Category Archives: Upcoming Events

DADAWA is playing at the Chan Centre to wrap up the explorASIAN festival

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DADAWA is playing at the Chan Centre to wrap up the explorASIAN festival

Dadawa
is an internationally recognized musical performer that only a
few  people are aware of in Vancouver.  She has currently
been an artist in residence at UBC.  explorASIAN executive director Don Montgomery has been telling me stoked he is that Dadawa is performing in Vancouver.

The Chan Centre has really gone all out to bring in interesting
cross-cultural and inter-cultural artists to create a wonderful program
this year.  This should definitely be a show to watch this week!


Following information from www.explorasian.org

Tickets: $28 / $48 / $88-includes post concert reception with Dadawa and her band



Ticketmaster by phone at 604.280.3311 or www.ticketmaster.ca (plus service charges)

Chan Centre Ticket Office (in person only)



Group
tickets (10+) are available for only $20/person. (Regular price is
$28/person) Please quote the promo code “sevendays” when ordering from
Ticketmaster (standard ticketmaster fees apply) or purchase in person
at the Chan Centre. Limited quantity of group tickets are available.



Complimentary parking offered to all concert guests. Please use the Rose Garden parkade adjacent to the Chan Centre.






The 2007 explorASIAN Grand Finale Concert with International World Music Artist DADAWA (Zhu Zheqin 朱哲琴)




May 31, 2007 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, University of British Columbia




Enjoy
a delightful evening of contemporary world music blended with the
traditional sounds of Pan Asia featuring international world music
artist DADAWA, presented by explorASIAN, the Chan Centre, and the Alma
Mater Society of UBC.




This concert is also a fundraiser for the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, presenters of the explorASIAN Festival.




Dadawa
(Zhu Zheqin 朱哲琴), is the first contemporary Chinese diva to achieve
worldwide stardom. Dadawa is a native of Changsha, Hunan. She has
traveled China and the world extensively as both a musician and
adventurer. She is considered to be the pioneer “indie” artist in
China, having independently produced her music, videos and films for
over a decade, and an ambassador of contemporary music from China.

Hip and Hapa and Happening for May 18-21, 2007

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Hip and Hapa and Happening for May 18-21, 2007

Lots happening this long holiday weekend.  But I can't type much because of my injured finger – or get out much.

Asian Heritage Month continues with many events during the explorASIAN festival.
Check out writer Luis Francia

'Too Asian to be American, too American to be Asian' – May 15 to 18

“Too Asian to be American, too American to be Asian” with Luis Francia
Luis Francia is the PEN award winning author of
“Eye of the Fish: a Personal Archipelago”. This is an account of the
author’s childhood memories of his Philippine homeland and his visits
back as an adult journalist.

One of my favorite events is the annual VACT Sketch-off. Lots of local talent including “Lick the Wax Tadpole” organized by CBCer and Hot Sauce Posse veteran Charlie Cho.  Come see the event that featured “Assaulted Fish” before they became famous…  Bring your friends, so you can organize a team for next year.

May 18 and May 19
8:00pm
Roundhouse Community Centre Theatre, Vancouver

It's
comedy night time again and this year, we have 6 new sketch groups
competing for the coveted Vancouver Rice Bowl. Etch-YOUR-Sketch
SKETCHOFF!#$%!! – 8th Annual Asian Comedy Night is happening on Friday,
May 18th and Saturday, May 19th. The first night, the teams are judged
by people in the industry and on the 2nd night, the audience is the
judge with their applause and measured with a decibel reader. Teams
have a chance to win up to $350!

Vancouver Children's Festival is always a lot of fun, and there is always a lot of multicultural entertainment.  I am hoping to check out the Vietnamese Water Puppets.  Sounds very cool!

Vietnamese Water Puppets – May 15, 16, 18, 19, 20


30th Annual Vancouver International Children's Festival at Vanier Park

Tickets at Ticketmaster
Info: www.childrensfestival.ca

Vietnamese Water Puppets
Duration: 55 minutes

May 15, 16, 18, 19, 20

An ancient performance art is brought to life by skilled puppeteers.

“…reflects the true beauty of Vietnam – a country of colour, grace and humour.” San Francisco Chronicle

Watch
as expert puppeteers make glittering fairies dance, fiery dragons
seethe and gentle ducks paddle – all inside an elaborate set created in
a pool of water! Enraptured audiences will witness the magic of this
800-year-old traditional Vietnamese performance art, from moments of
mirror-like calm to churning action.

