Arts centre builds a home in the city’s northeast
You don’t have to tell Jade Powers there aren’t very many places to experience the arts in the northeast part of town. She’s from there. “I’ve lived in the northeast for about three and a half years,” says Powers, “but even for myself as an artist, I have to go to the south to do things.
“There’s nothing up here for me to do.”
That led Powers, who has a master’s degree in art therapy and has worked for over a decade with people with disabilities, to do something about the lack of arts facilities in the northeast.
“I thought, I live in this community,” she says, “and I really want it to grow and be something special. It’s such a diverse community and we have nothing (cultural) to do.”
But Sunday, northeast residents and other interested Calgarians will be able to get a first-hand look at The Mandala Arts Centre, that neighbourhood’s new cultural space, which Powers and her husband created on their own.
The cultural centre con- sists of 2,000 square feet of rooms that offer a variety of cultural-oriented programming — everything from yoga to martial arts to music therapy.
Powers says before she programs any more, she wants to hear from the community.
“We’re just trying to be a centre for the community,” she says. “When I was creating programs, I really wanted the community to tell me what they wanted — I didn’t want to create what I thought they wanted, so I really left it open to figure out what people want.
“If people say to me, we want Zumba class, I’ll try to find a Zumba teacher,” she adds. “You know, it’s what the community wants — because there’s not much here. I know. I’m from here.”
The Mandala Arts Centre is located at 226, 5401 Temple Drive N.E.
The grand opening of the Mandala Arts Centre is Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Among those in attendance will be MLA Kent Hehr. mandalaartcentre.com.
If Bohemian Carnival conjures up images of goateed hipsters trying to perform acrobatics in their skinny jeans and toques while simultaneously tweeting about it on their iPhones, think again. A Bohemian Carnival is what the Calgary Philharmonic is throwing this weekend at Jack Singer Hall. Some of their guests include dancers from the Alberta Ballet’s school, as well as Montreal violinist Andrea Tyniec, who will bring a little style in addition to a special instrument — she’s one of 18 classical musicians from across the country selected to borrow an instrument from the Canada Council Musical Instrument Bank. Tyniec will be performing Ravel’s Tzigane and Dvorak’s Romance for Violin on a 1900 Stefano Scarampella violin. The carnival takes place Friday and Saturday. Visit cpo-live.com or call 403-571-0849.
If the Bohemian Carnival gets you in the mood for some central European sounds, there’s an opportunity to turn it into an entire weekend’s pursuit. That’s because on Sunday, the Instrumental Society of Calgary presents a trio of performances that promise to conjure up ghosts, Gypsies and romance. Diane Lane (violin), Julia Haager (piano) and Kirill Kalmykov (cello) will transform Haydn’s Gypsy Trio, Beethoven’s Ghost Trio and Brahm’s B Major Trio into something they describe as a Timeless Piano Trio. It happens Sunday at Scarboro United Church, 134 Scarboro Ave. S.W. Visit in- strumentalsociety.ca or for tickets, email boxoffice@ instrumentalsociety.ca or call 403-700-5737.
The first show Nathan Pronyshyn ever programmed in 2007, as artistic director of Y Stage Theatre, was The Number 14, a rollicking travelogue of a play that visits 60 different characters on a memorable bus trip across the city of Vancouver. Unlike the bus route it was named after, The Number 14 has never really finished its run — 20 years after being created by Peter Anderson and other members of Vancouver’s Axis Theatre, it’s still touring. Its next stop is the Vertigo Theatre this weekend, says Pronyshyn.
“The original cast created skits and sketches of what they saw on the bus and made this physical theatre piece, and what’s it become is this mask and physical theatre piece for all ages,” Pronyshyn says. “It really is an all-ages show. That’s what makes it so special — there really is enough in it for parents, and the kids.”
The show, which has been produced all over the continent, including off-Broadway in New York, has also been a great calling card for a generation of Vancouver actors, who have used roles in it to springboard onto greater things, including Cirque du Soleil, perform- ing in Morris Panych’s national hit The Overcoat (that’s Peter Anderson), and becoming the artistic director of Montreal’s Centaur Theatre (Roy Surette).
“They’ve (the show’s creators) all kind of made massive careers,” says Pronyshyn, “which I think is an interesting thing, and I think a few other folks who have gone on to do it over the years, as well, have gone on to bigger things.”
Most of all, Pronyshyn says, the show is a good time.
“It’s fun,” he says, “and as Calgary’s transit (system) continues to grow — I take the C Train (to the theatre) in the morning — it has a little extra relevance, I’d say.” says Pronyshyn. “It’s one of those shows you just have to see — it’s a staple of Canadian theatre for young audiences.”
For more information on The Number 14, go to vertigotheatre.com or call 403-221-3708.
Seities is the name of the magazine a group of Calgary traditional photographers launched in February. Until May 1, they’re accepting submissions for their second issue. It’s got the theme of feminin, and all alternative form of submissions are welcome. Find out more at seities.ca