BUSY November

(Original post date: December 1st, 2010)

While men were busy growing their mustaches for Movember, I’ve been running around town seeing lots and lots of shows – 14, to be exact. 14 shows in 30 days… which is about 1 show every 2 days, and all that includes 7 theatre shows, 5 concerts and 2 dance shows!!!

THEATRE

Night, Mother (at the PAL Theatre) – awesome show. Heartbreaking and memorable; made me tear up. Depressingly inspiring story!

Iphigenia at Aulis (SFU Fall 2010 Mainstage) – weirdly comtemporary, can’t say I completely enjoyed it… it was a mix of a whole lot of wacky stuff

4 weeks of directing projects at SFU (2 short plays each show in each week) – Shows have been getting better and better as the weeks progressed.

Hamlet at the Havana – very impressive rendition of the original text (1st Quattro) in a tiny tiny venue for something as huge as Hamlet. They were able to use the space very well, and the acting was superb, too. It made for a nice traditional Shakespearean experience.

CONCERTS

Passion World Tour 2010: Vancouver (Christian rock/pop concert) – tens and thousands of young people came out to Rogers Arena that night. It was incredible to see so many people praising God at the same time. Personally it wasn’t as empowering as the last time I was there.

Hard Rubber Orchestra – one of two concerts for which I operated the Eon. They felt like a really big jazz band… and it was a really loud concert. Good thing I was up on the tech ledge, which was two floor above the stage. But still it felt like I should have had ear plugs. Can’t comprehend how the people sitting below me weren’t deaf by the end of the show.

Barry Truax – the second of two concerts I worked. Still don’t really understand ‘electroacoustic’, but generally a relaxing concert. Some parts of the music stood out while most of the other pieces felt like they were one long song.

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s Lord of the Rings Symphony – a little disappointed, gotta say… the entire time it felt like they were playing ‘The Shire’ theme over and over again. The soloist probably hogged 70% of the limelight. I’ve heard better concerts from the VSO. Or maybe it’s the conductor – the orchestra didn’t sound together, and the choir was really weak compared to the instruments. And mic’ing the choir just made it worse.

The Oh Wells at Shindig 2010 – annual ‘underground’ music competition presented by UBC’s campus radio station CiTR. Got to know them through a friend of a friend the first time I went to the Shindig event at the end of October and have been listening to them ever since. Went to hear them live again at the semi’s… now they’re advancing onto the finals, which will take place next week :) I can’t wait!!!

DANCE

Faculty dance show at SFU – have to say it’s one of the best dance shows I’ve ever seen… maybe it’s because of the new space that we’re in or perhaps it was the choreography. I was impressed by the composition and movement of human bodies. A thoroughly enjoyable show.

Experiments – a scientific research inspired dance show. Liked how all tech elements fused together to create the performance when usually some parts of tech could be distracting. Still don’t understand contemporary dance though :(

So 14 shows later and $113 poorer (excluding all food and beverage consumed before/ during/ after shows), I had a very arts-fulfilling month. I doubt I’ll have the same bout of energy to pull another record-breaking statistic in December though. I’m hoping to hone my creative energy on my film this month!