Road Map Dance Project Rolls Out Across the Province

Are you involved in dance activities in Newfoundland and Labrador? If so, DanceNL is looking for you with the innauguration of the Road Map project. This project aims to bring the Newfoundland dance community together.

You can participate in the Road Map by visiting www.dancenl.ca and filling in the online form, or by e-mailing info@dancenl.ca.

The DanceNL Road Map document and website will serve as a vital reference to ensure DanceNL is inclusive of all forms of dance being practiced in our province. As well, it will act as a catalyst to network dancers, practitioners and dance enthusiasts giving dance a stronger presence provincially, nationally and internationally.

“We are looking to hear from everyone. If you’re a dancer, a dance teacher, a choreographer, a dance writer, a social dancer, we want to learn more about you and your dance activities,” says Kristin Harris Walsh, chair of DanceNL. “This is our first step at connecting people involved in all kinds of dance across the province and to spread the word about DanceNL. It’s a great opportunity for dancers to make their voices heard and share their activities.”

Dance NL is the province’s first sectoral association for dance. The mandate of DanceNL is to preserve, promote and support all forms of dance and dance activity throughout the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

For more information, please contact Lynn Panting (coordinator of DanceNL Road Map project) or Kristin Harris Walsh (Chair, DanceNL) at info@dancenl.ca.

visit Dance NL: www.dancenl.ca

Everyone is Talking About Republic Of Doyle

One thing I actually like about living in my new small city is that when you walk downtown, you will always bump into people you know. This I actually find very uplifting now that I have learned it’s impossible to just sneak out to the corner store and make sure that I am sufficiently unstinky and out of egg-stained pyjamas.

This past week, when bumping into buddies, there was one topic of conversation one was sure to engage in:

“Did you watch Republic of Doyle?”

“Of course, b’y.”

“So, what did you think?”

“It was great, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. I liked it.”

“Were you in it?”

“I was an extra on the street,”

“I saw you, you were great.”

“St. John’s looks good, too.”

“Yeah, the photography is beautiful.”

Republic of Doyle is a big deal in town. Just about everyone in the TV, film or arts community has had a hand working on CBC’s new TV show as cast, crew or background performer and with 13 x one-hour episodes shot in and about town since last August, it is understandable that everyone is sufficiently anxious. We all want this baby the village raised together to be good. We all want it to be something we can be proud of.

And it is.

I did not work on the show but have lots of friends who did. As a filmmaker and actor, I am always hoping that Canadian TV and film productions will be hits and super successful. It’s good for the industry, good for morale, but more importantly it’s fun to watch stories on TV that I can relate to.

This is not often the case for me with Canadian TV, as I have not witnessed many “blue murders” in my life, and find most of the comedy too broad and hence unfunny, or just strangely pretentious. (Exceptions are The Newsroom and Made in Canada, which I found brilliant.)

So, did I like Republic of Doyle? Yeah, I did, and that’s a big “phew” for me. It would really suck not liking something that has touched this much of the town. It’s much more fun to be rooting for something.

The new show didn’t creep me out at all. I was worried that it would have that Canadian “smell” that I have thus far identified as the result of dull/wooden acting, spiritless and censored dialogue, plus a weird sound mix. The first two just make the show boring while the last adds an eerie and vacant quality that makes it distant and unrelatable.

Though the first episode had its moments of frozen acting, and a few icky musical stings that made me clench my jaw, for the most part I was able to enjoy the show without thinking about the technical or creative deficiencies. And that’s pretty good for me.

I was also worried that I would hate the female characterizations, as most of the casting calls I saw were looking for strippers, skanky bar maids and party ravers. I hate stereotypical or two-dimensional depictions of women in the media – it’s my biggest pet peeve. But for the most part the female leads in Doyle (as it’s now affectionately known) have some brains written into their parts as well as some guts, and thus far haven’t sat around the table lamenting their lack of boyfriends, babies or shoes. Not crazy about the over-the-top ex-wife role though, it’s a little cliche, a lot ridiculous, and I don’t buy her as a doctor. Hope that  scenario fades out quickly.

However, by far the best comment and compliment to the show has been “Republic of Doyle is not embarrassing.” For most of my friends in town this means the show does not embody the much-hated Newfoundland stereotype of a bumbling but lovable set of characters with strange accents living in a backward province AKA the butt of every joke. The series depicts St. John’s much more accurately – as a thoroughly modern city infused with a regional charm.

Best comment yet. “Alan Hawco is doing us proud.”

Will I keep watching? You bet. Word on the street is “it gets better.” I have taekwondo on Wednesday nights, but the CBC is streaming full episodes off its web site.

Watch Republic of Doyle here.

Creative Cursing – Just One More Thing Newfoundlanders Do With Style

WARNING: ADULT CONTENT, NOT FOR THE TIMID!!!

As if I had to warn you.

Have you heard about the new book in production yet called “A String of Oaths: Creative Cursing in Newfoundland & Labrador”

You just might have as this week the book had a string of publicity. The entertainment section of the Thursday May 8, 2009 edition of The Telegram had a huge front page article featuring the creative partners Don Maher and Danielle Dawe talking about their book. Look out for another interview to be published in The Scope, and an interview with Ted Blades of the CBC will air soon too. There’s also a Facebook Group page with well over 600 members!

The phrase, “A String of Oaths” refers to a bunch of curses strung together. Donny has had the idea for the book for the past few years, reflecting that the wonderfully colourful phrases he heard while growing up on the southern shore should be exalted and preserved somehow, like in a book, or on t-shirts, calendars and mugs.

