Dovbush Dancers – Memories and stories of the Ukraine Summer 2013

Dovbush Ukraine Trip_crop

SPECIAL EVENT
Dovbush Dancers – Memories and stories of the Ukraine Summer 2013
Saturday, 9 November 2013, 7:30pm
Ukrainian Hall, 805 East Pender
Free. Refreshments.

The Dovbush Dancers invite you to join them for an informal gathering to share memories and stories about their wonderful trip to Ukraine. You will have an inside look at segments of their classes and get to see the magnificent Dovbush Rocks.

Join them as they take you through:

• dancing at the world famous Virsky studio with professional instructors;
• life and living accommodations;
• their travels to Lviv and to Dovbush Rocks, the haunt of their namesake, Oleksa Dovbush;
• excursions and sightseeing around Kiev and Lviv.

You will have the chance to ask questions and talk with the dancers about their experiences.

We look forward to having the opportunity to thank all those who made this trip possible through generous donations.

Arts Rational – The Raymur Mothers

Radio Dramalogo - Co-op Radio 100.5FM 
ARTS RATIONAL
Thursday October 31, 9pm – 10pm
Live Broadcast Co-op Radio 100.5FM www.coopradio.org

2006 Heart Festival Cooper July 2006 Bob Sarti head shot 1000

Bob Sarti

Theatre In the Raw presents five scenes with six actors from the upcoming musical The Raymur Mothers by Bob Sarti and Bill Sample, directed by Jay Hamburger. This will be a live radio broadcast of dramatic highlights from the larger theatrical work. The play is based on the true story of mothers from the Raymur Housing project in the early 1970s who couldn’t stand to see their children cross the treacherous railroad tracks to get to elementary school every morning. What did they do? Tune in to Arts Rational and find out how these young mothers banded together to take charge of a situation that was ground-breaking to a neighbourhood close to our hearts. For your listening pleasure.

Click for video and photos from this event.

10th Anniversary of the Downtown Eastside Community Play

The Old One & Nicole (Steve Lytton and Priscillia Tait)

The Old One & Nicole (Steve Lytton and Priscillia Tait)

Ten years ago a ground-breaking creative project took place in the Downtown Eastside – In the Heart of a City: The Downtown Eastside Community Play. Featuring tales of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, this wild joy ride through 100 years of laughter and tears was coproduced by Vancouver Moving Theatre and the Carnegie Community Centre in honour of the Carnegie building’s 100th anniversary. Building the play turned into an epic year-long event that involved over 2000 volunteers, 50 organizations, 60 artists and employees. Community members were involved in every aspect – from research to creation, workshops to parades, rehearsal to production.

The play told the story of a young First Nations woman arriving in today’s Downtown Eastside to carve out a new life for herself. Searching for her Aunt Rita and looking for a job, she encountered the life and times of the neighbourhood past, present and maybe even the future. Stories from the community came to life in words and music, song and dance, giant puppets and shadow puppets, and in memories of struggles for human rights and dignity by people who fought back, spoke out and changed their lives. Directed by James Fagan Tait, the play featured over 80 performers young and old (including an appearance by Mayor Larry Campbell); and premiered in eight sold-out performances and standing ovations at the Japanese Hall for audiences from throughout the Lower Mainland and for residents of the Downtown Eastside.

“A vibrant Downtown Eastside theatre community has been created. People are getting to know each other. People connected to the play are greeting each other on the street. They know that their play refl ects the strength, pain and beauty of our multicultural Downtown Eastside that rises like the phoenix from one generation to another.”
– Sandy Cameron, Carnegie Newsletter

As a result of the community play’s success and impact, in 2004 the Carnegie Community Centre and Vancouver Moving Theatre launched – with the help of a host of community partners – the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival. The vision: to provide an annual and sustainable event to promote our community, serve as a bridge-building presence within the community, and give voice to our artists, cultural traditions, history, activism, people and great stories.

– Savannah Walling