Crowd control

Audience interaction has always been an important element in the choreographic creations of Héloïse Rémy. Her recent work Casatierra, which was created in Ecuador, Quebec and France, is no exception. “We don’t break down the fourth wall, it’s just not there in this show,” says Rémy, who performs with multi-instrumentalist Julien Thomet and singer Marie Vallée.

To encourage participation, the physical layout of the space puts spectators in close proximity to the action. And before the audience even enters the theatre, Rémy asks them each to jot down an answer to a specific question she’s set up, with the possibility that their two cents could be integrated into the show that night. She says their contributions are a constant source of surprise for her and the other artists, making each show fresh and exciting, with unpredictable twists and personal touches. Casatierra is at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance) until Jan. 29. » Marites Carino

21st-century burlesque

Forget for one moment any modern day attempts to pseudo-intellectualize the respectability of historical burlesque. Sure, it involved transgressive comedy and songs, but at the end of the day, it was about sex. We’re talking saucy jokes and boobies in pasties. But that doesn’t mean modern burlesque doesn’t have to be fresh, fun and full of wit.

With her show Oops Johnny Burlesque Spectacle, Haligonian Melissa Cartwright (founder of the wildly successful Halifax Burlesque Society) is “taking an influence from burlesque, but trying to push away from re-enacting stripteases of the past.” The result? A fleet of fresh talent, an updated soundtrack (electro, R&B, industrial and rock), two emcees (for both official languages), acrobatics, trapeze, singing, fashion pieces, a live band (the Cockroaches) and a fun-filled dance party courtesy of DJ Father Less Youth. Sound like fun? It is! Jan. 29, 8 p.m., at Station C (1450 Ste-Catherine E.), $10–$12. » Raf Katigbak

Vegan soul stew

Paula Belina and a handful of her talented co-workers from Aux Vivres vegan restaurant are heading down to Griffintown this Friday to counter the bitter January blues with a Stone Soup Jam. “It’s gonna be a midwinter performance and drum jam,” Belina says. “I can’t wait, it’ll be so good to loosen up some winter bodies with warm vegan food, and the space is really welcoming. There are plants, really nice floors, Christmas lights, sitting space, couches.”

Featuring spoken word and beatbox duo Squeaky Shoes, a multimedia dance spectacle by Shelly Talbot, music by Jay Morritt and the Vegan Bellies and a spoken word open mic, the show takes place on Jan. 28 at 9 p.m., (242 Young, near Bonaventure metro), $5, or free if you bring a drum! » Vincent Tinguely

Shame on them

Customarily pushing their product with grandiloquent adjectives and lofty superlatives, the Automatic Vaudeville Studios trinity has pulled a full 180 in putting together their forthcoming screening soirée, Schandfest. The centrepiece of the night is Seth W. Owen’s Apartment Complex, a full-on vanity picture. “It’s mostly me in my apartment, starring mostly me,” he explains. “I let go in this one, I really unhinged the machinery. There are a lot of large, sweaty close-ups of myself, and I make my first shirtless appearance in a film. It’s gonna be pretty hairy—in all senses of the word.”

Also starring Jenna Wright, Daniel Perlmutter, Mark Slutsky and Laura Wills, Apartment Complex shares the night with AVS shorts Schandfilm and Schandfilm Zwei, as well as the reclusive musical ensemble Schandkollektif before the dance party kicks off and more shame ensues. It’s tonight, Jan. 27, at the Main Hall (5390 St-Laurent), doors at 8 p.m., films at 9, $5. » Matthew Woodley

Is it Art?

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND THINK OF SKYDANCING®: A new addition to the growing crop of appropriated Eastern spirit-sex techniques for new-age Westerners, Margot Anand and Philip Duane Johncock’s Sexual Ecstasy Workbook: The Path of SkyDancing® Tantra, like any book about sex, is best enjoyed through its pictures. The bite-sized guide to erotic enlightenment comes with illustrations of couples in several unconventional poses (and you thought you’d seen them all), such as the Butterfly, pictured here. Does this woman, questioned one Mirror office gawker, have a hole in the back of her head? Negative. She’s merely assumed the yin (needing support) position, and is concentrating on the energy streams running through her body. Hot! (Tarcher/Penguin, $14.95).

ArtsHole

NO FLAKE: Cosmic microwave background radiation (the invisible light stretching around our expanding universe), the Big Bang’s echoes as static between TV stations and the airborne lifespan of a snowflake are some of the intriguing concepts tackled by Montreal artist Karen Trask in Neige Noire, her exhibition of recent lithographs and media sculptures on display at Sylvain Poirier art contemporain (1000 Amherst, #103) until Feb. 13. • EYE ON EGYPT: Photographer Roger Aziz explores modern urban Egypt, largely through shots of Cairo’s bustling Al Mousqui Blvd., in Above and Below, at Dawson’s Warren G. Flowers gallery (4001 de Maisonneuve W.), until Feb. 3.

ARTISTAT: Number of ancient Egyptian artifacts, including Pharaoh sculptures, mummy masks, papyri from the Book of the Dead and grave goods on display at the MMFA’s Eternal Egypt from Jan. 27–May 22: 144

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