So that’s the plan. This summer Danielle and Donny will be out and about scouting for more “oaths” to add their book. They will be traveling the province, scouring for unique and regional curses, doing interviews with locals, collecting stories as well as historical and cultural details to add to the mix.

You can help by contributing your curses!

A String of Oaths is a community project -so your contributions are welcome. You can add them to the Facebook group page (over 500 members and counting), to their web site as soon as they get it up at www.creativecursing.com, or right here in the comments section below. Danielle Dawe is my roommate, so you can be sure to let them know.

What kind of curses are they looking for? All of them! Here are a few supplied by Donny to get you started:

“”Cursed the Queens’ Cunt,” and “By The Knocked Kneed Nun.” Both of those were heard on the southern shore from an old lady who should never say such things, but blurted them out of the top of her head on a daily, hourly, moment by moment basis!!! God love her cotton socks!”

I was just at the Facebook page thinking I should pick up some good local expressions, jumpin Jeessus, Mary and Joesph and the late St. Patrick, god help me, it’s about time.

So, get your thinking caps on and send in as many curses as you can, and please forward this on to anyone you may know who has heard some good curses over the years, or knows someone who has the gift of the curse!!

If you have some starter curses for newbies to town, make sure to leave them below.

Artistic Fraud Performs AfterImage in Toronto

It’s the World Premiere of St. John’s hot theatre group Artistic Fraud’s performance entitled AfterImage. Adapted from a story by author Michael Crummey, it will be performed as part of Harbourfront’s World Stage.

The story is set in the Newfoundland mining town of Buchans and revolves around a family created and devastated by an accidental electrocution and unexpected adoption. And make no bones about it, it promises to be a deLIGHTful, charged and illuminating show.

Ok, sorry for the puns – but assistant director Michael Worthman has told me he’s been busy rigging up the actors with wires so that a current flows through them when they touch the floor, allowing them to light up on stage. He’s also told me he spends even more time ensuring them that it’s all perfectly safe.

The revolutionary set, developed and designed specifically for AfterImage, is composed of overhead wires charged with positive DC current and a copper sheet floor charged with negative DC current which illuminate halogen lights when actors connect the two currents.

Why? To highlight the key thematic elements of conductivity in electricity and connectivity in families, of course.

Composer Jonathan Monro has also designed a new instrument for the production that utilizes
guitar wire integrated with the live DC current wires running the width of the stage. What results is an “intricately developed performance that creates a complex, or kaleidoscopic, effect – termed by Artistic Fraud as Kaleidography.”

So for you who will be in Toronto April 16-26, be sure not to miss it. And those of us who won’t be will just have to wait for it to play here.

Adapted by Robert Chafe and directed by Jillian Keiley

More details
Artistic Fraud (Newfoundland) – AfterImage
Part of Fresh Ground new works
April 16-18 and April 21-25, 8:00 p.m.; April 26, 2:00 p.m.
Enwave Theatre, 231 Queens Quay West
Tickets: $30, Box office and info: 416-973-4000 or www.harbourfrontcentre.com

Moovy.ca Has Launched

Moovy.ca is the latest greatest baby by the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival team. The site which launched in beta this Wednesday is an online community for emerging and established filmmakers of Newfoundland – and soon all of Canada – and is all about supporting and growing this vibrant and productive and successful community of artists, storytellers and craftspeople.

Check moovy.ca out – it is full of film news, resources, posts by various bloggers, videos, and even boasts a resident video blogger BABS! who is a bit dear to my heart.

Most of all make sure to participate by signing up and adding your profile to the directory. The directory is the first part of interactivity open to all and meant to be a place where you can advertise your skills, capabilities and availability for other filmmakers.

Here’s BABS!’ first video where she gets to interview producer Anna Petras on the importance of film festivals in the career of a filmmaker and to the life of your film.

Down To The Dirt At The Toronto Film Festival

Down to the Dirt - the feature film based on the novel by Joel Thomas Hynes is screening at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Now that’s a big deal folks. TIFF as it’s called [rhymes with SJIWFF } is one of the most important festivals there is, and is perhaps the hottest marketplace for film. To have your film screen at TIFF is HUGE!!  Competition is stiff – everyone wants in so there are tons of submissions, and tons of rejections – so make sure you give the D2D filmmakers a big hand when they get home – because they done damn good.

Actually, forget waiting till these guys get home – the filmmaking team is super busy the next few months showing off their film at tons of other important festivals too. Who knows when we’ll see them next.

So – in the meantime send them some love by leaving a comment on their brand new website. (NB. It’s built by moi using Wordpress….more on how Wordpress is great for building web sites for filmmakers and artists here.)

Now just who is this illustrious team of filmmakers? Well, it’s a Newfound Films production – directed by St. John’s residents Justin Simms and produced by Anna Petras, the latter of which just happens to be my landlord – the bestest landlord in the word. These guys have been working together for a while producing award winning films, and this is their first feature length production.

Down To The Dirt is a homegrown love affair and as all films, is a collaborative effort of some of the city’s best artists and filmmakers. Imagine a drum roll here as I list off some of the key players: the screenplay is co-written by Justin with Sherry White, who will be directing her feature Crackie this fall; Executive produced by Jennice Ripley – who is also producing Crackie; original music and soundtrack by local fave Mark Bragg. Charlotte Reid on costumes.

Starring Joel Thomas Hynes as Keith, with key roles played Robert Joy, Hugh Dillon, Phil Churchill, Jody Richardson, Glenn Downey, Sherry White. Lois Brown and Mary Lewis just to name a few.

The film is off to Halifax next to be screened at the Atlantic Film Festival, then Vancouver, Wales, Sudbury – who knows when we’ll see these guys next.