Things to Do in Vancouver This Weekend: May 11, 2017

Feast on a festival of spot prawns, marvel at a program of ballet, revel in a talk from an astronaut, and learn to weave from a Coast Salish Chief. You could to absolutely every one of these things this weekend – and more. This is also the last weekend of the Opera Festival, Vancouver Bird Week, and DOXA – so catch them while you can!

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday May 12

Ballet BC Program 3
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 8:00pm
What: The Ballet BC season finishes with a thrilling triple bill featuring works by two prominent Israeli choreographers and a world premiere by Ballet BC’s artistic director.
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Words and their physical manifestations are explored in this insightful exhibition, which will honour the special significance that written forms. Varied forms of expression associated with writing throughout Asia is shown over the span of different time periods: from Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions, Qu’ranic manuscripts, Southeast Asian palm leaf manuscripts and Chinese calligraphy from MOA’s Asian collection to graffiti art from Afghanistan and contemporary artworks using Japanese calligraphy, and Tibetan and Thai scripts.
Runs until: Monday October 9, 2017

Chris Hadfield’s Canada 150 Tour
Where: The Orpheum
What: Canada’s first spaceship commander, Colonel Chris Hadfield shares a selection of stories, images, songs and ideas that celebrate the 150th birthday of the nation he is so proud to call home. From his unique perspective, Chris looks at the history and future of Canada through its people and the land itself.

Million Dollar Quartet
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Inspired by true events, this rocking jukebox musical takes you into Sun Records Studio on December 4, 1956, to witness the famed recording session that brought together rock and roll legends Presley, Cash, Lewis, and Perkins—for the first and only time.
Runs until: Sunday July 9, 2017

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: In 1960 Jane Jacobs’s book The Death and Life of Great American Cities sent shockwaves through the architecture and planning worlds, with its exploration of the consequences of modern planners’ and architects’ reconfiguration of cities. Jacobs was also an activist, who was involved in many fights in mid-century New York, to stop “master builder” Robert Moses from running roughshod over the city.

U2: The Joshua Tree Tour 2017
Where: BC Place Stadium
What: If you’ve been around the stadium this month, you’ve probably heard the rehearsals! Now see the finished show. The band returns to the stadium stage for the first time since 2009-2011’s record-shattering U2 360° Tour, the most successful tour in history seen by over 7.3 million fans worldwide.

Richmond Night Market
Where: Richmond, BC
What: There’s a dinosaur park! Anamatronic dinosaurs! Also – live performances, carnival games, over 200 retail stalls and over 500 food choices from around the world.
Runs until: October 9, 2017

Graham Clark’s Quiz Show
Where: The Fox Cabaret, 8:00pm
What: A comedy show that cherry picks the best segments of game shows and presents them all in one bizarre event! Prizes to be won, heads to be scratched.

Royal Canadian Family Circus
Where: PNE Grounds
What: For 50 years, the Royal Canadian family Circus has showcased the finest circus performers from around the world, bringing the highest standards in artistic excellence, with thrilling white-knuckle acts such as The High Wire and the Motor Cycle Cyclone.
Runs until: Sunday May 14, 2017

Shipyards Night Market
Where: Lonsdale, North Vancouver
What: Food, art, music, entertainment, shopping, a beer garden, and you can bring your dog!
Runs until: September 29, 2017

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Saturday May 13

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Spot Prawn Festival
Where: False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf
What: The Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia celebrates 11 years of the Spot Prawn Festival. Head to Fisherman’s Warf for cooking classes, a prawn boil, a gala, and to pick up your own fresh spot prawns.

Sea to Sky Gondola’s 3rd Birthday
Where: Sea to Sky Gondola
What: Showcasing Squamish musical and craft talent, and hosting family activities.

