Canadian Season in Prague
Throughout the month of October, Prague will host to four festivals of non-verbal and alternative theatre and dance. One of them, the "Canadian Season in Prague", will be held from October 14th to November 2nd, presenting Czech audiences with contemporary Canadian theatre and dance. Dita Asiedu has more:
The Canadian Season in Prague is the first part of a cultural exchange project between Canada and the Czech Republic. With Canada being home to one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world, it boasts a large selection of cultural dance and theatre groups focusing on both classical and contemporary repertoires. For three weeks in October, Czech audiences will have the opportunity to see some of the finest movements, sounds, and images of contemporary Canadian artists from all disciplines of the performing arts. The performances will take place in six of Prague's most renowned venues of contemporary theatre and dance and will culminate at the State Opera in Prague on October 20th and 21st with the world premier of a new creation from La La La Human Steps - an innovative dance company that has reached cult status in contemporary dance. The "Season" will also include dance workshops and critics' seminars from the Central European countries, guided by Canadian theatre and dance critics.
The opening performance will be from the One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre company, featuring a multi-media piece called Somalia Yellow. Ewan McLaren told Radio Prague what visitors can expect to see:
"The members of the One Yellow Rabbit company - it's a very small but influential company from western Canada - when they learned about the artist Allan Harding Mackay, who was invited by the Canadian army to travel to Somalia in 1993 as their official war artist, they decided to invite him on stage to do a show with them. In the show they kind of put him on the spot. They want to know why an artist travels with the army, what he experienced, and what society wants from artists and its soldiers. An interesting element of this piece is that this artist who was in Somalia with the Canadian Army made some very interesting video art, which is projected and used in the performance and spoken about and discussed."
As part of this unique cultural exchange event, Canadian audiences will have a chance to experience some of the Czech Republic's best contemporary artists too. During the 2003 season, stages across Canada will be presenting outstanding Czech theatre and dance.
