DanceHouse presents the Vancouver premiere of Montreal–based Compagnie Marie Chouinard’s unparalleled Hieronymus Bosch: The Garden of Earthly Delights, on stage March 15 &16, 2019 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

DanceHouse Presents Compagnie Marie Chouinard

• Where: Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St, Vancouver)
• When: March 15–16, 2019 at 8:00pm. Speaking of Dance Pre–show Talk at 7:15pm each night with Compagnie Marie Chouinard Rehearsal Director Annie Gagnon
• Tickets: Available online now, from $35 or call (604) 801-6225
• Note: This performance contains nudity.

In honour of the 500th anniversary of the Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, the acclaimed choreographer Marie Chouinard creates a living canvas, embodying the seething, teeming fecundity of Bosch’s most infamous masterpiece. Backed by Louis Dufort’s original score and brimming with Chouinard’s visual wit, the performance unfolds in quixotic tableaus of wonderment and horror that combine erotic entanglement and stunning choreography.

Since founding her company in 1990, Compagnie Marie Chouinard has enjoyed a lauded international reputation, performing the world over and co-producing works with such renowned partners as the Venice Biennale, the ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival (Vienna), the Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), the Fondazione Musica Per Roma (Rome), Place des Arts (Montreal), Festival TransAmériques (Montreal), and the National Arts Centre (Ottawa). Praised for their technique, versatility, and performance skills, the ten permanent dancers of the company, trained in different somatic approaches, bring Chouinard’s iconic creations to life on stage.

Hieronymus Bosch was a Dutch draftsman and painter from Brabant working in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. His vibrant colours and heavy impasto brushstrokes were deployed in service of visual cautionary tales, heavily filtered through his fertile imagination. His fantastical creations stand out against his Northern Renaissance peers, whose smoothly effaced style was applied to historical tableaus, scenes from everyday life, and didactic religious topics. Modern art historians cite Bosch, with his symbolic imagery and nightmarish figures, as an important influence in the Surrealist movement of the 20th century.

Win Tickets

I have a pair of tickets to give away to the performance on Saturday March 16th 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

For more information, follow DanceHouse on Instagram, Facebook, and a Twitter. I will draw one contest winner at random from all entries at 9:00am on Friday, March 15, 2019.

This month’s guest post is contributed by Jess Causby, Communications Volunteer with the Stanley Park Ecology Society (“SPES”)

Bald Eagles, one of Stanley Park’s top predators, are coming up to their most crucial time of year. Throughout this month, the eagles will be laying their eggs. 

First Sighting

During the first week of March, I had the chance to head out with Stanley Park Ecology Society’s Conservation Technician, Meghan Cooling, to survey eagles’ nests in Stanley Park. There may still be snow patches on the ground, but these big birds are sticking to their breeding schedule.

We first visited the largest nest in the Park; the eagle pair has been nesting there since before SPES began its surveys in 2004. Years of nest building have created a deep nest, making it quite difficult to see into. But, I was lucky enough to spot a white head sticking out of the top – my first nesting eagle sighting.

According to Meghan, this nest is the most consistently successful at producing eaglets. She explains that this is potentially because the eagle couple is older and therefore more experienced. 

Meghan then took me to a second nest, which seems even larger and can only be seen from the base of the tree. Unfortunately there were no eagles there this time, but I’ll definitely be back to help with another survey to try and spot some more!  

The Survey

The eagle survey is one of SPES’s longest running wildlife surveys. Meghan and volunteers conducts the survey each week; they observe each nest and record the visit date and time and the number of adults and/or chicks seen. This helps to keep track of the number of nesting eagles to note any changes in the population. 

Throughout March, SPES is surveying twice a week in order to get a precise idea of when the eagles start incubating eggs and to estimate when the eggs are going to hatch. Volunteers are helping to complete this survey, so if this is something you would like to be involved in, please contact the SPES Volunteer Coordinator at: [email protected].

