PUSH FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES
November 23, 2022
Lolling and Rolling —Jaha Koo / CAMPO (South Korea/Belgium)
MULTIMEDIA
Jan 19-21 at 7:30pm | Performance Works + Jan 19-22 | Online
Western Canadian Premiere
Video, music and monologue come together as Jaha Koo takes on linguistic imperialism. The main subject is the South Korean phenomenon of tongue-tie surgery, a procedure that makes it easier for patients to pronounce the English “r” sound. Mixing music and projections, Jaha Koo shines a light on cultural oppression and the loss of identity it entails.
Never Twenty One — Smaïl Kanouté / Compagnie Vivons! (France)
DANCE
Jan 19-21 at 8pm | Scotiabank Dance Centre
Presented with The Dance Centre
Vancouver Premiere
Smaïl Kanouté’s production is a lament, a tribute and a protest. Through evocative, urban-inflected movements, three dancers pay homage to Black men who have lost their lives in New York, Rio de Janeiro and Johannesburg. The show has both a heartbreaking specificity and a global significance.
Coloured Swan 3: Harriet’s reMix — Moya Michael / AnAku & KVS (South Africa/Belgium)
DANCE
Jan 20-22 (Jan 20-21 at 7:30pm + Jan 22 at 2pm) | Orpheum Annex
Canadian Premiere
Moya Michael’s fantastically creative opus blends music, contemporary dance, digital projection, audience interaction and wild vocal effects for a futuristic meditation on time, politics and human history. Thematically, the performance is as rich as can be, but it wears its profundity lightly; you might call it a party for the mind.
The Seventh Fire — Delinquent Theatre / Unceded Coast Salish Territory, MST)
AUDIO CEREMONY INSPIRED BY CEREMONY
Jan 25–29 + Feb 1-5 (Jan 25-27 & Feb 1-3 at 6pm, 8pm + Jan 28-29 & Feb 4-5 at 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm + Feb 4 at 12pm | Lobe Studio
World Premiere
The Seventh Fire is an immersive audio performance inspired by ceremony and created by Lisa Cooke Ravensbergen that sources traditional, oral Anishinaabe stories as a way to evoke ceremony in the everyday. Cooke Ravenbergen’s creation blurs time and space, bringing emotional and ancestral connection into being through deep collaboration with sound designer Mishelle Cuttler and a matriarchal creative team.
A Percussionist’s Songbook — Joby Burgess (UK)
MUSIC
Jan 25–26 at 7:30pm | Orpheum Annex
Presented with Music on Main
Canadian Premiere
Ace percussionist Joby Burgess performs his new album of “songs without words.” The specially commissioned pieces are inspired by sources as diverse as Saudi Arabian folklore and the prose of Michael Ondaatje, and the musical range on display is dizzying. Burgess moves through many different setups throughout the evening, chatting with the audience as he does so.
Lontano + Instante — Compagnie 7bis / Juan Ignacio Tula and Marica Marinoni (France/Argentina/Italy)
CIRCUS / DANCE
Jan 26–28 at 8pm | Scotiabank Dance Centre + Jan 26-29 | Online
Post-show talkback: Jan 26
Presented with Inner Fish
These dazzling shows feature the Cyr wheel, a large metal ring made for perpetual motion. The acrobatic performers spin the wheel for all it’s worth, each enacting a pas de deux between human and object. The results are as thrilling as they are hypnotic.
les cri des méduses — Alan Lake Factorie (Canada)
DANCE
Jan 27–28 at 7:30pm | Vancouver Playhouse + Jan 27-30 | Online
Post-show talkback: Jan 27
Western Canadian Premiere
Powerful, seductive and ultimately unclassifiable, this performance is inspired by Géricault’s famous painting The Raft of Medusa. Choreographer Alan Lake has taken that painting’s beauty and pathos and transposed it to the stage, adding his own brilliance. Featuring ambient music, nine dancers and an ever- shifting scenography, this is a triumph of the imagination.
Soliloquio (I woke up and hit my head against the wall) — Tiziano Cruz (Argentina)
PERFORMATIVE LECTURE
Jan 27–29 (Jan 27-28 at 7:30pm + Jan 29 at 2pm) | Roundhouse Performance Centre
Post-show talkback: Jan 29
Presented with the frank theatre co.
Canadian Premiere
Tiziano Cruz’s performative monologue is based on a series of letters he wrote to his mother in 2020; he uses them as a starting point for a critique of economic, racial and institutional oppression in contemporary Argentina and, by extension, elsewhere as well.
The Café —Aphothic Theatre / ITSAZOO Productions in partnership with The Cultch’s RE/PLAY Digital Playground (Unceded Coast Salish Territory, MST)
DIGITAL THEATRE
In-Person Immersive Experience: Jan 27-29 | Kaftka’s Coffee and Bakery + Digital Immersive Experience: Feb 2-5
Presented with The Cultch
This is your invitation to eavesdrop on private conversations, and to witness intimate relationships up close and personal. The Café invites audiences to explore seven vignettes by nine playwrights of various ethnicities, ages, beliefs, sexual orientations and gender identities. With content performed in various languages, The Café is a day-in-the-life exploration of the cultural mosaic in a Vancouver coffee shop.
