As begun, so to conclude

   With the closing concert at David Pecaut Square, downtown Toronto, of this year's Luminato festival. This time less make up more music, and sunshine in the park. Lovely Sunday afternoon.

Worlds within worlds

Ontario College of Art and Design, with Luminato: home to two different events each featuring worlds within worlds...

The Healing Power of Story was a must-go, especially after the 1001 nights of Thursday and Friday evening, plus the stories I've been weaving with the Hunter Gatherer, and am planning for my Postdigital Encounter next week. And it didn't disappoint.

Laura Simms spoke beautifully with ripples overlaying all.

All three speakers spoke in story almost throughout - answering questions with more stories. Or at least tales of other tellers. Very moving and inspiring stuff. (Which I made loads of notes about and recorded parts of, so more to pop out of rabbit holes as we go along, no doubt!)

 

And a different kind of event, Habit by David Levine. Interesting to see - for me personally it was more about the interaction and people-watchingof the other 'audience' rather than the three people encapsulated in this elaborate giant dolls house.

I like the aerial perspective - again, some relationship to the animated presentation I've been making for my skype to Bristol.

 

Smell the roses

 

An 'interactive walk' of a spontaneous, flowing and flowering kind. Wandering through Kensington after a magical day of Clean Space, everything has meaning, sings a song, vibrates with colour, is alive. I learn quickly to fine tune and tune again where not to go, when to stop and when to stay.

Lime blossom, yum!

Noetic intermittences

Despite the amusing absence of thought between Sunday's post and today's (that this blog would suggest, at any rate!) there has indeed been something going on! Two papers written and submitted, a third on its way. A full lunar eclipse that made things whirl. A lot of Clean loveliness that makes the whirling fun and brings it all to a peaceful calm. (Modelling, meeting, post-its round the room, colour grids on paper (makes a change), new ways of using space).

And noetic intermittences... as the posts since arriving in Toronto imply.
Saturday the opening events of Luminato at David Pecault Square. A festival in a city centre that isn't heaving at the rims, filled with litter or drunken bodies to climb over, and a festival with world music, lights, friendly ambience and a backdrop of faceted glass skyscrapers. A festival in partnership with a cosmetic company? A guest marquee of women having facials, free facebook makeover portraits, hair curlers and straighteners... very strange, not what I'm used to as a festival goer in the UK! Maybe I was the alien, so shortly arrived in Toronto off the bus from far beyond.

 

The music was fab, celebrating an anniversary of Italian reunification with Montreal-based, French, Italian and English speak(sing)ing band of Marco Calliari and a couple of other acts.

Earlier in the day I'd been to the MIA and walked around the waterfront. Toronto's a lovely city to walk about, not busy, dirty or rushed. And I'm still amazed when people stand and wait for traffic lights to change even when there's no traffic within sight, before they step out to cross the road! Such a different sense of civility - layers of what might be or is public space.

I always like photographic exhibitions in outdoor public space, and this was no exception, with several themed portfolios of artist's work from the green belt around Toronto. (How can they have a green belt when I just travelled two days and a night through green to get here?)



A strange comparison to have one separate photograph right 'next door':


Then there's the city as an artefact to walk through and explore:

And last night, something I'd been really looking forward to, and still am, as the second three hour instalment is tonight.. 1001 nights, Sheherezade, in Arabic French and English, new production for Luminato at the Canadian Opera House.

 

When life revolves...

around the absence of paperclips and drawing pins, I think it's time to notice something's going on!

I gave away all my 'extra' bits of stationary from Banff, thinking I didn't need them any more. A stapler would be just divine. A paper clip would do quite fine. A drawing pin would help a lot, but double sided tape is all I've got!

Tout Comme Elle

The Toronto premier of Tout Comme Elle, that was apparently very popular in Montreal, was very popular here too with a very civil queue snaking round and round in the foyer for people waiting to collect tickets before the show!

Everything about the city seems so spacious, well paced and relaxed. Although it was a bit of a culture shock initially arriving downtown on the bus after weeks in the mountains, fields and forests, it's very quickly become the comfortable place I remember from our day-ling visit last year!

The show was great - from the moment I arrived under the star-like skies of the St Lawrence Centre, to see fifty pairs of sleek heeled shoes positioned over the stage. 

To walking, several streets away after the performance, still turning when I hear a couple of women's voices talking closely, swaying forms in the conversation waves, that may have been about anything, and felt that they could still be about being Elle.

The program gave nothing away, just a long packed biography of a dozen or so production team and fifty women stars.   

But the awakening, empathy, generous twinkling in the eye, laughter, depth of emotion and synchronicity were all part of a pretty tangible sense of a commons created here tonight. Wow, wonderful looking round the auditorium as we all stood to get up and drift away, at so many women, mothers, daughters too, all now one in a sisterhood of recognition, Elle. 

Men looked clumsily out of place, a bit embarrassed, selfconscious, or simply not-so-present as the women celebrating their renewed commonality of experience the world over.

A wonderful evening of theatre!

Inuit Sculpture with the Bowhead Whales

 

Just some of the wonderful sculpture, wall hanging and print in the Museum of Inuit Arts. 

Spirits and magical creatures mixing with rocks, wool and bone. These are skulls from the bowhead whales. Sometimes inlaid with claws, ivory, stone.