Occupation and hazards

Inspired by the life and death of Rachel Corrie, the American student run over by an Israeli bulldozer during a non-violent protest in 2003, Peter Schumann's Daughter Courage makes its North American debut on Friday, Feb. 18, at the SPAG (2915 Ontario E.). Schumann, who's also founder and director of the Bread and Puppet Theatre, was partly inspired to pay homage to the 23-year-old because his daughter was also part of the Israeli Solidarity Movement to which Corrie belonged. She safely left the country six months earlier.

Schumann's six life-sized mixed-media works share the space with works by Montreal photographer Babak Salari, whose Off the Wall documents the Israeli occupation and building of the infamous security wall. The joint exhibit opens with a Schumann performance on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. and continues until March 1, 962-2044. » Matthew Woodley

Tease trip

If you like naked dancing girls (and really, outside of Boy George maybe, who doesn't?) but find the ennui so often expressed by the professional peeler variety to be somewhat uninspiring, then the Blue Light Burlesque troupe is something you'll want to check out. After their sold-out performance at Lion D'Or last fall, these buck naked local amateurs, both male and female, are back once again to "put the tease back into striptease" with their latest production Private Screening.

"None of us have ever worked as strippers," says soirée co-hostess Oui Oui Encore, "nor do we have so-called ‘perfect' bodies. It's really much more about having fun - sexy but not so much sexual, all done in a cabaret atmosphere that harkens back to the burlesque of the '40s and '50s." The action goes down Saturday,

Feb. 19 at the truly glorious Corona Theatre (2490 Notre-Dame W.), with audience members being strongly encouraged to dress for the event in their sexiest duds. Tickets are $20 at the door, $15 in advance. Go to www.bluelightburlesque.com for the full 411. » Chris Barry

Shake and muse

"Language has always been a big part of me," says Zab Maboungou. "As a philosophy professor, I'm always talking!" The choreographer's latest offering Lwáza, which means "chitchat" in Kikongo, uses language, speech and rhythms as its base for exploration between three dancers and two drummers. The work opens this week at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance) and runs until Feb. 26 in celebration of Black History month.

Maboungou, who arrived in Canada in the early '70s from the Republic of Congo, has been promoting contemporary African dance not only through movement and dance, but also through words. This week, she launches her book Heya Danse! Poétique, didactique et historique de la danse africaine. "I've always been thinking and dancing. It's who I am," she says. Call 982-3386 for tickets. » Marites Carino

Poor media paragon

The Musée d'art contemporain is now showing a retrospective of celebrated South African artist William Kentridge's entire body of work. At first glance the pieces may take you by surprise. The large charcoal drawings look like they could be from the 1920s or '30s, and his video animations are not high tech but "poor media," as he calls it.

Kentridge's drawings and videos are intimately linked. In creating his animations, he films the drawings as he adds or erases the images. So instead of freezing a moment in time, as many artworks do, his drawings are constantly in flux and never finished. The videos, on the other hand, come across as timeless. Interestingly, Kentridge credits seeing projections by Canadian Norman McLaren and the NFB when he was 12 years old as one of his main artistic inspirations. "That's when I realized that you didn't need to be Walt Disney to make animations," he says. The exhibition runs until April 24. » Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

THE DIRT: Lots of people have been talking about iPods, but little is being said about worms. The Worm View Wonders® Underground Worm Viewing Unit allows people a glimpse into another reality, a world where long creatures turn waste into soil, dig holes to create drainage for plants and shuffle like they're reading your mind. Not to mention the unit offers possibilities to accessorize - it comes with an experimentation booklet, anatomy poster, growing tray and magnifying glass, along with a mail-in certificate for 200 live worms, three types of soil layers, worm castings and food. $24.99 (U.S.) at Amazon.com.

ArtsHole

DEEP BLUE BLOWUP: French photographer Christophe Chat-Verre shows images of Afro-Brazilian culture (hot and colourful of course), focusing mainly on the Pernambuco state and its magic folklore, Maracatu, at galerie BloWup (800 Place Victoria). Heart of Brazil/Deep Blue Love is presented by Reporters Communication and follows its mandate to inform the public on world issues and cultures through documentary photography. It continues to Feb. 25. • NEW WORLD NEW MEDIA: With their respective exhibitions Bleach Series: Cyborg Living Space II and Drum Beats to Drum Bytes, Aboriginal artists KC Adams and Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew explore kinetic electronics, computer interfaces and more creative new media gadgetry in Language of Intercession, a collaboration between artist-run galleries Oboro, Articule and Dazibao, running from Feb. 19–March 19, 844-3250 for more info.

ARTISTAT: Number of events in the Montreal High Lights Festival's Flavour Week, five delicious days of free food samplings, wine tastings and cooking workshops by master chefs from Quebec and Northern Italy at the Grande Place du Complexe Desjardins, Feb. 21–25, www.montrealenlumiere.com for info: 295

>> Arts Listings