Pink Martini with the VSO
Where: The Orpheum
What: The ‘little orchestra’ from Portland, Oregon, joins forces with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Pianist/bandleader Thomas Lauderdale, chanteuse China Forbes and the rest of the band draw musical inspiration from all over the world, crossing classical, jazz, and Latin genres with an international vibe for heart-warming, toe-tapping songs.

I Am Rapaport: Live Stereo Podcast
Where: The Biltmore, 7:00pm
What: Actor/Director/Comedian Michael Rapaport grew his comedic styling a modeled after stand up comedians Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Don Rickles, Eddie Murphy, Andrew Dice Clay and more but it wasn’t until he appeared on comic Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast that he realized that this was the format he’d been waiting for.

Shining Light: Celebrating Women Composers
Where: Ryerson United Church, 7:30pm
What: Music by living Canadian and American female composers, including Alice Parker, Eleanor Daley, Ramona Luengen, Abbie Betinis, Joan Szymko, Leslie Uyeda, Joanne Metcalf, Sarah Quartel, Jocelyn Hagen, iconic songwriter Joni Mitchell, and more. Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.

2017 Chutzpah! Festival Presents: Birds Sing a Pretty Song
Where: Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
What: An evening dance piece interwoven with live music and responsive video. Dancer/choreographer Margolick and dancer Chuck Wilt join forces with composer/guitarists Berkowitz and Jake Klar, drummer Bruno Esrubilsky and Israeli author and historian Ruby Namdar.  The audience follows the two dancers wanderings through a world manipulated and influenced by the “curators” (the three live musicians) and projected light structures that move and direct the world onstage.  Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.
Runs until: Sunday May 14, 2017

Emily Carr: Into the Forest
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Far from feeling that the forests of the West Coast were a difficult subject matter, Carr exulted in the symphonies of greens and browns found in the natural world. With oil on paper as her primary medium, Carr was free to work outdoors in close proximity to the landscape. She went into the forest to paint and saw nature in ways unlike her fellow British Columbians, who perceived it as either untamed wilderness or a plentiful source of lumber.
Runs until: March 4, 2018

Weaving Workshop with Chief Janice George
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: The Salish Wool Weaving tradition has been reclaimed in a major way. For the last twelve years, Chief Janice George has been teaching all the way to top of Salish speaking territory. This 3 hour intergenerational workshop includes all the supplies you need to create your own beautiful piece of art.

Marcus Mosely Chorale presents Labour of Love
Where: Highlands United Church (North Vancouver)
What: The Chorale focusses on gospel style music with influences of pop, jazz and R&B. Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.

Trout Lake Farmers Market
Where: Trout Lake
What: This is where you’ll find the vendors who have been doing it since the beginning; what started as 14 farmers ‘squatting’ at the Croatian Cultural Centre back in 1995 has grown into Vancouver’s most well-known and beloved market. Visitors come from near and far to sample artisan breads & preserves, stock up on free-range and organic eggs & meats, get the freshest, hard-to-find heirloom vegetables and taste the first Okanagan cherries and peaches of the season.
Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017

JoJo
Where: The Vogue
What: With guests Craig Stickland and Locals Only Sound.

Charles Bukowski Night
Where: Pat’s Pub
What: A viewing of the last live reading Charles Bukowski did in Vancouver, then readings by locals. 

The Smugglers
Where: The Commodore
What: Their first hometown show in over 13 years, and their first performance at the Commodore Ballroom in 17 years. The reason for the reunion gig is simple: lead singer, author and broadcaster Grant Lawrence is releasing his memoirs of his hard-charging, international touring years.

Dance with the Dead
Where: Venue
What: A synthwave duo from Orange County, CA.

Goodwood Atoms
Where: The Cobalt
What: Acoustic guitar and heartfelt vocals.

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Sunday May 14

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Cyrilika Slavic Chamber Choir present Eclectica
Where: Vancouver Playhouse
What: From Christian Orthodox Church music, Slavic folkloric choral tunes, Renaissance Madrigals, Baroque, Romantic and Modern Era Repertoire, Cyrilika will sing, in 11 different languages, a variety of genres rarely performed in the Western part of the world. Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.