Asian Canadian standup comics are on the rise.  Remember Tommy Chong, Pat Morita and Jack Soo?  Well the newest generation is here now, and they are coming to River Rock Show Theatre.  Paul Bae and Jeffery Yu have both been featured by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre for past productions.  They are hilarious… you will want to bring your friends, so you won't have to tell them what they missed.

The A-list Comedy Tour 2007 – May 19 – 8pm

River Rock Show Theatre, Richmond, BC
Check out the A-list Comedy Tour which features the most hilarious Asian comedians in Canada: Ron Josol, Paul Bae & Jeffrey Yu.

Centre A – Limits of Toderance: Re-framing the Multicultural State Policy

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Centre A –  Limits of Toderance: Re-framing the Multicultural State Policy

Here's an interesting art presentation at Centre A, the Vancouver International Centre for Contempory Art.  They always have rotating presentations as well as special one-off presentations that make for an exciting vibrant Pan-Asian-Canadian and Canadian arts culuture.  Check it out!






FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE







Limits of Tolerance:

Re-framing Multicultural State Policy

 

EXHIBITION: May 19 – June 23, 2007

OPENING: Friday May 18, 8pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday,

11:00 -18:00

Sunday-Monday closed

 

SYMPOSIUM: Saturday May 26,

14:00 – 17:00, UBC Robson Square theatre

Speakers: Laiwan, Candice Hopkins and Keith Langergräber

Free to the public

Guest Curator: Liz Park

 

Presented with support from the Alvin Balkind Fund for Student
Curatorial Initiatives, the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and
Theory, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at The University
of British Columbia.

 

A group exhibition with works by Dana Claxton, Stan Douglas,
Laiwan, Paul Lang and Zachary Longboy, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew, Anne
Ramsden, Ruby Truly, Henry Tsang, and Paul Wong.

In
a country that has touted its multicultural policies, the resurgence of
racist attitudes after 9/11 prompts critical assessment of race issues
today. In an effort to review race politics in the context of Canada's
colonial and immigrant policies, the exhibition Limits of Tolerance examines a period in recent history when cultural diversity became Canada's state policy with the 1988 Multiculturalism Act.



In
the late 1980s, an increasing number of artists explored and questioned
their own identity based on race, gender and sexuality, as lobby
efforts and activism of people of colour and aboriginal ancestry gained
momentum. With the 1988 Multiculturalism Act demanding government
agencies to reform or invent equity policies, the arts and culture
sector in particular underwent a turbulent period in which comfort
zones of liberal attitudes were challenged. The present exhibition Limits of Tolerance
re-presents a selection of artworks produced in Vancouver in the late
1980s and early 1990s when artists, writers and academics engaged in
intense debates about identifications based on race, gender, and
sexuality. This selection emphasizes the various and often contrasting
ways in which artists deal with issues of identity and critique social
structures which inform their identity.



The
artists featured in the exhibition used non-traditional visual media
such as video, performance, and photo-installation to push the limits
of art production at a time when the concept of a singular culture was
under scrutiny. While some artists actively identified their subjective
positioning and sought to speak from within communities defined by
race, gender, or sexuality, other artists deliberately avoided such
self-identification or resisted being categorized under a homogenous
group. The differing strategies deployed in dealing with the question
of identity have insulated discussions of certain artists' works from
others. Yet this exhibition brings together these works in renewed
discussions of identity and reflects on the common place and time
shared by each artist despite his/her distinct experience of race,
gender and sexuality.



Presented
alongside the artworks are archival materials from the cultural equity
caucus for the former Association of National Non-Profit Artists'
Centres (ANNPAC), Minquon Panchayat (1992-1993), the film festival In Visible Colours (1989), and the exhibitions Yellow Peril: Reconsidered (1990), Self Not Whole (1991), Racy Sexy (1993).
 The records of these cultural activities help reframe the presented
art works in broader terms, which include social and political history
of Canada, and the changing questions of community in an increasingly
globalized world. Revisiting this recent past sharpens a critical lens
through which one can see how race politics is played out in art and
the sociocultural and political arenas today.