The Nests

There are four main ‘territories’ where eagles are located across Stanley Park and four active nests currently under observation. Some couples do have alternate nests, as eagles tend to build nests across multiple spots. Meghan suggests this may be due to nest disturbances, which SPES has seen happen to nests in previous years. 

Out of the four active nests in the Park, two of these were successful last year, producing three eaglets between them. 

The nests are usually found near the water, close to their prey which consists of a range of fish and birds such as ducks and seagulls. Spawning salmon is also on the menu. Eagles drag the salmon out from the water and often displace the salmon carcasses into the forests; this has turned out to be an incredibly important source of nutrients for forest ecosystems. Stanley Park no longer supports salmon bearing streams so the Park’s eagles head to Squamish and other salmon spawning hotspots from mid-November to January.

Hooking Up

One of the Park’s  eagle couples lays its eggs a lot earlier than the others (around March 1^st), but typically eagles tend to do this a few weeks into March – so SPES will be seeing some action pretty soon! Interestingly, a given eagle couple tends to lay their eggs on almost the same date every year!

After hatching, it takes around 8 weeks until the eaglets are ready to leave the nest. The eaglets have lots of baby fat on their bodies, which needs to be lost before their first flight. To encourage them to leave the nest, adults stop bringing the eaglets food. Adult eagles have even been seen to fly by the nest with food, in order to try and temp the fledglings out.

Fun Facts About Eagles

• Eagles add to their nests each year and make the biggest nests of any bird in North America.
• There are around 20,000 bald eagles in BC (over a third of their total population).
• Eagles have a white head and tail, whereas juveniles have white patches through their body. 
• From the day the eagles lay their eggs, it is around 35 days until the eggs hatch.
• Females are approximately 25% bigger than males.

Where Can I See Eagles?

Although there are only eight eagles nesting in the Park in total, there are many vagrant eagles passing through. Last week, the SPES Conservation team spotted 18 eagles flying over the Stanley Park Pavilion, so get out there with your binoculars and take a look!

Along the Seawall of the Park is the best place to try and spot eagles, particularly between Second Beach and Slhx̱i7lsh (Siwash Rock). They can often be spotted in some of the large trees overlooking the ocean.

Many of the Park’s eagles also spend a lot of their time up in Squamish. The average number of recorded eagles in Squamish is approximately 1300 per year. Brackendale, just north of Squamish town centre, is a great place to view them!

To get involved or see SPES event listings, including a monthly bird walk, please visit the events page on the SPES website here.

About SPES Saturday

As a member of the Stanley Park Ecology Society, I wanted to offer the organization an opportunity to share their news, events, and work so I created the “SPES Series” years ago. This is where SPES can contribute and share stories with my audience once a month. Follow SPES on Facebook for more information.

Indie rock, fundraising, a pot luck, a concert, a children’s show, and church. All of these come together for Welcome Back, Kleiner – two fundraising events for Project H2Home, a Refugee Action Network in Saskatoon.

I was first introduced to Mark Kleiner (of Vancouver’s Mark Kleiner Power Trio) thanks to our mutual pal Nardwuar, back in 2014:

“Mark Kleiner could write the definitive guide to being in a indie glam rock band in Vancouver in the 1990s and it would be something far more insightful and entertaining than a BuzzFeed-esque mega list with animated GIFs — although his bright orange Wally’s Burgers t-shirt would have to make an appearance.”
Read more on Miss604 »

Kleiner is now based in Saskatoon and is melding his two passions: Music and preaching. He’s coming back to Vancouver to host a potluck supper and play his first ever West Coast solo concert, with a rare performance by 1990s post- Bootsauce warriors JUNGLE, plus partial Sister Lovers and Mark Kleiner Power Trio reunions, a Peter Tork tribute, and more.