By joining in-person at Kafka’s Coffee and Bakery, audience members are free to stay at one table and watch a scene reach its conclusion, but they can also take a journey around the coffee shop and experience other scenes–it’s a theatrical Choose Your Own Adventure. The live production has also been transformed into an online immersive experience that also allows audience members to choose to be a digital fly-on-the-wall and wander through the virtual Café from home, using only a web browser.
MANUAL — Adam Kinner and Christopher Willes (Canada)
INTERACTIVE PERFORMANCE
Jan 28–Feb 1: 11:40am to 6pm (every 20 mins) | Vancouver Public Library Central Branch Presented with the Vancouver Public Library (VPL)
FREE (ticketed)
In this one-on-one experience, participants are guided through a sensory journey in a public library via written notes and immersive audio. What MANUAL offers, besides an exciting adventure, is an usual experience of listening and looking––a chance to renew your senses.
afternow — nora chipaumire (Zimbabwe/USA)
MULTIMEDIA INSTALLATION / MUSIC
Installation: Jan 28 & 29, Jan 31- Feb 5 from 12pm to 7:30pm
Dub Nights: Jan 28 & Feb 1 from 9pm to 11:30pm| Roundhouse Exhibition Hall
Presented with The Black Arts Centre
Canadian Premiere
Loud, proud and militant, this installation features three video portraits, one contemporary opera and one booming stereo system. From those ingredients, nora chipaumire builds a bridge between African spirituality and contemporary art forms. afternow is a model for resistance and reclamation.
In this one-on-one experience, participants are guided through a sensory journey in a public library via written notes and immersive audio. What MANUAL offers, besides an exciting adventure, is an usual experience of listening and looking––a chance to renew your senses.
Red Phone — Boca del Lupo (Canada)
IMMERSIVE THEATRE INSTALLATION
Installation runs Jan 29–Feb 4 (Jan 29-31 from 3pm to 7pm + Feb 2-4 from 3pm to 9pm (dark Feb 1) | The Fishbowl
FREE (3 to 15 mins interactive performances, ongoing)
In this inclusive, intimate experience, participants are given an opportunity to act out dialogues in pairs; the site of the performances is a set of fully enclosed phone booths, each equipped with a teleprompter. This is a work that democratizes theatre and erases the line between artist and audience.
because I love the diversity (this micro-attitude, we all have it) — Rakesh Sukesh (India/Belgium)
DANCE
Jan 29-31 at 7:30pm | Performance Works, Post-show talkback: Jan 30
Presented with The CULTCH
World Premiere
Rakesh Sukesh’s solo performance uses dance, music, and text to embody inner turmoil, and to interrogate the political use of technology. Sukesh’s explicit subject is racial profiling, but his movements, his rhythms, and his discourse have much wider implications. He uses provocation for political ends; in the unsettling truths he enacts lies a gesture toward liberation.
An Undeveloped Sound — Electric Company Theatre / (Unceded Coast Salish Territory, MST)
THEATRE
Previews: Jan 30 & 31 at 7:30pm, Run: Feb 1 -4 at 7:30pm (extended run until Feb 11) | Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU
Presented with Electric Company Theatre & SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs
World Premiere
This beguiling creation features four spokespeople hired to represent a mysterious development. Using Goethe’s Faust as a loose template, writer-director Jonathon Young applies its core themes to the issue of communication itself: caught between the forces of development and destruction, the spokespeople are on a quest to say what can’t be said.
Are we not drawn onward to a new erA — Ontroerend Goed (Belgium) THEATRE
Feb 1-4 at 7:30pm | Frederick Wood Theatre at UBC
Presented with UBC Theatre & Film Department
Canadian Premiere
The title is a palindrome, and so is the play itself: we see and hear the same actions twice, with time inverted in each section. It’s a marvel of technique, a wonder to behold, and a pointed metaphor for the climate crisis, how it can be understood and where we can find hope.
Selfie Concert — Ivo Dimchev (Bulgaria)
MUSIC
Feb 2-3 at 7:30pm | Left of Main Presented with plastic orchid factory Canadian Premiere
The concept is simple: no stage, no hierarchy and no performance from camp crooner Ivo Dimchev unless people are taking selfies with him. The singer-songwriter comes equipped with a synth, an ethereal voice, and a desire to spread communion. You may come for the beautiful ballads and stay for the selfies, or vice versa; either way, this concert is revelatory.
Okinum — Productions Onishka with AnAku (Canada)
THEATRE
Feb 2-3 at 7:30pm | Anvil Centre Theatre + Feb 2-5 | Online Post-show talkback: Feb 2
Presented with Anvil Theatre & Touchstone Theatre
Speaking three languages, Émilie Monnet interprets a recurring dream and transmits a message of empowerment to the audience. This monologue performance, scored live by Jackie Gallant, portrays Monnet’s quest to reconnect with her Anishinaabe ancestry and language. Making creative use of live sound and visual storytelling techniques, this is a hypnotic, cathartic experience.