A
symposium will be held on Saturday, May 26, 14:00 – 17:00 at the UBC
Robson Square theatre, featuring Laiwan, Candice Hopkins, and Keith
Langergräber as speakers.  The symposium will explore questions around
issues of difference and marginality and analyze the present state of
the arts and culture field in Canada.

Centre A gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its patrons,
sponsors, members, partners, private foundations, and government
funding agencies, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the
British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the
Office of Cultural Affairs.

 

For more Information, please contact the gallery:

 

Tel: 604-683-8326

 

Liz Park, Guest Curator: esrpark@gmail.com

Makiko Hara, Curator: makiko.hara@centrea.org

Joni Low, Public Relations: joni.low@centrea.org <mailto:joni.low@centrea.org>

Chinese Canadian Veterans dinner May 12 – celebrating 60th anniversary of Canadian Citizenship

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Chinese Canadian Veterans dinner May 12 – celebrating 60th anniversary of Canadian Citizenship

This Saturday I have organized a table for the Chinese Canadian Veterans celebrating 60th anniversary of Canadian Citizenship.

Yes…
it has been 60 years since Chinese Canadians actually have citizenship
and voting rights – largely due to the lobbying and enrollment of
Chinese Canadian veterans of WW2.

Please join me in recognizing the achievements of the vets for our community.

call me to join my table… or so I can make arrangements for another table.

Cheers, Todd
778-846-7090

Below is the invitation from the Chinese Canadian veterans, Pacific Unit 280.

Dear Friends:

For the last several years, I have been the Chaplain for Pacific Unit 280, Chinese Canadian WWII Veterans.  

As we look at the vets now, most in their eighties and nineties, it's
hard to believe that this group of “grumpy old men” helped transform
Canada. Before WWII, Chinese couldn't vote, be a doctor, lawyer – or
even work at the Post Office or go to a public swimming pool.  Worse,
many had immediate family in China that were not allowed to come to
Canada.  All this changed because in WWII, these men and women were
willing to fight and prove themselves honourable to a Canada, that did
not treat Chinese, honourably.

On Saturday, May 12th, as part
of Asian Heritage Month celebrations, the Chinese Canadian Military
Museum and SUCCESS are hosting a citizenship affirmation and dinner to
celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese getting the vote and the
formation of Pacific Unit 280.  It will be held at the Continental
Seafood Restaurant at 11700 Cambie Road, Richmond.   Tickets are $45
which include dinner and a a new DVD of twenty three vignettes of some
of the vets DVD of Heroes Remember, as well as other gifts.

For many, this is a last hurrah and I'm hoping you might be able to
come and say a word of thanks to the vets.   If you are interested, you
can get tickets from me or Lt. Colonel George Ing at (604)271-0197.

Blessings all.

Wesley Lowe (604) 739-9725

explorFILM workshop with Mina Shum and Greg Chan for Asian Heritage Month

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explorFILM workshop with Mina Shum

and Greg Chan for Asian Heritage Month

This
sounds like a fun workshop for Asian Heritage Month.  I loved
Mina's films Double Happiness.  This message is from Don
Montgomery, executive director of explorASIAN.

http://www.explorasian.org/Program%20Guide%202007/May%2012/explorfilm.html

explorFILM: Workshop | Panel Discussion | Film Screening |
Q&A – May 12

Saturday – May 12 – 9:30am to
3:30pm

Vancity Theatre
1181 Seymour Street (at Davie)
Vancouver

Tickets: On sale at the door on the day of the event starting
at 9:00am

FREE admission for explorASIAN Members with presentation of
2007 Membership Card at the door. explorASIAN 2007 Memberships available at the
door (CASH only)

Non-members: $10/person without membership (CASH
only)

Ticket price includes admission to the Greg Chan Acting for
Beginners Workshop (9:30am-10:30am), the Industry Panel Discussion
(11:00am-12:30am), and the film screening/Q&A with Mina Shum (1:00pm to
3:30pm)

JOIN US FOR A FULL DAY OF INFORMATION AND INSIGHT INTO THE
WORLD OF ACTING AND FILM!

ENJOY THE 5th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF “LONG
LIFE, HAPPINESS & PROSPERITY” AND
MEET DIRECTOR MINA SHUM AND OTHER
MEMBERS FROM THE INDUSTRY!

