Things to Do this Weekend in Vancouver: Jan. 25, 2018

This weekend is the last one of the season to wander through Canyon Lights at Capilano Suspension Bridge Park – get there while you still can! It’s also a good time to make a Dine Out Vancouver reservation, catch some world-qualifying rugby, take in a show, or to do a little guided winter bird watching.

Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing

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Friday January 26

Into the Arctic
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: This exhibit encompasses over 50 Arctic oil paintings and 3 films from Trepanier’s 4 Arctic expeditions to the furthest reaches of the Canadian North. Its wilderness is so remote and untouched that many of its landscapes have never been documented before.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Hinky Punk
Where: The Fox Cabaret
What: Ralph Escamillan’s dance spectacular has its creator decked out in “sequin skin”—a layer of shiny ornamentation that serves to mask and reveal all at once.

I’m Not Here
Where: The Cultch
What: Doireann has a show for us. She’s going to sing a couple of songs, read a couple of poems and maybe tell a few stories. She’s going to be doing a duet with her brother, who’s been dead for 3,104 days. That’s how long she’s been thinking about this show, while everyone has been asking, “Are you alright?”
Runs until: Saturday January 28, 2018

Geek Girls
Where: The Cinematheque
What: Canadian filmmaker Gina Hara’s documentary examines the hidden half — the female half — of fan culture. Yet when Hara sets out to make her film about female geeks and nerds — gamers, cosplayers, manga artists, fan-girl podcasters and bloggers, otaku, even a NASA rocket scientist — she finds that many women are content to remain hidden — or, at least, reluctant to appear on camera.
Runs until: Wednesday January 31, 2018

Winemakers Dinner
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Join See Ya Later Ranch Winemaker, David Saysomsack, for an intimate 5-course winemaker’s dinner atop Grouse Mountain.

Tyler the Creator
Where: Pacific Coliseum
What: An American rapper also known for being the leader and co-founder of the alternative hip hop collective Odd Future.

Passion Pit
Where: The Commodore Ballroom
What: Electro pop from Massachusetts.

Jitters
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Four actors, a director, a playwright, and one grand dream of Broadway-bound success. Anything from a forgotten line to a faulty wig may just make or break their new Canadian play. Can this motley crew set aside their egos and anxieties in order to make it to the big time?
Runs until: Wednesday February 28, 2018

A Skin So Soft
Where: The Cinematheque
What: The adventurous Canadian auteur and critics’ favourite Denis Côté turns his distinctive eye to the hard-muscled world of competitive male bodybuilding in a tender, witty, and understated film that captures with intimacy and formal precision the ordinary, everyday lives, dietary routines, and workout regimens of six Québécois strongmen.
Runs until: Wednesday January 31, 2018

Ruined
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Mama Nadi’s bar both protects and profits off the bodies of the women who have become casualties of a long and brutal civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She ensures survival by catering to both sides of the conflict, but how long can she keep the war outside her walls?
Runs until: Saturday February 17, 2018

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Saturday January 27

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Rugby World Cup Qualifier: Canada vs. Uruguay
Where: BC Place Stadium
What: The match will be the first leg of a home and home series with Uruguay, the winner of which will qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, making the upcoming home game against Uruguay Canada’s most important match in decades.

A Culinary Adventure
Where: 1661 Granville St
What: Taste delicious creative dishes designed by Culinary Capers Executive Chef Stewart Boyles. Meet the local growers and suppliers and hear inspiring stories of how they have been instrumental in supplying our community with a bounty of local, sustainable products.

Closing Events of Amazonia: The Rights of Nature
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: While running, this exhibit explored the creative ideas that inspire Indigenous resistance to threats facing the world’s largest rainforest. To commemorate the exhibition’s end, MOA will be hosting Amazonian themed art activities for kids, a final curatorial tour, and screening of several short films with the opportunity for a Q&A with the talented filmmakers afterwards.

Fantastique!
Where: The Orpheum
What: Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducts a concert that features the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra on stage with the VSO to perform the Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz, and VSO Principal Oboe (and Music Director of the VYSO) Roger Cole soloing in the Oboe Concerto of Richard Strauss.

January Bird Walk
Where: VanDusen Gardens
What: Take a guided tour through VanDusen and learn about the native bird species that make their home in the garden.

BC VQA Wine Brunch
Where: Forage
What: Chef Chris Whittaker, who is known for his emphasis on local and sustainable ingredients, will prepare a special menu for the event, and guests will be encouraged to explore the flavour synergies between BC-grown food and wines. 

Joseph Keckler
Where: The Fox Cabaret
What: Performing monologues and singing opera, torch and pop, he demonstrates a range of skills and a breadth of knowledge that might seem monumental if it weren’t put across with so much humble charm.

First Aid Kit
Where: The Vogue
What: A folk duo from Sweden.

