I Don't Get It

We've pulled ourselves out of the winter doldrums to see a couple of real live shows! Paul and Fawnda have a hoot at Peter Pan Goes Wrong, and we enlist our pal Soni to check out Brian Webb Dance Company's presentation of Bboyizm's In My Body. Laughing and breathing with others in a theatre — it's a beautiful thing. 

We’re proud to be part of the Alberta Podcast Network. Thanks to this week’s sponsors: Park Power and Taproot Edmonton. 

The Nutcracker holds a special place in many dance hearts. It can be the first professional show for aspiring ballet students to appear on the big stage — usually as mice. And it's also often the most available ballet production for families during the holidays. This year, Fawnda was joined by Soni Dasmohapatra and seven-year-old Niya for their first experience with Shumka's Nutcracker. It was pretty magical, especially after 700+ days since the company had performed for public audiences.

Stay tuned to the end for a special preview of the next podcast project Fawnda and Soni are working on in 2022: Kathak, Hopak, Hip-hop.

We're proud to be part of the Alberta Podcast Network. Thanks to this week's sponsors: Park Power and Taproot Edmonton. 

Colleen and Fawnda take in a real, live show! Northern Light Theatre's The Great Whorehouse Fire of 1921 is a delightful scorcher by Linda Wood Edwards, played out with sass by Sue Huff and Twilla MacLeod. The show runs at the Varscona Theatre until Nov. 28.

I Don't Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally grown, community supported.

Thanks to this episode's sponsors: RÜMI and Taproot Edmonton.

Other bits:
BE Merry, Ballet Edmonton's holiday show
Brian Webb Dance Company's 43rd season announced
Jason Kenney's Hotboy Summer extends its run
Shumka's Nutcracker is coming Dec. 17-18

We're back with a very special episode from CIFF! Colleen and Fawnda head down to Calgary to chat with the one and only Kyle Marshall, founder of Media Lab YYC and the mind behind Putting it Together, the podcast that examines the works of Stephen Sondheim.

In this episode we chat about:
> Kyle's many other podcasts: Creative Block, Kyle and Dave vs the Machine, Somebody Date Jenn & Kyle
> CIFF: Calgary International Film Festival
> Stephen Sondheim is working on a new musical called Square One

Thanks to our sponsors ATB and Taproot Edmonton.
I Don't Get It is proudly part of the Alberta Podcast Network. 

We're back and fully vaxxed, baby! Colleen joins Fawnda on a trip to the Edmonton Expo Centre to catch the highly anticipated immersive exhibit, Imagine Van Gogh.

Special thanks to our sponsors, RÜMI and Taproot Edmonton. 

Imagine Van Gogh runs until September 5th.
Check out a dissection of how Van Gogh's The Starry Night depicts turbulence. 

In this episode, we cover how NorthwestFest is weathering the new world of online festivals, and about the history of the society, too. We commiserate on how volunteer roles have evaporated amid the pandemic, how certain things work really well online, and of course about the films at this year’s Northwestfest, which runs May 6 to 16 and is viewable all across Alberta.

I Don't Get It is part of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally grown, community supported.

Links from the discussion:
> NorthwestFest line-up and tickets
> Book Women Podcast (thanks to Edmonton Community Foundation for the Pod Power shout-out!) 
> The Pulse on Taproot Edmonton

We chat with Nisha Patel and Sheri Somerville about BODY OF WORDS, the collaborative performance piece that is being streamed online as part of SkirtsAfire Reimagined. We cover how their collaboration came about, what audiences can expect, and also how the pandemic has effected them, from performing poetry for an audience of one to how a ballet company safely rehearses in this wild new world.

Also discussed in this episode:
• Nisha's open letter to Jason Kenney
• SkirtsAFire, running March 4-14
• Body of Words tickets
• Ballet Edmonton
• Writer in Residence (WiR) program at Strathcona Library

We are proud to be part of the Alberta Podcast Network. This episode is brought to you by NAIT's Career Essentials podcast and Edmonton Community Foundation. 

·      The Look presented by Northern Light Theatre runs until January 31

·      The Situation We Find Ourselves In Is This runs for one night only on January 30. And it's free! 

·      Nathan Fillion provides the narration for a delightful new Virtual Forest Tour 

·      Metro Cinema is running an online retrospective of the films of Wong Kar-Wai until February 19

·      Tim Mikula continues to add to his collection of works for sale at ABLegGitShop. All for sale, too. 

·      Theatre Network is running a book club (for plays!)

We're back! And a little rusty. But we're here to warm the cockles of your isolated hearts with a chat about what it means for performing arts companies to lose their big-box, holiday cash cows this year. 

We're proud to be part of the Alberta Podcast Network. Locally grown, community supported.
This week our sponsors are Edmonton Heritage Council's ECAMP Podcast and Park Power.

Additional reading/viewing:
• Dance Magazine: Land of the Bittersweet: COVID's Effect on Nutcracker
• Sarah Kaufman in Washington Post: Breaking pointe: 'The Nutcracker' takes more than it gives to world of ballet
• New York Times: Toning Down Asian Stereotypes to Make ‘The Nutcracker’ Fit the Times
• The new, freaky versions of other Tchaikovsky classic ballets: Alexander Ekman's A Swan Lake and Mats Ek's Sleeping Beauty
• Stream local holiday shows like Citadel's A Christmas Carol, Shumka's Nutcracker, and Alberta Ballet's A Sugar Plum Dream