi integrates English, French and Inuktitut in its reflection on the relative importance of speech within cultures. From their unique perspectives, these artists will share their insights on the dramaturgy and implications of multilingual creation.
Process Production and Touring
This panel discussion brings together local, national and international artists who have practice in “concept touring” or performance projects where the final product is a process that tours. Moderated by Ryan Tacata, the conversation will encompass the systems artists have devised to create processes that result in consistent products, even as a given team may be entirely different from locale to locale; where the balance is between allowing locals to input in a way that meaningfully shapes the piece while still maintaining quality control; what the difference is between Process Touring and a franchise; and how to avoid the work becoming formulaic. Speakers include: Milton Lim (Hong Kong Exile, culturecapital), Patrick Blenkarn (Guilty by Association, culturecapital), Lisa Marie DiLiberto (Theatre Direct), Darren O’Donnell (Mammalian Diving Reflex), Nassim Soleimanpour (Nassim Soleimanpour Productions), and Maiko Yamamoto (Theatre Replacement).
PuSh Walks
An innovation for these times of COVID, and an invitation: walk safely with artists through the urban spaces that have given them inspiration. The artists have recorded audio for walks of 1-2 km, with given starting and ending points; armed with a pair of headphones, audiences can journey through the city at a time of their choosing, experiencing the terrain from fresh perspectives.
Think of it as a form of interior urban renewal, with streets, parks, and other stretches of land given new dimensions and imbued with new meanings. It’s a chance to hear the artists’ voices, directly and without mediation; it’s also a way to connect people across time and space, on the common grounds of geography, history, and art.
Latest releases
Sound in Space – A PuSh Walk with Ruby Singh and Gabrielle Martin
Listen in while old friends, interdisciplinary artist and composer Ruby Singh, and PuSh’s director of Programming Gabrielle Martin, stroll around their old East Van stomping grounds at Trout Lake.
The conversation begins with revelations about the youthful duo meeting at a poetry slam; a friendship which extended into adventures in fire dancing at the lost and lamented Illuminares Festival – one of the most popular festivals in Vancouver, until its untimely demise in 2013. This eclectic arts background and love of performing has informed both Singh and Martin’s careers since. As they traverse the muddy path around the lake on this winter walk, Singh talks about his interdisciplinary work, ambi-sonic installations and the inception and evolution of his work Vox.Infold into the compelling and exhilarating sound production it is today.
PuSh Festival presents Vox.Infold from January 20-30 at Lobe Studio.
A Community Evolves: A PuSh Walk with Gabrielle Martin and James Long from Theatre Replacement
In a Brave the weather alongside PuSh’s Gabrielle Martin and Theatre Replacement’s James Long as they defy the elements on a stormy day to take a stroll around historic Strathcona; or have a listen to this fascinating conversation from your sofa, either way, it’s an interesting ride.
Beginning at the Russian Hall, James recounts the backstory behind the Soviet film reels that were discovered in an old closet next to the Russian language classroom which now serves as the Theatre Replacement office and studio. These films, sent between the 1950s and the 70s, are an upbeat promotional campaign for The Soviet Union intended to lure back Russians who had fled Stalin, and they are the inspiration for Theatre Replacement’s newest work, Do you mind if I sit here? Other topics include the gentrification and cultural history of the neighbourhood, explored while walking in some very Vancouver weather.
Singing at Sen̓áḵw: An audio walk with Xwechtaal and Claire Love Wilson
Join Squamish cultural leader Xwechtaal (Dennis Joseph) and Scottish-Canadian multidisciplinary artist Claire Love Wilson as they walk and sing together at Sen̓áḵw. This journey brings you to the edge of what is presently known as Kitsilano, on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil- Waututh) Nations, where you can listen alongside Claire as Xwechtaal shares stories of the land, his grandfather, and his visions for the future of Sen̓áḵw.