Matt Mays
Where: The Commodore Ballroom
What: Canadian indie folk.

Kitty Nights 10th Anniversary Spectacular
Where: The Biltmore
What: Award-winning burlesque featuring Burgundy Brixx, The Purrrfessor, Bonnie Kilroe, April O’Peel, Shaboobie Boobarella and Sasparilla Fox.

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Sunday January 28

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Elegant BC Wine Brunch
Where: Boulevard
What: Jointly presented by Boulevard along with British Columbia Wine Institute, this event will feature a stand-up, grazing format with seafood-focused canapés from Chef Chen and team, along with wine stations from five of the province’s top wineries.

Spirited Master Class: Tequila and Rum
Where: Yew Seafood + Bar
What: In this master class, attendees will learn about the rum and tequila spirits categories, and how culture, stories and legend have built their industries. Guests will sample cocktails paired with small plates from the YEW team, and all guests will take home cocktail recipes, as well as a Bittered Sling Bitters gift pack.

Birds of a Feather: Wings of Winter
Where: Stanley Park
What: A two-hour, easy walking exploration to learn about winter bird identification and behaviour.

I Am My Own Laboratory + Shot On Blood: Kozmikonic Electronica
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Two singular(and sanguineous) cinematic forays into higher consciousness by Vancouver film-explorer Oliver Hockenhull.

Venus and Adonis
Where: Hycroft
What: A gender-playful production of the earliest surviving British opera. This ground-breaking work was composed in 1683 by John Blow, with Anne Kingsmill as librettist. The opera is rarely performed today, and in keeping with an exploration of unfamiliar territory, our staging features both soloists and chorus members swapping genders.

Chilly Chase
Where: The Seawall
What: A marathon around the Sewall – remember your ear warmers.

Coast Salish Weaving Workshop (sold out)
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: Participants will work with Individual looms, creating a single wall hanging they can take home. Salish weaving twine and twill techniques will be taught. This workshop will also Include historical content about the cultural significance and artform of Coast Salish weaving practices.

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Ongoing

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The Vancouver Opera: L’Elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love)
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: A love struck man, a village beauty, an army captain, and a travelling doctor with a magic potion – All set in a picturesque early 1900’s Canadian locale oozing with small town charm. It’s a Cinderella-esque tale in which a poor and hapless young man wins the hand of a small Canadian town’s most beautiful young woman (with the help of a secret “elixir” from a travelling salesman).
Runs until: Saturday January 27, 2018

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: Saturday January 28, 2018

Canyon Lights
Where: Capilano Suspension Bridge Park
What: Re-capture the feeling of wonder and excitement of the holiday season and be amazed by the hundreds of thousands of lights throughout the park. The suspension bridge, Treetops Adventure, Cliffwalk, the rainforest and canyon are transformed into a world of festive lights and visual enchantment. See the world’s tallest living Christmas tree (153 feet !) go on a Snowy Owl Prowl, decorate gingerbread cookies and make your own Christmas card in the Winter Pavilion, and sing-along with the holiday band.
Runs until: Saturday January 28, 2018

I’m Not Here
Where: The Cultch
What: Doireann has a show for us. She’s going to sing a couple of songs, read a couple of poems and maybe tell a few stories. She’s going to be doing a duet with her brother, who’s been dead for 3,104 days. That’s how long she’s been thinking about this show, while everyone has been asking, “Are you alright?”
Runs until: Saturday January 28, 2018

True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This ground-breaking exhibition examines the significant influence of Scandinavian craft and industrial design on the development of Canadian culture. Spanning more than seven decades, True Nordic reveals how Scandinavian design was introduced in Canada and how its aesthetics and material forms were adopted, revised and transformed.
Runs until: Saturday January 28, 2018

Geek Girls
Where: The Cinematheque
What: Canadian filmmaker Gina Hara’s documentary examines the hidden half — the female half — of fan culture. Yet when Hara sets out to make her film about female geeks and nerds — gamers, cosplayers, manga artists, fan-girl podcasters and bloggers, otaku, even a NASA rocket scientist — she finds that many women are content to remain hidden — or, at least, reluctant to appear on camera.
Runs until: Wednesday January 31, 2018

A Skin So Soft
Where: The Cinematheque
What: The adventurous Canadian auteur and critics’ favourite Denis Côté turns his distinctive eye to the hard-muscled world of competitive male bodybuilding in a tender, witty, and understated film that captures with intimacy and formal precision the ordinary, everyday lives, dietary routines, and workout regimens of six Québécois strongmen.
Runs until: Wednesday January 31, 2018

Tin and Gold: A 10 Year Anniversary Show
Where: The Fall
What: Celebrate 10 years of alternative music, tattoo artistry, and multimedia events. The art show includes artists Megan Majewski, Jenn Brisson, Alison Woodward and more.
Runs until: Thursday February 1, 2018