Artisan Jewelry Show and Sale
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: The 4th Annual Mother’s Day event hosted by the Creative Jewellers Guild of BC.

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Ongoing

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Vancouver Opera Festival
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre and Plaza
What: The first edition of Vancouver Opera Festival is a celebration of the vocal and theatrical arts. At its core, three new productions: a seldom performed masterpiece, a beloved classic, and a contemporary tour de force.
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

Vancouver Bird Week
Where: Vancouver
What:  A week-long series of events to celebrate Vancouver’s birds. Look for bird-related workshops, walks, talks, exhibitions, and lectures across Vancouver. Most events are free!
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

Western World
Where: Vancouver Improv Centre (Granville Island)
What: Vancouver TheatreSports’ improvisers will demonstrate their lightning fast wit as they play the “hosts” to the audience “guests” in Western World – an improvised parody inspired by the popular TV series Westworld.
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

La Merda
Where:  The Cultch
What:  Literally naked, internationally acclaimed Silvia Gallerano sings and howls this provocative and critically acclaimed text: a stream of consciousness that reveals, with rage and poetry, revolting human secrets, and a modern society that is powerful, desperate, vulnerable, and cutting.
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

Ballet BC Program 3
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 8:00pm
What: The Ballet BC season finishes with a thrilling triple bill featuring works by two prominent Israeli choreographers and a world premiere by Ballet BC’s artistic director.
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

The Piano Teacher
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: When Erin, a classical pianist, experiences the loss of the life she knew, she also finds herself dealing with the departure of her own musical expression. Navigating her way through this change, she meets an unconventional piano teacher who gives her new hope for the future.
Runs until: Sunday May 13, 2017

Robin Hood: Prince of Tease
Where: Performance Works
What: An original burlesque-style musical theatre production, inspired by the classic folklore of Robin Hood with a tantalizing twist. In this tale, most characters are gender-swapped and the relationships between the classic characters of Nottingham are turned on their heads. The story follows Robin as she conspires with her merry (wo)men to take down the tyrannical Prince Joan and her sadistic sidekick, the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Runs until: Saturday May 13, 2017

DOXA
Where: Various locations
What:  Eleven days of international documentaries give you the opportunity to see through someone else’s eyes, into other worlds, and you might even learn something along the way. Genres such as activism, sexuality, race, sports, war, science, art, docudrama and animation weave through shows you may not get to see on the big screen anywhere else.
Runs until: Sunday May 14, 2017

2017 Chutzpah! Festival Presents: Birds Sing a Pretty Song
Where: Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre
What: An evening dance piece interwoven with live music and responsive video. Dancer/choreographer Margolick and dancer Chuck Wilt join forces with composer/guitarists Berkowitz and Jake Klar, drummer Bruno Esrubilsky and Israeli author and historian Ruby Namdar.  The audience follows the two dancers wanderings through a world manipulated and influenced by the “curators” (the three live musicians) and projected light structures that move and direct the world onstage.  Tickets available at Tickets Tonight.
Runs until: Sunday May 14, 2017

Royal Canadian Family Circus
Where: PNE Grounds
What: For 50 years, the Royal Canadian family Circus has showcased the finest circus performers from around the world, bringing the highest standards in artistic excellence, with thrilling white-knuckle acts such as The High Wire and the Motor Cycle Cyclone.
Runs until: Sunday May 14, 2017

Circle Game: Re-imagining the Music of Joni Mitchell
Where:  Firehall Arts Centre
What:  The heartbreak of a failed love affair in “River”, the fear of imminent ecological disaster in “Big Yellow Taxi”, and the promise of a generation gathering to ‘get back to the garden’ in “Woodstock” are topics that resound as heavily today as they did fifty years ago. The enduring music of Canadian icon and renowned singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is reimagined in this energetic musical experience.
Runs until: Saturday May 20, 2017

