Wander under the pink canopies of the Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend, and make your way to a photography festival, Norwegian dance, international burlesque, drag queen comedy, a discussion and film about Muhammad Ali’s historical significance, or get slushy up at Grouse Mountain.
Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Ongoing
Friday April 6
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival | Image by thetu2
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
Where: Various locations
What:It’s that time of year when the city turns all shades of pink – the cherry blossoms are in bloom! Celebrate with community picnics, fairs, blossomy bike rides, and group walks. The Blossom Barge will be at Granville Island featuring free performances.
Runs until: Sunday April 29, 2018
Capture Photography Festival | Image: Nadia Belerique, In The Belly Of A Cat
Capture Photography Festival
Where: Various locations
What:High-profile exhibitions as well as emerging talent and community participation are in the lens. There will be events in Vancouver’s leading public and commercial galleries, as well as public installations and a series of community-based photo workshops, tours, artist talks, films, and panel discussions.
Runs until: Monday April 30, 2018
Electro Swing Circus
Where: The Imperial
What: A dance party and retro circus show. Wear your best circus-theme outfit!
Misery
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What:It’s Stephen King’s thriller on stage. Successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up in her secluded home in the mountains of Colorado. While Annie nurses him back to health, Paul soon realizes that he is not her guest, but her captive.
Runs until: Saturday May 5, 2018
Hardly Ever
Hardly Ever
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What:An innovative Norwegian dance company take an original and entertaining look at truth and falsehood. Four performers use dance, text and music, along with a quirky retro stage set to test the gap between expectations and the unexpected provoking physical responses and strange mismatches.
Runs until: Saturday April 7, 2018
The Blue Hour
The Blue Hour
Where: Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery
What:Making reference to the brief period of twilight at dawn and dusk when temporal linearity appears to momentarily hover in a state of suspension, this photography exhibition presents works by five Canadian and international artists – Joi T. Arcand, Kapwani Kiwanga, Colin Miner, Grace Ndiritu, and Kara Uzelman – that collectively act as a proposition to consider the futurity of the photographic image.
Runs until: Sunday June 24, 2018
Chor Leoni presents Take 6
Chor Leoni presents Take 6
Where: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
What: Bringing audiences to their feet with breathtaking renditions of iconic works from Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, to Pharrell’s Happy, the most-awarded a cappella group in history will make their Vancouver debut.
Vancouver International Burlesque Festival | Image by Fubarfoto
Vancouver International Burlesque Festival
Where: Various locations
What:The largest and longest running burlesque festival in Canada is back to seduce the city for its twelfth year, welcoming special guests seen on stages around the world and on the silver screen.
Runs until: Saturday April 7, 2018
The Doo Wop Project (show 1 of 2)
Where: The Orpheum
What: The Doo Wop Project is history you can dance to. Stars of Broadway’s smash hits Jersey Boys and Motown: The Musical join together and harmonize the classics of some of the greatest music in American pop and rock history, including The Crests, The Flamingos, Smokey Robinson and The Temptations, as well as newer hits from Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz and Amy Winehouse.
Saturday April 7
Stinging Nettle Culture Connector
Stinging Nettle Culture Connector
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Take part in a hands-on conversation about the nettle plant with experts Tracy Williams and Sharon Kallis. Used around world wherever it grows for food, clothing, fibre and medicine, stinging nettle is native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa and western North America. Hear stories of working with nettle and learn about the thigh rolling technique traditionally used for net making.
Bianca Del Rio
Where: The Vogue
What: Season 6 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, is a self-professed “clown in a gown.” This hilariously hateful comic is known for her foul mouth and unapologetic humor, but her victims hardly have time to feel the sting before she zips on to the next topic. The NY Times calls her “The Joan Rivers of the Drag World,” and Joan Rivers herself called Bianca’s humor “So funny! So sharp!”
The Doo Wop Project (show 2 of 2)
Where: The Orpheum
What: The Doo Wop Project is history you can dance to. Stars of Broadway’s smash hits Jersey Boys and Motown: The Musical join together and harmonize the classics of some of the greatest music in American pop and rock history, including The Crests, The Flamingos, Smokey Robinson and The Temptations, as well as newer hits from Michael Jackson, Jason Mraz and Amy Winehouse.
Slush Cup
Where: Grouse Mountain
What: Competitors, attired in their most ridiculous costume, attempt to cross a pool of slush on their skis or board. There will be prizes for participants, but the cheering crowd is the best prize of all! For onlookers in the “splash zone”, bring positive vibes and lively support to encourage the best performances from all participants.
The Trials of Muhammad Ali (with filmmaker in attendance)
The Trials of Muhammad Ali (with filmmaker in attendance)
Where: VanCity Theatre
What: Heroes don’t come more gold-plated than Muhammad Ali. But if you’re too young to remember the 1960s then you may be shocked to discover how controversial the heavyweight champion was in his heyday. Indeed, he was a constant thorn in the side of the establishment, and a hate figure for much of the mainstream media. Academy Award-nominee Bill Siegel will be present to discuss Ali’s historical significance and his approach to the film.
Lip Service 5
Lip Service 5
Where: The Imperial
What: 10 fearless teams and solo performers throwing down in a series of head-to-head lip sync battles.
Badbadnotgood
Badbadnotgood
Where: Commodore Ballroom
What: Instrumental electronica music to dance and sway to.