> > > > >

explorFILM:
Acting for Beginners Workshop with Greg Chan

9:30am – 10:30am

Greg
got his big break in 1994 when he was cast as Uncle Bing in Mina Shum's first
feature film, Double Happiness. Since then, he's gone on to a number of roles in
television, movies and commercials.

His credits include “Once A Thief”
(1996; dir: John Woo), “Seven Days” (2001), “Dark Angel” (2001), “Da Vinci's
Inquest” (2004), “Intelligence” (2005), “Live Feed” (2006), and “Dragon Boys”
(2007).

In addition to screen and TV acting, Greg has experience doing
voice-overs for animation projects. Hear Greg share his passion for acting and
his strategies for success in the film industry.

> > > >
>

explorFILM: Industry Panel Discussion – “So You Really Want to Get
Into the Film Industry?”

11:00am to 12:30am

Meet some of the Lower
Mainland's leading industry professionals and find out what it really takes to
make it in the film industry. Q&A follows panel
discussion.

Panelists:

Olivia Cheng – Actor/Journalist (Broken
Trail, Entertainment Tonight
Canada )


Jason Furukawa – Director (Robson Arms,
Godiva’s, Cold Squad)

Derek Lowe – Producer/Actor (Dragon
Boys, Romeo Must Die, Crying Freeman)


Andrew Ooi – Talent Management (Echelon
Talent Management)

Darryl Quon – Stuntman/Actor (Alien vs
Predator 2, Night at the Museum, Dragon Boys)

Rick Tae – Actor (Robson Arms,
Intelligence, Godiva’s)

Debbie Walker – Publicist (Translucent
Publicity)

Katie Yu – Still Photographer (Kickin’
It Old School, Dragon Boys, Everything’s Gone Green)


> >
> > >

explorFILM: Mina Shum's “Long Life, Happiness &
Prosperity”

1:00pm to 2:30pm 5th Anniversary Film Screening of “Long
Life, Happiness & Prosperity”

2:30pm to 3:30pm Q&A with Director
Mina Shum and some cast and crew members from the film

> > >
> >

explorFILM 2007 is presented by Shaw Multicultural Channel
(Channel 109)

 
Hope you can join us on Saturday.  Please pass
this email forward to anyone who is thinking of working in the film
industry.  Thanks!
 
 
Don Montgomery
Executive Director

 
explorASIAN
110 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC   V6A
1X4
Office 604.677.1383
 
MAY is Asian Heritage Month in
Canada!
Celebrating our 11th Anniversary in 2007
www.explorasian.org

Evening of Poetry with Evelyn Lau and Indran Amirthanayagam – Monday!

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Evening of Poetry with Evelyn Lau
and Indran
Amirthanayagam
– Monday!
 
Check out this
exciting evening of poetry for Asian Heritage Month.  I have met
Evelyn a number of times, and even booked her for Asian Heritage Month
events when I helped to program events for explorASIAN. Evelyn is an
exciting reader with thoughtful penetrating words and images.

I also first met Senator Vivienne Poy in Ottawa, when I was working for
explorASIAN in 2002.  We discovered that we were related through
the marriage of her husband's aunt to my grandmother's eldest
brother.  What a small world it is!  She has been the patron
senator of spreading Asian Heritage month throughoutthe country, and was the first Chinese-Canadian appointed to the senate.


An
Evening of Poetry with Evelyn Lau and
introducing Indran Amirthanayagam (poet)
http://www.explorasian.org/Program%20Guide%202007/May%207/lau_amirthanayagam.html

May
7
7pm to 8:30pm

Free admission – Open to the Public – Age 19+
recommended

Wild Ginger Asian
Fusion & Lounge
Tinseltown –
International Village (2nd Floor) – 88 West Pender Street,
Vancouver

With Special Guest
Senator Vivienne Poy (the first Canadian Senator of Asian
descent)

The Globe and Mail
named Evelyn Lau one of the most influential people in the arts. 

The author of nine books, including
Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid, Fresh Girls and Other Stories,  Choose Me and the novel Other Women, Evelyn considers
herself more the poet than the prose writer.

Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in over a hundred
publications in Canada and the US,
including Best American Poetry 1992, Kenyon Review, Michigan
Quarterly Review, The Southern Review, Malahat Review and Descant. Several of her books have been
translated into a dozen languages.