Club PuSH
Where: The Fox Cabaret
What: Spend an evening alongside artists and art-lovers while taking in your choice of eight shows ranging from the hip and queer, to the radical and riotous. Raise a glass to a trans filmmaker’s stop-motion animated adventure; an unmasked drag artist’s one-man variety show; a comedian’s confrontation with toxic masculinity; a sequined-skin dancer’s vogue-inspired display; a showcase of Indigenous music heavyweights, and more.
Runs until: Saturday February 3, 2018

PuSH Performing Arts Festival
Where: Various locations
What: Featuring artists from 11 countries, the 14th annual PuSh Festival showcases thought-provoking works from the intimate and immersive, to the monumental and spectacular. In store this year: a stunning tribute to water by dance artists direct from Taiwan; an Oscar-winning film brought to life with a live tour-de-force drum score; a gender-busting dance party led by a powerhouse performer; a rowdy reunion recounted in spellbinding spoken word; a radical upheaval of King Arthur’s legend.
Runs until: Sunday February 4, 2018

Dine Out Vancouver Festival
Where: Various locations
What: Canada’s largest food and drink festival dishes up unlimited ways to enjoy the flavours of the city. Choose from a 17-day calendar of culinary events and experiences, hundreds of restaurants throughout the city and relaxing hotel Dine & Stay packages to create delicious experiences.
Runs until: Sunday February 4, 2018

Portrait of the Artist
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: This exhibition brings together The Royal Collection’s paintings depicting self-portraits, portraits of artists and artists at work. Encompassing over eighty works, Portrait of the Artist is a rich survey of how artists have seen themselves and the role of the artist within society.
Runs until: Monday, February 4, 2018

The Human Library
Where: Vancouver Public Library – Central Branch
What: Borrow a human and discover a life – have a 20-minute, one-on-one conversation that will open your eyes to the diversity of lived experiences. Available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Runs until: Sunday February 4, 2018

Femme January
Where: The Cultch
What: The Cultch is dedicating a whole month to celebrate the power of female and female identifying voices. Femme January is their way of addressing and speaking truth to the challenges and the triumphs of the feminine. Join performances and discussions that focus on the female experience.
Runs until: Sunday February 4, 2018

Gordon Smith: The Black Paintings
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The exhibition features a body of work described as black paintings that Gordon Smith began producing in 1990. These densely painted, darkly abstracted paintings—punctuated with occasional colour, text and collaged elements—sometimes refer explicitly to this wartime experience. Smith was deployed with the Allied invasion at Pachino Beach, Sicily (code name Husky), in July 1943, when he was twenty-four.
Runs until: Monday February 4, 2018

Reassembled, Slightly Askew
Where: The Cultch
What: The survivor of a medically induced coma and acquired brain injury, creator Shannon Yee presents a chance for us to live through her medical journey. In this radically immersive production, audience members lie on hospital beds, put on headphones and enter her mind. It’s an audio experience like no other: re-enactment, internal monologue, evocative aural textures and more.
Runs until: Sunday February 4, 2018

Carol Sawyer: The Natalie Brettschneider Archive
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Sawyer’s ongoing project that reconstructs the life and work of the genre-defying, fictional singer and artist Natalie Brettschneider. The works on view will connect Brettschneider to a community of mid-twentieth century artists and musicians in British Columbia.
Runs until: Monday February 4, 2018

Hot Chocolate Festival
Where: Metro Vancouver
What: All over the city restaurants and cafes will be heating up inventive hot chocolate concoctions with ingredients like rose oil, beet juice, mushroom, and donkey’s milk.
Runs until: Wednesday February 14, 2018

Ruined
Where: Pacific Theatre
What: Mama Nadi’s bar both protects and profits off the bodies of the women who have become casualties of a long and brutal civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She ensures survival by catering to both sides of the conflict, but how long can she keep the war outside her walls?
Runs until: Saturday February 17, 2018

City on the Edge: A Century of Vancouver Activism
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: A photo-based exhibition exploring how protest demonstrations have shaped Vancouver’s identity from the Vancouver Sun and The Province newspapers’ photo collection. These photographs are exceptional historical records of intense and transformative moments in the lives of Vancouverites.
Runs until: Sunday February 18, 2017

Flight of the Dragon
Where: FlyOver Canada
What: In addition to flying over Canada from East to West, you’ll follow a mythical dragon as you soar over some of China’s most spectacular landscapes and scenery.
Runs until: Sunday February 18, 2018

Robson Street Outdoor Ice Rink
Where: Robson Square
What: Bring your skates, hold hands for balance, and circle the rink for free right in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. Skate rentals are also available, and for that you’ll need to bring cash.
Runs until: Wednesday February 28, 2018