Sunday April 8
Magic Circle Mime
Where: The Orpheum
What: Three meddlesome spirits – Music, Noise and Silence – invade the Orpheum. The concert seems doomed as Silence and Noise attempt to seize control of the orchestra. Only with the help of the audience, and Music, will the conductor be able to break the fierce grip of Noise and bring harmony back to the orchestra.
Ongoing
Hardly Ever
Hardly Ever
Where: Scotiabank Dance Centre
What:An innovative Norwegian dance company take an original and entertaining look at truth and falsehood. Four performers use dance, text and music, along with a quirky retro stage set to test the gap between expectations and the unexpected provoking physical responses and strange mismatches.
Runs until: Saturday April 7, 2018
Vancouver International Burlesque Festival | Image by Fubarfoto
Vancouver International Burlesque Festival
Where: Various locations
What:The largest and longest running burlesque festival in Canada is back to seduce the city for its twelfth year, welcoming special guests seen on stages around the world and on the silver screen.
Runs until: Saturday April 7, 2018
空 / Emptiness: Emily Carr and Lui Shou Kwan
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
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
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
Chelsea Hotel | Image by David Cooper
Chelsea Hotel
Where: Firehall Arts Centre
What: Leonard Cohen’s powerful and inspirational music is the heartbeat for Chelsea Hotel. Through Cohen’s transcendent songs and the honesty of his lyrics, witness an eclectic cabaret of loves won and lost.
Runs until: Saturday April 21, 2018
Winter Farmers’ Market
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)
The Humans
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What: When three generations of the Blake clan descend on a rundown lower Manhattan duplex for Thanksgiving dinner, much more is simmering than the gravy. As the holiday gaiety subsides, the pressures weighing on the family members reach a boiling point.
Runs until: Sunday April 22, 2018
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival | Image by thetu2
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
Where: Various locations
What:It’s that time of year when the city turns all shades of pink – the cherry blossoms are in bloom! Celebrate with community picnics, fairs, blossomy bike rides, and group walks. The Blossom Barge will be at Granville Island featuring free performances.
Runs until: Sunday April 29, 2018
N. Vancouver
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
Capture Photography Festival | Image: Nadia Belerique, In The Belly Of A Cat
Capture Photography Festival
Where: Various locations
What:High-profile exhibitions as well as emerging talent and community participation are in the lens. There will be events in Vancouver’s leading public and commercial galleries, as well as public installations and a series of community-based photo workshops, tours, artist talks, films, and panel discussions.
Runs until: Monday April 30, 2018
Misery
Where: Arts Club Theatre
What:It’s Stephen King’s thriller on stage. Successful romance novelist Paul Sheldon is rescued from a car crash by his “number one fan,” Annie Wilkes, and wakes up in her secluded home in the mountains of Colorado. While Annie nurses him back to health, Paul soon realizes that he is not her guest, but her captive.
Runs until: Saturday May 5, 2018
Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg
Takashi Murakami: The Octopus Eats Its Own Leg
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: Featuring fifty-five remarkable works, some newly created for the presentation in Vancouver, this retrospective offers a critical and serious meditation on the current state of Japanese society in the midst of a complex, global world, while highlighting Murakami’s important role as a committed and often conflicted commentator on cultural production.
Runs until: Sunday May 6, 2018
Living Building Thinking: Art and Expressionism | Portrait of Anna Grünebaum by Otto Dix (image cropped)
Living, Building, Thinking: Art and Expressionism
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: The term Expressionism is invariably associated with the period of art and social activism in Germany between 1905 and 1937, encompassing visual art, literature, philosophy, theatre, film, photography and architecture. Explore the development of Expressionism in art from the early 19th century to the present day through the German Expressionist collection from the McMaster Museum of Art.
Runs until: Monday May 21, 2018
Haida Now
Haida Now
Where: Museum of Vancouver
What: This exhibition features an unparalleled collection of Haida art boasting more than 450 works created as early as 1890. Local Haida artists will share their insights and knowledge about the art pieces, providing visitors with the opportunity to experience a powerful way to engage with the worldview and sensibility of the Haida people while gaining greater appreciation for the role museums can play in the reconciliation movement.
Runs until: Saturday June 16, 2018
Bombhead | Untitled by Carel Moiseiwitsch (image rotated for the screen)
Bombhead
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
What: A thematic art exhibition organized by guest curator John O’Brian that explores the emergence and impact of the nuclear age as represented by artists and their art. Encompassing the pre- and postwar period from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to the triple meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, BOMBHEAD brings together paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photographs, film and video that deal with this often dark subject matter.
Runs until: Sunday June 17, 2018
The Blue Hour
The Blue Hour
Where: Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery
What:Making reference to the brief period of twilight at dawn and dusk when temporal linearity appears to momentarily hover in a state of suspension, this photography exhibition presents works by five Canadian and international artists – Joi T. Arcand, Kapwani Kiwanga, Colin Miner, Grace Ndiritu, and Kara Uzelman – that collectively act as a proposition to consider the futurity of the photographic image.
Runs until: Sunday June 24, 2018
Culture at the Centre
Culture at the Centre
Where: UBC Museum of Anthropology
What: Five Indigenous-run cultural centres in BC will be showcased representing six communities: Musqueam Cultural Education and Resource Centre (Musqueam), Squamish-Lil’wat Cultural Centre (Squamish, Lil’wat), Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre (Heiltsuk), Nisga’a Museum (Nisga’a), and Haida Gwaii Museum (Haida). Covering a wide geographic expanse from Vancouver to the Nass River Valley, this marks the first time the participating communities will come together to share their diverse cultures in one space.
Runs until: Monday October 8, 2018
In a Different Light
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.