Evelyn Lau's first poetry collection, You Are Not Who You Claim,
won the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Prize; her second, Oedipal Dreams, was shortlisted for the Governor
General's Award, making Lau, then 20, the youngest person ever nominated. She was named Air Canada's
“Most promising Writer Under 30”, and
has won the Vantage Woman of Originality Award.. Her new collection of poems is
Treble.

Evelyn has read and
discussed her work at festivals, colleges and universities around the world,

and has been writer in residence at
UBC's Creative Writing Program, the Varuna Writers' Centre in Australia,
and Vancouver Community College. She
has also taught at Simon Fraser University.

Evelyn's bestseller “Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid” was broadcast
as a CBC-TV “Movie of the Week”, starring Sandra Oh in her first movie
role.

Indran
Amirthanayagam writes poetry in
English, Spanish and French.  He also translates from Spanish.  His books include The Elephants of
Reckoning (1994 Paterson Poetry Prize), El Infierno de los Pajaros,
Ceylon R.I.P., and El Hombre que
Recoge Nidos.  Amirthanayagam’s translations of Mexican poet
Manuel Ulaca were included in
Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry.
Recent translations of Mexican poet Julian Herbert were published
in the Americas issue of BOMB. His
next book The Splintered Face: tsunami poems will be published in the US in late
2007.

Amirthanayagam has received
fellowships from the US Mexico Fund for Culture for translations and
the New York Foundation for the Arts
and the MacDowell Colony for poems.  Amirthanayagam’s essays have been published in the Hindu
(India), Reforma and El Norte (Mexico), The Daily News (Sri Lanka)

and the New York Times (United
States).  His poems have been anthologized in The United States of Poetry,
ALOUD: Voices from the Nuyorican
Poets Café, The Open Boat: Poems from Asian America, Only the Sea Keeps:
Tsunami Poems, among others. 
Amirthanayagam performs his poems with the group Non-Jazz. 
He also directed Palabras en Vuelo:
Poesia en Conversacion, a program about poetry for public television
in Mexico. His next book in Spanish
Sol Camuflado is being revised for publication. Amirthanayagam won
the Poetry Prize of the Juegos
Florales in Guaymas, Sonora in 2006.

Amirthanayagam was born in Colombo, Ceylon in 1960. He came to the
United States in 1975.
He has been a
member of the United States Foreign Service since 1993. He has served his
adoptive country in Argentina,
Belgium, Cote d’Ivoire, Mexico, India and now as Public Affairs Officer at the United States Consulate General,
Vancouver. 

Senator
Vivienne Poy is an author,
entrepreneur, fashion designer, and historian, and is the first Canadian

of Asian descent to be appointed to
the Senate of Canada. She was appointed to the Senate in 1998.
She served as Chancellor of the University of Toronto
from 2003 until 2006. She founded Vivienne Poy Mode in 1981 and over the following fourteen years enjoyed great
success in fashion design, manufacturing and retail. She is currently Chairwoman of Lee Tak Wai Holdings
Ltd., and a member of the Board of the Bank of East Asia (Canada).

A Motion to designate the month
of May as Asian Heritage Month was introduced in the Canadian Senate

by Senator Vivienne Poy on May 29,
2001, and seconded by Senator Pat Carney. Senators Sheila Finestone,
Noel A. Kinsella, Nicholas W. Taylor
and Laurier LaPierre spoke in favour of it.

In December, 2001, the Senate of Canada passed a motion officially
designating May as Asian Heritage Month.

Presented by explorASIAN and Ricepaper
Magazine

Beyond Multiculturalism: check out film screenings of “In the Shadow of Gold Mountain” at Rhizome Cafe

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Beyond Multiculturalism:
check out film screenings of “In the Shadow of Gold Mountain” at Rhizome Café

The following notice was sent to me from No One Is Illegal -Vancouver, as they celebrate Asian Heritage Month with the screenings of two incredible films.  I reviewed and wrote about “In the Shadow of Gold Mountain.”   Check out these previous stories and interviews.


BEYOND MULTICULTURALISM

Celebrate Asian Heritage Month with a critical perspective on labour,
migration, and race in a special film screening and discussion…

<><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Thursday May 3 @ 6pm
Rhizome Café, Vancouver
317 E. Broadway (corner Kingsway)
Films by donation $0-5
<><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Organized by No One is Illegal-Vancouver and supported by Association
Of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society and South Asian
Network for Secularism and Democracy.