Jitters
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: Four actors, a director, a playwright, and one grand dream of Broadway-bound success. Anything from a forgotten line to a faulty wig may just make or break their new Canadian play. Can this motley crew set aside their egos and anxieties in order to make it to the big time?
Runs until: Wednesday February 28, 2018

Tasting History: The Traveling Tales of Tea
Where: Roedde House Museum
What: Tea is one of the most consumed liquids in the world, second only to water. But the beverage that brings much pleasure and calm to our 21st century senses is steeped in a turbulent history of politics and society. The exhibit will also feature stories from Vancouver’s modern-day tea community.
Runs until: March 2018

Winter Yoga Series on Grouse Mountain
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Begin your Sunday morning with a journey through the twinkling Light Walk and over to the hiwus feasthouse atop a mountain. Come prepared with snow-appropriate footwear or strap on your snowshoes for the this snowy walk.
Runs until: Sunday March 4, 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

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: March 25, 2018

Into the Arctic
Where: Vancouver Maritime Museum
What: This exhibit encompasses over 50 Arctic oil paintings and 3 films from Trepanier’s 4 Arctic expeditions to the furthest reaches of the Canadian North. Its wilderness is so remote and untouched that many of its landscapes have never been documented before.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Two Scores
Where: Contemporary Art Gallery
What: A solo exhibition of ambitious new work by Vancouver-based artist Brent Wadden, his first in a public institution. Dominated by singular woven statements upon the floor and walls, in their dramatic scale and graphic simplicity, they mark a point of departure for the artist, but might also be said to reveal both an unseen structure and a complex set of tensions that quietly anchor Wadden’s ongoing practice as a whole.
Runs until: Sunday March 25, 2018

Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist
Where: North Vancouver Museum
What: An exhibition exploring the life and legacy of Tsleil-Waututh Chief Dan George (1899- 1981) and his influence as an Indigenous rights advocate and his career as an actor. The exhibition was developed in close collaboration with the George family.
Runs until: April 2018

空 / Emptiness: Emily Carr and Lui Shou Kwan
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The exhibition pairs Canadian modernist Emily Carr with the founder of the New Ink Movement in Hong Kong Lui Shou Kwan. Looking across culture, geography and time to explore expressions of the sublime in landscape painting, the exhibition draws connections by exploring how each artist experimented with abstraction and spirituality in their respective depictions of nature.
Runs until: Sunday April 8, 2018

The Fabric of Our Land: Salish Weaving
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: For generations Salish peoples have been harvesting the resources of their territories, transforming them into robes of rare beauty and power. Symbols of identity, they acted as legal documents and were visible signifiers of the presence of knowledge holders and respected people. Now mostly stored away in museums these masterworks are rarely seen. They have much knowledge to share and many stories to tell. Musqueam asked the Museum to bring these weavings to inspire weavers and share part of this rich legacy with all of us.
Runs until: Sunday April 15, 2018

Public Artwork by New Delhi-Based Artist Asim Waqif
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Inspired by environmental concerns and the pace of human consumption, Waqif will construct an immersive architectural experience from materials collected at re-purpose stores, transfer stations and landfills in the metro Vancouver area. Waqif’s architectural structure will also incorporate an interactive acoustic system using microphones, effects pedals and speakers. Visitors are encouraged to move through the installation maze allowing them to actively experience the architecture instead of passively observing it.
Runs until: Sunday April 15, 2017

Winter Farmers Market
Where: Nat Bailey Stadium
What: Each week you can look forward to finding locally grown vegetables and fruit, meat and seafood from local ranchers and fishermen, artisan cheese and bread, herbs and seasonal nursery items, baked goods, prepared foods and artisanal craft.
Runs until: April 21, 2018 (Saturdays)

N. Vancouver
Where: The Polygon Gallery
What: The show in the newly-opened gallery will pay tribute to the evolution of North Vancouver and will feature commissioned works by more than 10 artists, including Andrew Dadson, Gabrielle Hill, Althea Thauberger, Stephen Waddell and Tracy Williams, paired with existing work by Stan Douglas, Greg Girard, Fred Herzog, Curt Lang, and Jeff Wall, among others.
Runs until: Sunday April 29, 2018

In a Different Light
Where: Museum of Anthropology
What: More than 110 historical Indigenous artworks and marks the return of many important works to British Columbia. These objects are amazing artistic achievements. Yet they also transcend the idea of ‘art’ or ‘artifact’. Through the voices of contemporary First Nations artists and community members, this exhibition reflects on the roles historical artworks have today. Featuring immersive storytelling and innovative design, it explores what we can learn from these works and how they relate to Indigenous peoples’ relationships to their lands.
Runs until: Spring 2019

What are you up to this weekend? Tell me and the rest of Vancouver in the comments below.