THIS & the last caribou — New Dance Horizons (Canada)
DANCE
Feb 2-4 (Feb 2-3 at 7:30pm + Feb 4 at 2:30pm | Orpheum Annex | Post-show Talkback: Feb 3
Two World Premieres
THIS & the last caribou is a series of three works, each of which explores our place in relation to history and nature. A solitary figure adrift on a carpet of ice; waves and a candy-coloured clown; a caribou dancer and their shadow–all this and more comprise a poetic, meditative experience.
Talking Stick @ Club PuSh (Canada)
February 2 at 9pm | Club PuSh at Performance Works
CLUB PUSH
This evening of genre-blending madness mashes the music of Indigenous ancestors with the breaks, cuts, and booming bass of contemporary dance grooves. It’s an excitingly eclectic mix of styles, honouring traditional Indigenous idioms while presenting them in a thoroughly modern context. Enjoy this diverse lineup of artists in a mellow environment, with visuals to complement the propulsive rhythms.
Soldiers of Tomorrow — The Elbow Theatre (Canada)
THEATRE
Feb 3-5 (Feb 3-4 at 7:30pm + Feb 5 at 2pm) | The Roundhouse Performance Centre Post-show talkback: Feb 4
Presented with The Elbow Theatre/Itai Erdal
World Premiere
Alongside a Syrian-born musician, a former IDF soldier relates his actions in the army, exploring his personal culpability in the face of complex geopolitical forces in his former country–a place that he loves “with a broken heart”.
The Black Arts Centre @ Club PuSh (Canada)
February 3 at 9pm | Club PuSh at Performance Works
CLUB PUSH
Owned and operated by young Black creatives, this Surrey-based organization provides a space for both creation and community gathering. Hybrid in its approach and eclectic in its programming, the Black Arts Centre hosts exhibitions, events, workshops and more, with a goal of fostering creativity in the underserved Black community. In their first collaboration with PuSh, the Black Arts Centre draws from a variety histories and cultures across the Black Diaspora, exploring both traditional elements and modern modes of performing arts, rhythm, movement, storytelling and connection.
O’DD — Race Horse Company (Finland)
CIRCUS
Feb 4-5 (Feb 4 at 7:30pm + Feb 5 at 2pm) | Vancouver Playhouse + Feb 2-5 | Online Post-show talkback: Feb 4
North American Premiere
This mesmerizing circus performance begins with an evocation of birth and follows an acrobatic man through phases of existence. There’s a strong sci-fi tinge to the show, with both man and objects given symbolic weight. Brilliantly designed, beautifully scored and full of superb acrobatics, O’DD is true poetry in motion.
the frank theatre co. @ Club PuSh (Canada)
February 4 at 9pm | Club PuSh at Performance Works
CLUB PUSH
This venerable company, long-time collaborators with PuSh, plays a major role in the city’s artistic ecosystem. This season, they follow their co-presentation of Soliloquio with a cabaret featuring immigrant and queer artists of colour. Provocative and radically creative, this program features drag, music and performance art, all of it designed to provoke, to challenge and to help lay down the groundwork for resistance.
PUSH PASSES
PuSh Passes are the best way to experience the PuSh Festival. Pass holders save up to 25% off single tickets and receive free admission to all Club PuSh nights. Limited quantities.
- Four-Show Pass: $120
- Six-Show Pass: $180
- Youth Pass: Four-Show Pass: $20 (16 to 24 years old)
- Digital Pass: $100 (includes 5 of the streaming performances, with The Café being offered as PWYC via The Cultch).
TICKETS
Single tickets start at $34 in-person, $25 online, plus PWYC and FREE events. To buy tickets, visit pushfestival.ca or call the PuSh Festival Audience Services info line at 604.449.6000.
INDUSTRY SERIES
January 29 to February 5
PuSh Industry Series events and access Industry Pass: $60
MORE INFORMATION
Please see the comprehensive 2023 program guide that will be available at pushfestival.ca starting on November 23. You can also reach us at info@pushfestival.ca or 604.605.8284.
About the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is Vancouver’s signature, mid-winter cultural event, taking place over three weeks each January in theatres and venues across the city. PuSh presents groundbreaking, contemporary works of theatre, dance, music, multimedia, and circus by acclaimed local, national, and international artists.
LISTING INFORMATION
Dates: January 19–February 5, 2023
Ticket Prices: From $34 ($25 online) plus PWYC and FREE events
Location: Various Vancouver Venues
Patron Services: 604.449.6000 / tickets@pushfestival.ca
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival
For further media information, contact
Jodi Smith, JLS Entertainment T. 604.736.4939 I C. 604.838.9844 | jls@jlsentertainment.ca