Welcome Back, Kleiner

• Where: Spirit of Life Lutheran Church (375 West 10th Ave at Yukon)
• When: Saturday March 30, 2019: Potluck (bring a dish if you wish) at 6:00pm, Rock show at 8:00pm
• Sunday March 31 2019: Worship service at 10:00am with Guest Preacher Rev Mark Kleiner; Children’s concert at 1:00pm
• Admission: Free to attend. All net income from freewill donations will be split between refugee efforts in Saskatoon and the Lower Mainland, and contributions of $20 and more will be eligible for a tax receipt.

At his onetime church home Spirit of Life Lutheran Church (a stone’s throw from Vancouver City Hall),  Kleiner will make his official preaching debut on the West Coast when he takes the pulpit at church on the Sunday morning, following the Saturday night potluck and rock show. 

“I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve played Vancouver in the past 20 years,” comments Mark Kleiner, 1990s Vancouver indie rock casualty. “These upcoming shows will be my favourite finger – the weak fourth that tends to unabashedly lean on others, that wild horse digit standing in the way of every fledgling guitarist learning to play the ‘F’ chord.”

He will also give his first Vancouver children’s concert, specifically geared to the progeny of his fellow East Van survivors, although his own children won’t be along on this stop of the journey (“Hopefully next time,” he says).

For more information about the Welcome Back, Kleiner Potluck and Concert, Worship Service, and Children’s Show, follow the event on Facebook here and @MarkKleiner on Twitter.

Chan Hon Goh, Director of Goh Ballet and former Principal Dancer of the National Ballet of Canada, has been touring across Canada for her 6th annual Canadian Masterclass Series presented by RBC. Join her Masterclass in Vancouver on March 15th.

Canadian Masterclass Series with Chan Hon Goh

Ms. Chan Hon Goh has been visiting 6 cities across Canada, offering a rare opportunity for aspiring dancers to learn in an intimate setting. Performers aged 11 and up will be mentored in small groups by Goh, one of Canada’s dance elite.

“Since 2014, I’ve had the opportunity to connect with young dancers across the country, to foster and grow the incredible dance community in Canada. The Masterclass is an ideal setting for young talent to receive personalized instruction to inspire their artistry and performance,” shares Ballerina Chan Hon Goh.

“This year my Masterclass will focus on the experiences I’ve gained as a judge at various international competitions. I will share Competition secrets and what judges and juries are watching for. I want to offer these aspiring dancers a chance to realize their dance dreams. My hope is to nurture their passion to achieve their best and feature Canada on the world’s ballet stage.” Goh has served as a jury member at competitions worldwide including the Korea International Dance Competition and the Wien Welt Wettbewerb Ballet Competition, Vienna.

Masterclass Schedule

• Nanaimo February 24, 2019 at Kirkwood Academy of Performing Arts
• Edmonton March 2, 2019 at Edmonton School of Ballet
• Calgary March 3, 2019 at DJD Dance Centre
• Ottawa March 7, 2019at Ottawa Dance Centre Schools
• Toronto March 11, 2019 at The Walter Carsen Centre for the National Ballet of Canada « register now
• Vancouver March 15, 2019 at Goh Ballet Academy, Oakridge « register now

Dancers can register for a Masterclass online for $25, which includes class and an intimate Q&A session. Piqué (Junior) Masterclasses as well as Jeté (Senior) Masterclasses are offered. Scholarships valued at $5,000 total will be awarded during the national tour. All participants of the Masterclass will be eligible for consideration and winners will be chosen based on artistic potential and technique.

The Masterclass Series is made possible by Presenting Sponsor RBC. The RBC Emerging Artists Project helps artists bridge the gap from emerging to established and supports organizations, like Goh Ballet, that provide the best opportunity to advance careers in the arts.

With an illustrious stage career of over 20 years as Principal Dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, Chan Hon Goh is one of the most prolific artists of her generation. Her delicate lyricism and emotional depth personify the essence of numerous lead roles. Follow this inspirational master herself on Facebook and Instagram. For more information about Goh Ballet, follow along on Facebook and Instagram.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, YWCA Metro Vancouver has announced its 66 outstanding nominees for the 36th Annual Women of Distinction Awards.

The full list of nominees is follows….