Underground Absolute Fiction: a musical wandering between East Van and Poland, memory and fantasy
In a journey that begins on Victoria Drive, Anais West uses story and song to transport you to her mother’s homeland, Poland. From a punk concert in Praga to the bloc apartments of Communist Gdansk, she searches for queer belonging and family history. The through-line is a protest anthem, “Rota,” written by lesbian Polish poet Maria Konopnicka and then re-appropriated through the centuries by revolutionaries, nationalists, and now queer punks.
The songs and narration are part of Underground Absolute Fiction, a docu-fantasy film Anais has been writing and developing with the support of the Canada Council, the BC Arts Council, the frank theatre, Rumble Theatre and the Queer Arts Festival.
Text by Anais West Performed by Anais West and Julia Siedlanowska
Musical credits:
“Przemoc, twoja przemoc” Vocals: Julia Siedlanowska Guitar & Back Up Vocals: Sara Vickruck Keyboard & Back Up Vocals: Claire Love Wilson Drums & Music Direction: khattieQ Lyrics by Anais West Translation by Łukasz Wojtysko Arrangement by Sara Vickruck Recording, Mixing and Mastering: Piotr Wieczorek Adapted by Sara Vickruck, khattieQ, Julia Siedlanowska & Claire Love Wilson from the folk song “Biedoż moja, biedo,” author unknown.
“Rota” Sung by Julia Siedlanowska| Written by Maria Konopnicka Composed by Feliks Nowowiejski
Here, now, and grateful: a walk through Pacific Spirit Regional Park with KhattieQ
“I am here. I am now. I am grateful.” Those soothing words mark the beginning of a journey through Pacific Spirit Park with musician, writer, and self-described “natural-born clown” KhattieQ. As the artist moves through the entrance and into the forest, the ambient wash of traffic noise recedes and the sounds become fewer, softer, and more soothing, neatly complementing her gentle voice. Full of happy musings and punctuated by KhattieQ’s rousing Latinx music, this Walk is perfect for a beautiful late summer day.
Here, they invite you to join them in the “nowhere space” of the digital world, as they walk through their own nighttime spaces (one in London, the other in Toronto) while sharing the third, and most crucial, location with the listener. Set against a backdrop of piano, synth chords, and experimental vocals, this a haunting and moody excursion.
CREATORSJean Abreu & Naishi WangMUSIC AND SOUNDSJean Abreu and Naishi Wang AUDIO EDITINGAshley Daniel Foot PRODUCERBen Lange
DECIPHERS CREDITS Deciphers is a co-production of the National Arts Centre (NAC) Visiting Dance Artist programme a joint initiative of Canada Council for the Arts and NAC, The CanDance Network small scale Creation Fund supported and presented by Montreal Arts Interculturels, The Harbourfront Centre, the National Arts Centre and PuSh Festival.
Ulksen Spirit: a westward walking sonic experience with Jeanette Kotowich
A layered walking experience of land, water, body, histories, futures and Spirit of Ulksen: Squamish place name referring to the Burrard Peninsula, colonially known as Spanish Banks. Allow yourself to be guided by the narration, encompassed in the present moment, witnessing as much of your surroundings as possible, while simultaneously giving over to your imagination.
The sonic environment for this piece was crafted and composed by Matthew Morrish: A tapestry of field recordings, imagined spaces, echoed memories, and rhythms of the earth. Matthew creates visual, sonic, and poetic art with his ongoing Futurhythms project. He also occasionally releases electronic music under the alias Owlform.
Jeanette Kotowich is a Vancouver-based, independent, dance artist and choreographer of mixed Cree/Métis and European ancestry. Jeanette creates work that reflects protocol, ritual, relationship to the natural/spiritual world, and Indigenous futurism. Learn more about Jeanette on her website.