DOUBLE-BILL OF AWARD-WINNING FILMS!

*** 6:00 PM:

“In the Shadow of Gold Mountain”. In the Shadow of Gold
Mountain travels from Montreal to Vancouver to uncover stories from the
last living survivors of The Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, in
force from 1885 until 1947. This unfair legislation plunged the Chinese
community in Canada into more than 62 years of debt and family
separation.

At the centre of the film are personal accounts of people like James
Wing, who, at the age of 10, was forced to pay $500 – the cost of two houses
at the time – to live with his father in Canada, and Gim Wong, a WWII
Veteran who witnessed his parents’ struggle to pay off their Head Tax debt.
This compelling documentary sheds light on an era that shaped the identity
Of generations of Chinese in Canada and reveals the profound ways that
history still casts its shadow.

* DISCUSSION in between films, including with community organizers for
Chinese-Head Tax redress and Kamagata Maru redress and memorial.

*** 7:30 PM:  “Continuous Journey”. The Kamagata Maru entered the port
of Vancouver in 1914. On board were 376 immigrants, who for two months,
lived like prisoners, threatened by famine and disease as the ship was
refused permission to land. At the time, Canadian society was characterized by
strong racist tendencies among people determined to preserve a
predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon heritage and who called openly for a
“White Canada Forever.” The incident of the Kamagata Maru marks a dark
chapter in Canada’s immigration history and contributed to the growing
anti-colonial sentiment in India. The film, which required eight years
of research, is solidly documented, packed with archival material, and
presented in an original way that resonates powerfully with
contemporary events.

For more information contact us at noii-van@resist.ca or call 778 885
0040

Ruth Ozeki's “My Year of Meats” chosen for 2007 One Book One Vancouver

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Ruth Ozeki's “My Year of Meats” – chosen for 2007 One Book One Vancouver

Wayson Choy's “The Jade Peony” was the first choice for the inaugural One Book One Vancouver program in 2003.  I was invited in January  2003 to be part of the organizing committee, but I had to promise not to say anything.  It was a revolutionary idea in libraries at the time.  Build a book club for the entire city… encourage every citizen to read the same book… and create a whole range of programs to explore its themes and related issues.

Check out the Vancouver Public Library website for information on this year's choice!

One Book One Vancouver – My Year of Meats

Ruth Ozeki's My Year of Meats Chosen the Book for 2007!

Get ready for another great summer of reading and exciting programs, and join the fun as VPL's award-winning One Book, One Vancouver presents our “meatiest” title yet! On April 23,
The Library announced Ruth Ozeki's
My Year of Meats
as the title for this year's program, and released 450 copies of the
book to library branches across Vancouver for people to read and enjoy.

Receiving critical acclaim around the world,
My Year of Meats is a juicy cross-cultural tale that brings together the media, the global meat industry,
and two women from opposite ends of the earth with hilarious and haunting results.

From May to June, read
My Year of Meats, and join us for some great events and book discussions created to explore the book's themes and bring
the book alive. One Book, One Vancouver related programming will also be held at Word on the Street in September.

 

For more info on these and other upcoming events, visit our events page.
For more One Book updates, highlights, and activities, visit our OBOV webpage from May to June.

Happy reading, Vancouver!

Upcoming events:

Ruth Ozeki, Inaugural Author Reading

Monday, May 7; 7:30 p.m.

Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level

Central Library (350 W. Georgia St.)

Book Discussions with special guest, Ruth Ozeki

Tuesday, May 8

3 p.m. – Oakridge Branch  (To register, call 604-665-3980.)

7:30 p.m. – Joe Fortes Branch  (To register, call 604-65-3972.)

Join our author for an lively and intimate discussion of this year's choice.

Media, Culture…What's Your Reality? Panel Discussion

Tuesday, May 22; 7:30 p.m.

Alice MacKay Room, Lower Level

Central Library (350 W. Georgia St.)

From reality TV to mainstream journalism, find out what is the media's influence on today's mainstream culture?
With special guests, Ruth Ozeki and Vancouver Sun Arts & Life Editor Dominic Patten.

