Dancing about discombobulation

Back to school means back to dance at Tangente (840 Cherrier). The intimate performance venue launches its fall season next week with Danses Buissonnières. The annual series is dedicated to opening up the stage to new faces on the dance scene and it's often a great place to discover a variety of choreographic styles by a mix of Concordia, UQÀM and L'ADMMI grads. However, this year's roster includes actor and self-taught mover Nicolas Cantin with his piece Glass*house Fantaisie baroque.

Look out for Dana Michel, who won the Studio 303 Best Choreographer Award at the Fringe Festival this summer. With her new work, Michel takes a look inward and delves into her "discombobulated headspace." Choreographers Rachel Robertson, Dominique Bouchard, Patricia Iraola, Annabelle Savard and Jessica Serli also make appearances for the show, which runs Sept. 14–17 at 8:30 p.m. and Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. Info: 525-1500. » Marites Carino

XX marks the spot

"The reactionary, militaristic, techno psychosis of my culture I take sadly as a backlash to the social transformations that feminism was a part of bringing about," says groundbreaking American artist Carolee Schneemann. This Friday night, Sept. 9, the Mois de la Photo takes a moment to acknowledge, celebrate and be concerned about women's condition on the 30th anniversary of the United Nation's International Women's Year (1975). Women are a significant presence in this year's Mois, making up half of the work exhibited, but this is not necessarily the time to be congratulating ourselves, according to Mois de la Photo curator Martha Langford: "We are in a crisis situation for Western women, a lot of the gains that were made are beginning to collapse."

The evening starts at 5 p.m. with Polixeni Papapetrou's After Alice at the Maison de la Culture Plateau-Mont-Royal (465 Mont-Royal E). At 6:15 p.m., artist Karen Brett gives an artist's talk surrounded by her photographs The Myth of Sexual Loss at la Centrale (4296 St-Laurent). At 7 p.m., Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie's Against Amnesia opens at Dazibao (4001 Berri, #202) and at 7:30, don't miss the legendary Schneemann's latest offering Disembodied, downstairs at Articule (#105). Info: www.moisdelaphoto.com. » Christine Redfern

B-battle benefit

The good people at Studio Sweatshop aren't only crazy talented and fun to watch, they're also putting the B in benevolent (zing!) this weekend with a three-on-three b-boy/b-girl battle fundraiser for the Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund. This Saturday, Sept. 4, at 4 p.m., an eight-team battle gets underway at the space (24 Mount-Royal E., #704) featuring some of the city's best breakdancers. A donation of $2–$20 will get you in. » Matthew Woodley

Scratching the surface

If you're the type that likes lying in bed and making images from the water stains and cracks on the ceiling, this show is for you. Yechel Gagnon's Vide et Plein opens tonight, Sept. 8, 6 p.m., at the McClure Gallery (350 Victoria). This exhibition includes new work that continues her sculptural explorations of the surface of plywood, alongside a series of gestural ink drawings on paper. Gagnon takes the lowly sheet of plywood to new heights by sanding, gouging, rasping and scraping the wood and by rubbing graphite and charcoal into its surface. As in past work, she doesn't start the pieces with a preconceived image, but instead she lets the image emerge from the grain, knots and defects found in the wood. The resulting marks resemble a sort of topographical map where your mind is free to wander. Runs until Oct. 1, info: 488-9558. » Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

IT'S THE ART OF BUSINESS FOR ARTISTS: A little self-promotional know-how never hurts when it comes to getting your groundbreaking creative work into the right hands. By no coincidence, the Invisible Cities Network is hosting a day-long conference this Saturday, Sept. 10, 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., to instil artists with such skills. "The Art of Marketing and Networking" focuses on things like media relations, writing the perfect press release, regional marketing and digital communications with a slew of pros from the field including Gazette cartoonist Aislin, musician Jean-François Fortier and Independent filmmaker Peter Wintonick. The lectures, panel discussions, networking opportunities and a free buffet lunch are all yours for $20 ($30 at the door). Call 807-4171 or visit www.invisiblecitiesnetwork.org for more info.

ArtsHole

WHITE CITY WINDOW: Following Tel Aviv's recent designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Centre de Design UQÀM unleashes Yigal Gawze's Fragments d'un style, 66 portraits of the Israeli city and its architecture. The vernissage takes place on Friday, Sept. 9, noon, at architecture gallery Monopoli (181 St-Antoine W.), in the presence of the artist, the Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Israel Consulate General to Canada. It continues until Oct. 4. • WEIRD WORLDS: Natalia Nehm blurs reality and fiction with bizarre characters and bold colours in her solo exhibition, Realms, at Wilder & Davis Gallery (257 Rachel E.), until Nov. 4.

ARTISTAT: Number of photos of New Orleans's St-Louis No. 1 Cemetary, one of the continent's oldest and most architecturally unique, located on the edge of the city's French Quarter, in Fabrizio Cipro's exhibition at Blizzarts (3956A St-Laurent), which opened on Sept. 1 and continues to the 15th: 10

>> Arts Listings