The outlook, in theory, doesn’t look so good. Grey, foggy days with rain on the horizon and our next holiday isn’t for another month. The good – no GREAT – news is that this is the time of year when hearty festivals and events start filling the calendar with fun for foodie, families, film buffs, and everyone from Metro Vancouver to the Fraser Valley. Here’s what’s on the calendar this weekend:

Things to do in Vancouver This Weekend

Friday, January 18, 2019
Sponsored by Miss604: Lights at Lafarge in Coquitlam
French Dinner Cooking Class
Show Me the Monte: An Evening of Fashion and Fun
Vancouver Motorcycle Show
Graham Clark’s Quiz Show
Throwdown – International TheatreSports Festival
Dine Out Vancouver Festival
London Haydn Quartet with Eric Hoeprich, clarinet
The Odd Couple (Female Edition)
PuSh Performing Arts Festival
Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
Sasquatch-Themed Winter Light Festival at Harrison Lake
Skating at Robson Square

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The business of yoga gets turned upside down in the Canadian premiere of Dipika Guha’s new comedy—Yoga Play—a hilarious satire that asks what it takes to find authenticity in a world determined to sell enlightenment.

Yoga Play

Where: Gateway Theatre (6500 Gilbert Road, Richmond)
When: February 7-16, 2019
Tickets: From $29 online or call the box office (604) 270-1812

When newly-hired Joan is brought on board to stabilize Jojomon, a yoga apparel giant, she has her work cut out for her. The company’s founder has been ousted after a fat-shaming scandal, sales are plunging, and panic has set in. Jojomon needs an image makeover—and fast. But as Joan struggles to balance the needs of her new position with the reality of the bottom line, more trouble surfaces. Risking everything on a wild plan, Joan makes a move that just might save the day or split her pants.

Guha, who grew up in India, Russian, the UK, and Southern California takes apart the new gold rush that is the yoga industry with humour and insight, examining the languages of displacement through the lens of comedy. As ancient spiritual practices run headlong into contemporary consumerism, the desire for truth, meaning, and the right kind of yoga pants turns cultural identity on its head.

Win Tickets to Opening Night

I have a pair of tickets to give away to opening night, Friday, February 8th at 8:00pm. Here’s how you can enter to win:

Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

Click to enter via TwitterClick To Tweet

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Friday, January 25, 2019.

Follow Gateway Theatre on Twitter and Faceobok for more info.

6 stages, 12 hours of music, 200 volunteers, 1,000 musicians, 100 years of VSO! The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has unveiled the details of its 100th Anniversary Day of Music on January 26, 2019. Everyone is invited to participate in the biggest birthday party of the year! 

VSO Day of Music

• Admission: Free!
• Where: Orpheum Theatre, VSO School of Music, the Annex Theatre, and Tom Lee Music Experience Centre
• When: Doors open at 9:30AM on January 26th with the day culminating in a side-by-side performance by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra on the Orpheum Stage at 8:00pm.

Featuring a wide range of BC musicians and organizations including:

• 45th Avenue Jazz Band
• Azalea Ensemble
• Vancouver Opera
• Elektra Women’s Choir
• Music Friends Vancouver
• Kids Zone at the VSO School of Music
• Red Shift
• Piano and Erhu Project
• UBC Percussion Ensemble
• Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra
• Goldenpearl Ensemble
• Vancouver Youth Choir
• Yoga to Live Music
• …plus many more!

The VSO Day of Music occurs on the exact 100th anniversary of the very first performance of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra! Founded in 1919, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is one of Canada’s most active and successful performing arts institutions; the largest performing arts organization west of Ontario and the third largest symphony orchestra in the country.

The VSO performs to an annual audience of over 250,000 people and features more than 50 celebrated guest artists each season. Over 170 concerts are performed annually by the VSO in the historic Orpheum Theatre and numerous additional venues throughout the Lower Mainland. 2018/2019 marks the organization’s 100th season.

Do you have a favourite local product? Do you follow them on Instagram, share their latest brand updates, visit them at the Farmers Market, or know just how hard local artisans work to bring us their awesome wares? Nominations are now open for the brand new Vancouver Magazine “Made in Vancouver” awards.

Made in Vancouver

Vancouver Magazine is looking to fill the pages of its summer issue with the best local artisans.

“Made in Vancouver” will feature the most innovative makers and creators whose products line the tables of craft fairs, farmers markets, local boutiques, and pop-up shops that sprinkle Vancouver.

Participants can enter in any of six categories, including Food, Drink, Style, Beauty, Fitness, and Home. And just in case your product doesn’t fit into any of the aforementioned, the editors have included the Wildcard category to celebrate the imaginative and quirky.

Submissions are open until February 15^th. Winners will be featured in the July/August issue of the magazine and invited to participate in an exclusive pop-up this winter.

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia presents the inimitable, genre-defiant music of Bobby McFerrin on February 17th in the Chan Shun Concert Hall. 

Bobby McFerrin at the Chan Centre

• When: Sunday, February 17, 2019 at 7:00pm
• Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (UBC, 6265 Crescent Rd)
• Tickets: SOLD OUT!

The concert will feature Gimme5 — McFerrin’s newest band comprised of veterans from his a cappella Voicestra group Joey Blake, Dave Worm, Rhiannon, and Judi Vinar — and local choral ensemble musica intima. The program will be based on Circlesinging, a musical practice and philosophy that McFerrin has been honing since he began as a solo a cappella performer, assigning vocal parts to his onstage collaborators and audience members — transforming sold-out houses into glorious impromptu choirs.

Bobby McFerrin’s latest Circlesongs tour with the vocalists of Gimme5 has centred on an improvised concert format based on McFerrin’s sweeping, soulful vocal language — a wide-open space that welcomes elements from all genres including jazz, pop, R&B, classical, and world music. The style requires an innate sensitivity to surrounding participants and results in a unique and spontaneous sound that is created in the moment. Joined by the Vancouver-based eight-member choral group musica intima, McFerrin and Gimme5 will present an evening of sound that draws in the audience as co-performers.

Win Tickets

Don’t worry, be happy! This show is sold out but you can win tickets from Miss604.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Click below to post an entry on Twitter

Click to enter via TwitterClick To Tweet

I will draw one winner at random from all entries at 12:00pm on Thursday, January 24, 2019. Follow The Chan Centre on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information about upcoming performances.

Vancouver’s crown jewel, Stanley Park, is known for its 1,000 acres with forest trails, Lost Lagoon and Beaver Lake, the seasonal miniature railway, the Vancouver Aquarium, and of course its perimeter path, the Seawall.

Who doesn’t love the Seawall?! This 64km path that now connects Coal Harbour, to Stanley Park, to False Creek and Kitsilano took the better part of the last century to complete and it’s the world’s longest uninterrupted waterfront path. It gets the love, and it gets the spotlight (especially when you spot an Orca or those adorable harbour seals along the route). But today, I’m going to go back to my blogging roots and be a tourist in my hometown. I’m going to tell you about 5 things in Stanley Park that aren’t Seawall related, that are free, and that are fascinating.

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