May is Asian Heritage Month… all across the country

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May is Asian Heritage Month… all across the country

From Halifax to Vancouver… and everywhere in-between… Asian Heritage Month will be celebrated.
Here are the websites for Asian Heritage celebrations in

Halifax: Asian Heritage Month

http://asianheritagemonth.halifax.chebucto.org/ 

Fredericton: Asian Heritage Month Committee

Montreal: Accès Asie


Ottawa: Ottawa
Asian Heritage Month Society

http://www.asianheritagemonth.net/

Toronto: Asian Heritage Month

http://asian-heritage-month.org/

Winnipeg: Asian Heritage
Manitoba

http://www.asianheritagemanitoba.ca/

Edmonton: Edmonton
Asian Heritage Month

Calgary: imaginAsian

http://www.asianheritagecalgary.ca/

Vancouver :
explorAsian

http://www.explorasian.org/

Vancouver Sun: Dancer's Search for Cultural Identity – features Alvin Erasga Tolentino

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Vancouver Sun: Dancer's Search for Cultural Identity – features Alvin Erasga Tolentino

I first met
Alvin Erasga Tolentino about 6 years ago at the Vancouver Public Library.  Alvin was starting up his new dance company Co. Erasga Dance
and he would use the computers in the Central Branch computer lab where
I worked at the time.  We hit it off, and he invited me to some of
his shows… and over the years, I have both attended and reviewed some
of his works (see
Alvin Tolentino's “She Said” – featuring vibrant contemporary Dance)

He is considered one of the top Asian-Canadian dance choreographers.

This weekend he is featured at the Telus Studio Theatre in the Chan
Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC, on both Saturday evening and
Sunday afternoon.


Check out the Vancouver Sun article written by Kevin Griffin about Alvin on Saturday:

Dancer's search for cultural identity

Kevin Griffin,
Vancouver Sun

Published: Saturday, April 28, 2007

FIELD: LAND IS THE BELLY OF MAN

By Co. Erasga

Telus Studio Theatre in the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC

– – –

When
Alvin Erasga Tolentino was in the process of creating Field 1, eyebrows
were raised in the Philippines. Even the Filipino choreographer who
commissioned Tolentino was concerned about an outsider, who had lived
in North America for years, creating a dance work about rice, a food
staple utterly central to the way of life in the Philippines.

Tolentino,
however, was confident, trusting his intuition. On a trip home to the
country of his birth five years ago, he realized he had to find a way
to synthesize the years he spent learning ballet and modern dance in
Canada with the memories and feelings he had from growing up for the
first 12 years of his life in the Philippines.

“I had a huge, huge need to turn to my roots,” Tolentino said in an interview.

“I
was just beginning to understand who I was. So, I literally went back
to Asia to see where I came from and what was happening there.

“It
was an eye opener for me. I really began to formulate in the structure
of my creation and my choreography about what it is like to integrate
that background, those roots, into what I know and into what I have
been transformed into in the Western world.

“Field is the result.”

Tolentino
is performing his reworked version of Field: 1, called Field: Land is
the Belly of Man, at the Telus Studio Theatre in the Chan Centre for
the Performing Arts at the University of B.C. tonight and Sunday.
Tonight's performance is pay-what-you-can in honour of International
Dance Day; Sunday's performance is a gala benefit at $50 a ticket for
the Multicultural Helping House Society.

After this weekend's
performances, Tolentino takes Field: Land to Toronto, Quebec City,
Montreal and Winnipeg. In August, Tolentino will be performing Field:
Land in the Philippines as well as in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The
multicultural and international journey of Field: Land started in
Tolentino's birthplace, Quezon City, part of sprawling metropolitan
Manila. As a youngster, he performed in traditional Filipino folk
dancing in elementary school but said one of his strongest memories of
dance was watching an aunt dance flamenco when he was five or six years
old.

The move from Asia to North America occurred because of his
mother, Zenaida, who arrived in Saskatoon to work as a seamstress. But
it took only one visit to Vancouver to convince her that West Coast
winters were preferable to the cold and snow of the Prairies.

In
Vancouver, Alvin, the eldest of three, attended Notre Dame high school.
Before graduation, he told his parents he wanted to leave the West
Coast to study dance at one of the country's centres of modern dance. On a
trip east, he visited Toronto and went to New York and Montreal, where
he immersed himself as much as possible in the world of modern dance.