2022/2023 Season

In this interactive performance, students will learn the important role that music, dance, and storytelling play in everyday life in Cameroon, Central Africa. Students will experience traditional dance and drumming, listen to a traditional story, and learn about the importance of community in Centre Africa. This program demonstrates to the students the true way that traditional music is played in Cameroon; percussion is not just drums, it includes a variety of instruments. The students will learn that this tradition is made up of different parts that have to be played together, everyone finding their own place in the music.

Entertainer, musician, composer, dancer, choreographer, author and educator Njacko Backo shares his uplifting music, energizing dance, and hope-filled stories with audiences of all ages and all walks of life. Njacko was born in Cameroon in 1958 and raised in the hills in a small village called Bazou, which means “The Walkers.” Musically and spiritually Njacko draws on the lessons he learned in Africa from his musical family, mentors and village life. Although he loved life in the village where he was immersed in music, his dream was to discover the world and to learn all he could about people and different cultures.

Curriculum Connections

Winner!
Meilleur spectacle jeune public
(Best Show for Young Audiences)
Prix de la Critique 2021 – 2022, Section Montréal

A green leaf that grows on a dead branch, pieces of wood that come together to form strange creatures, some hostile, some comical… A curious world that surprises, amazes, and inspires. A world that also makes you think and wonder. Through the magic of puppetry, a tabletop landscape of a single tree surrounded by fallen branches, roots, and sticks, transforms into a world of strange and sometimes silly creatures all determined to claim one delicious green leaf! In keeping with its artistic approach, Puzzle Théâtre is once again drawing inspiration from a whole new medium to create an atypical, colourful puppet show, full of humour and unexpected situations.

Founded in 1996 in Bulgaria and established in Montreal since 2004, Puzzle Théâtre has a unique style by combining various types in the traditional and the contemporary: drama theatre, object and puppet theatre, Puzzle Théâtre distinguishes itself by the coloured amalgam of styles and the great diversity of means of expression that it proposes.

Environment, Ecology, Character Development, Resilience, French Education, animals and habitats, care for the environment, Theatre as a means of storytelling

NO FUN ALLOWED! is designed to break down preconceived notions of how we should attend and participate in musical performances, particularly within the culture of stuffy Classical concerts. Performers Hogtown Brass focus on basics like rhythm, melody, dynamics, and pitch, but also touch on the physics of sound and how it relates to instrument families and music. Students are encouraged to applaud when they feel like it, to clap along with jazz and Latin tunes, and to be engaged, rather than passive listeners.

Hogtown Brass is a dynamic Canadian ensemble comprised of accomplished musicians from a variety of diverse artistic backgrounds. Featuring the trumpet, horn, trombone, and tuba, they are known for their unique arrangements and new compositions, collaborations with vocalists and instrumentalists, along with an affinity for both standard and non-traditional performance spaces, Hogtown Brass is on a mission to reinvigorate the entire concert experience for their audiences.

Curriculum Connections

In this story exploring the creation of cave paintings along the Silk Road, audience members follow the Chinese Empire’s best painter as he travels and is inspired by the many cultures along the way. This visually stunning performance introduces the history of the Silk Road through classic Chinese storytelling and dance, and includes audience participation to learn some basic movements from a number of ethnic dance styles.

Started in 1994 as a Peking Opera collective, then transformed into a professional dance company in 2007, the Little Pear Garden Dance Company is one of the most sought-after dance troupes in Canada. Inspired by the rich and diverse tapestry of Chinese dance vocabularies, the Company has created an acclaimed and powerful body of work that encompasses both classical and contemporary productions, warmly received by audience of all ages and cultures. The Company is actively involved in many projects of dance development and promotion, and has enjoyed a consistent presence in festivals, performing seasons and tours. Their current artistic director is Ms. Emily Wing-Mei Cheung.

Introduction to Chinese culture and history, Dance as a means of storytelling, choreography and movement, music, Character Development, Equity & Inclusion

Bon Débarras takes you on a whirlwind musical journey through various communities from which they have drawn their inspiration, including Québec, Acadia and Louisiana. Feet stomping, hand clapping, leg slapping, and full-on singing are to be expected from both performers and the audience alike. Presented in schools and various children’s festivals throughout Canada and France, this show, with its songs, tales, lilting and called dances, will not fail to move you and give you a spring in your step.

Bon Débarras unites the worlds of music, dance and poetry through a collaboration between Montreal artists Dominic Desrochers, Jean-François Dumas and Véronique Plasse. On guitar, banjo, violin and harmonica, the group carries an identity, a style and an energy-filled zest for life quite unique and beautifully served by the versatility of the musicians as well as their daring jigging and vivid body percussion. Bon Débarras’ energy taps into the rhythms of today and ventures boldly on the multi-faceted road to tomorrow’s dreams, in an atmosphere that transcends boundaries and ages.

Curriculum Connections

French Education, Folk Music and Instruments, Music as a means of learning, Acadia/Québec History through Music, Experiential Learning

In this story of a misfit searching for her place in the world, Mary Jane is a mosquito who doesn’t have wings. At home in Petit Le Paw she is teased by the other mosquitoes, who won’t be friends with her. She is sent off to school, and then to live with her auntie in the city, as she searches for a place where she can fit in and make friends. After many adventures, Mary Jane learns to make friends sharing her language, her kind heart, and her songs with the world. This musical show explores themes of feeling like an outsider, dealing with bullying, moving to a new place, and feeling different from what is considered normal. As Mary Jane tells her tale through song and story, Tomson Highway has woven in Cree words and phrases that are taught to the audience through playful interaction. With live music throughout, and supported with puppetry and fanciful costumes, this is an engaging piece for younger audiences.

Carousel Players is an award-winning professional theatre company for young audiences based in the Niagara. Guided by their mandate: “We believe live theatre develops artistic awareness, learning skills and a sense of well-being in children,” their work is committed to ensuring that young people engage with theatre, and how it transfers into their everyday lives.”

Curriculum Connections

First Nations languages, Visual arts teachings, Storytelling, Belonging, Character Development