FEATURING Jeanette Kotowich IN CONSULTATION WITH Squamish Elder S7aplek (aka. Bob Baker) CREATED FOR the PuSh Festival’s PuSh Walks Series
Finding Delight in Heartbreak: An audio walk with Jesse Del Fierro
Theatre artist Jesse Del Fierro starts their Walk with a powerful acknowledgment and concludes on a note of uplift; in between, there’s a trip down memory lane, a romantic reminiscence, reflections on dealing with adversity, and tips on how to “exist as you are.” Del Fierro speaks to their listener as a close friend would, leaving space for curiosity and offering sympathy, advice, and inspiration.
Inspired by Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmiller and Ep. 692 The Show of Delights by Ira Glass and Bim Adewunmi. Constantly inspired by Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Jenna Rodgers, Jivesh Parasram, Dominique and Emilyn, and Ate Julie & Ate Jacquie.
PuSh Walks is produced by Ben Lange, Audio editing by Ashley Daniel Foot
Listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
DTES suite / burials underfoot — a furious journey with Q Lawrence
While traveling from a transit station to the Downtown East Side, Q Lawrence recites their harsh, imagistic, creatively profane poetry and plunges the listener into darkness. Follow the route Q takes in their wheelchair and hear their morbidly beautiful musings, which have the power to disturb, but also to provoke empathetic reflection. This work may be brief, but in its density and suggestive force, it contains volumes.
The following audio might contain content that may be harmful or traumatizing to some audience.
PuSh Walks is produced by Ben Lange, Audio editing by Ashley Daniel Foot
Listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
“Of peanuts and screws”, an audio walk with Njo Kong Kie
Njo Kong Kie takes a walk through the streets of Toronto, and invites you to share his journey in a place of your own choosing. The musical accompaniment is drawn from the artist’s own Picnic in the Cemetery,and it’s a delight for the ears. Interspersed with the melodic interludes are Kong Kie’s musings on ideology, interpersonal connections, Kung-Fu flicks, ambition, and more, including the true cost of our smartphones.
Text by Njo Kong Kie except the poem 一颗螺丝掉在地上 “A single screw fell to the ground” by Xu Lizhi, translated into English by Derek Kwan
Music by Njo Kong Kie, performed by Simon Claude, Alexandre Castonguay and Njo Kong Kie
Track details: Moments Cinématiques no 1, Quatrième Confession, Ljubljana, Moments Cinématiques no 11, Sweet, Toujours
Listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
Procession to New Town: an audio walk through Vancouver’s Chinatown
Join artists Ralph Escamillan and Kimberley Wong for a stroll through Vancouver’s Chinatown area. While journeying to New Town Bakery & Restaurant, Ralph and Kimberley share personal memories, historical reflections, and thoughts on the diasporic experiences that define the city. Topics include family dynamics and immigration. The walk concludes at the famous eatery, where you too can grab a delicious snack.
Starting point:
Main & Georgia, Vancouver, BC
Featuring:Ralph Escamillan, performance artist, and Kimberley Wong, writer, facilitator, and community organizer.
Accessibility: All crosswalks on this route have ramps.
PuSh Walks is produced by Ben Lange, Audio editing by Ashley Daniel Foot
Listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
Graveyards and Gardens: A walk through Mountain View Cemetery and the back alleys of Massachusetts
An adventure with dual destinations, this Walk guides listeners through East Vancouver and Amherst, Massachusetts simultaneously. Artists Caroline Shaw and Vanessa Goodman converse in real-time as they travel through a graveyard and a stretch of local forest. The dialogue is accompanied by ambient sounds—both natural and electronic. There’s a strong spectral tone to the journey(s), with memory and the knowledge of unceded land looming large.
Starting point:
If you are experiencing this walk in Vancouver, please visit Mountain View Cemetery.
If you are in Massachusetts, please take a walk in the forest.
Accessibility: The East Vancouver route goes into the graveyard over a grassy patch and a curb with no ramp but if you enter from 33rd in the middle of the graveyard there is a ramp and the sidewalk turns into a driveway with no gradient adjustment.
PuSh Walks is produced by Ben Lange, Audio editing by Ashley Daniel Foot
Listen on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
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