End of the Rainbow
Where: Staircase Theatre
What: This gritty play with music is based on the true events of Judy Garland’s last comeback attempt in England in 1968.
Runs until: Sunday May 20, 2017

The Show at Emily Car University of Art and Design
Where:  Emily Car University
What:  Featuring more than 300 works from this year’s Design, Media and Visual Arts graduates.
Runs until: Sunday May 21, 2017

Family Lines in Landscape
Where:  Kimoto Gallery
What:  Veronica Plewman examines how time and memory are rooted in a location, from childhood. She reconstructs and paints her journey and portrait of BC, from the place she grew up to the old family photos of her parents early lives, and the stories she can recall. This series is about migration, how a family gets there and the unknown mysteries of our family history.
Runs until: Saturday May 27, 2017

Susan Point: Spindle Whorl
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Since the early 1980s, Susan Point has received wide acclaim for her remarkably accomplished oeuvre that forcefully asserts the vitality of Coast Salish culture, both past and present. She has produced an extensive body of prints and an expansive corpus of sculptural work in a wide variety of materials that includes glass, resin, concrete, steel, wood and paper.
Runs until: Sunday May 28, 2017

Pacific Crossings: Hong Kong Artists in Vancouver
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: June 2017 marks the 20-year anniversary of the transfer of Hong Kong sovereignty from the United Kingdom to mainland China. In the lead up to the handover, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents immigrated to Canada, many choosing to settle in Vancouver, and among them were a significant number of artists. Pacific Crossings presents works from well-known Hong Kong artists created after their relocation to Vancouver throughout the 1960-90s.
Runs until: May 28, 2017

Retainers of Anarchy
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: A solo exhibition featuring new work from Howie Tsui that considers wuxia, a traditional form of martial arts literature, as a narrative tool for dissidence and resistance.
Runs until: May 28, 2017

Caroline Mesquita The Ballad
Where: Centre 221A
What: A sculptural practice that intertwines the materiality of altered, oxidized, and painted copper and brass sheets with theatrical playfulness.
Runs until: Saturday June 3, 2017

Song of the Open Road
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: Bringing together artists from Canada, Eritrea, Ireland, Sweden, and the US, the exhibition includes works that combine thematically to interrogate ideas rooted in photographic histories, engaging ideas such as veracity, recollection, remembrance, belonging, staging, and how the image documents and records these or is evidence of differing realities.
Runs until: Sunday June 18, 2017

Up Close
Where: VanDusen Botanical Garden
What: All the artists represented in this group exhibition find their inspiration while painting on location at VanDusen Garden. The Vancouver en plein air group, initiated in April 2011, zooms-in to the lush vegetation that provides a new dimension of foreground details. The subjects are varied, and so is the medium.
Runs until: Tuesday June 27, 2017

Million Dollar Quartet
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Inspired by true events, this rocking jukebox musical takes you into Sun Records Studio on December 4, 1956, to witness the famed recording session that brought together rock and roll legends Presley, Cash, Lewis, and Perkins—for the first and only time.
Runs until: Sunday July 9, 2017

Xi Xanya Dzam – Those Who Are Amazing At Making Things
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: Xi Xanya Dzam (pronounced hee hun ya zam) is the Kwak’wala word describing incredibly talented and gifted people who create works of art. The exhibition is both a showcase and a critical exploration of ‘achievement’ and ‘excellence’ in traditional and contemporary First Nations art.
Runs until: Sunday September 4, 2017

Panda International Night Market
Where: Richmond, BC
What: A diverse market in Richmond, with shopping, food, beverages, and a game zone.
Runs until: Monday September 11, 2017

Shipyards Night Market
Where: Lonsdale, North Vancouver
What: Food, art, music, entertainment, shopping, a beer garden, and you can bring your dog!
Runs until: September 29, 2017

Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Words and their physical manifestations are explored in this insightful exhibition, which will honour the special significance that written forms. Varied forms of expression associated with writing throughout Asia is shown over the span of different time periods: from Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions, Qu’ranic manuscripts, Southeast Asian palm leaf manuscripts and Chinese calligraphy from MOA’s Asian collection to graffiti art from Afghanistan and contemporary artworks using Japanese calligraphy, and Tibetan and Thai scripts.
Runs until: Monday October 9, 2017

Richmond Night Market
Where: Richmond, BC
What: There’s a dinosaur park! Anamatronic dinosaurs! Also – live performances, carnival games, over 200 retail stalls and over 500 food choices from around the world.
Runs until: October 9, 2017

Onsite / Offsite Tsang Kin-Wah
Where:  Vancouver Art Gallery
What:  This large-scale composition transforms English texts to form intricate floral and animal patterns. The work draws from discriminatory language that appeared in newspapers and political campaigns in Vancouver during the 1887 anti-Chinese riots, the mid-1980s immigration influx from Hong Kong and most recently, the heated exchanges around the foreign buyers and the local housing market.
Runs until: Sunday October 15, 2017

Trout Lake Farmers Market
Where: Trout Lake
What: This is where you’ll find the vendors who have been doing it since the beginning; what started as 14 farmers ‘squatting’ at the Croatian Cultural Centre back in 1995 has grown into Vancouver’s most well-known and beloved market. Visitors come from near and far to sample artisan breads & preserves, stock up on free-range and organic eggs & meats, get the freshest, hard-to-find heirloom vegetables and taste the first Okanagan cherries and peaches of the season.
Runs until: Saturday October 21, 2017 (Saturdays)

Kitsilano Farmers Market
Where: Kitsilano Community Centre parking lot
What:   A great selection of just-picked, seasonal fruits & vegetables, ethically raised and grass fed meat, eggs, & dairy, sustainable seafood, fresh baked bread & artisanal food, local beer, wine, & spirits, and beautiful, handmade craft. Kids and parents alike can enjoy entertainment by market musicians, a nearby playground and splash park, and coffee and food truck offerings each week.
Runs until: Sunday October 22, 2017 (Sundays)

The Lost Fleet Exhibit
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: On December 7, 1941 the world was shocked when Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, launching the United States into the war. This action also resulted in the confiscation of nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadian owned fishing boats by Canadian officials on the British Columbia coast, which were eventually sold off to canneries and other non-Japanese fishermen. The Lost Fleet looks at the world of the Japanese-Canadian fishermen in BC and how deep-seated racism played a major role in the seizure, and sale, of Japanese-Canadian property and the internment of an entire people.
Runs until: Winter 2017

Bill Reid Creative Journeys
Where: The Bill Reid Gallery
What: Celebrating the many creative journeys of acclaimed master goldsmith and sculptor Bill Reid (1920–1998), this exhibition provides a comprehensive introduction to his life and work.
Runs until: Sunday December 10, 2017

Amazonia: The Rights of Nature
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: MOA will showcase its Amazonian collections in a significant exploration of socially and environmentally-conscious notions intrinsic to indigenous South American cultures, which have recently become innovations in International Law. These are foundational to the notions of Rights of Nature, and they have been consolidating in the nine countries that share responsibilities over the Amazonian basin.
Runs until: January 28, 2018

Emily Carr: Into the Forest
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Far from feeling that the forests of the West Coast were a difficult subject matter, Carr exulted in the symphonies of greens and browns found in the natural world. With oil on paper as her primary medium, Carr was free to work outdoors in close proximity to the landscape. She went into the forest to paint and saw nature in ways unlike her fellow British Columbians, who perceived it as either untamed wilderness or a plentiful source of lumber.
Runs until: March 4, 2018

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below or tweet me directly at @lextacular

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