Folding on

If you’re going to splurge on just one dance show this season, you’d do well to invest this weekend. Chinese-born choreographer-dancer Shen Wei is coming to Place des Arts with his company for a double-bill performance of the works that launched his name as a choreographer, turning critics’ heads with an innovative blend of Chinese opera and visual arts. After receiving a dance scholarship, he moved to New York City to study modern dance, and shortly after formed the troupe Shen Wei Dance Arts.

For each of his productions, the multi-tasking artist is behind the choreography, set, costume and make-up design. In The Rite of Spring, he combines his interests in painting and dance and sets it to the dramatic Stravinsky score. In contrast, the more meditative Folding, inspired by the very motion of folding, is set to resonant Tibetan chants. Catch a sneak preview at www.grandsballets.qc.ca/en/index_saison_shenwei.cfm. The show runs until Feb. 25, 8 p.m., 790-1245, $30. —Marites Carino

Slow mood movement

The dead of winter is a perfect time to enjoy Thomas Köner’s video trilogy Banlieue du vide, Suburbs of the Void and Nuuk. Created using traffic surveillance images culled from the Internet—which contain no movement, ironically—Köner turns views of empty, snow-covered streets into poetic explorations of time. Referred to as “an instant of infinity,” his slow-paced, no-action works will make you notice the smallest changes that take place on screen.

Appearing with this video cycle is a second series entitled Périphériques: Part 1–3. In these works, Köner’s short clips of people taken in Ethiopia, Serbia and Argentina are stretched over time through slow motion and layering techniques. Initially well known for his sound compositions, Köner accompanies each piece with his trademark sampling of overheard and amplified “small sounds.” The effect is haunting, not-to-be-missed and free at the Musée d’art contemporain until March 5. —Christine Redfern

High on Vallum

“Japanese Imaginings,” the latest issue of Montreal litzine Vallum, includes current Japanese poetry in translation as well as the work of anglo ex-pats living in Japan. The launch features music by Emiko Toguchi and Bruno Deschênes, and readings by Montreal scribes Kate Hall, Angela Leuck, John Lofranco, Sonja A. Skarstedt, Sherwin Tija, Sarah Venart and Helen Zisimatos. “We’ve asked local writers to read some of their own work, and to choose a favourite poem to read from the new issue of Vallum,” says managing editor Katia Grubisic. The evening also celebrates the launch of two new chapbooks, Ariana’s Threads by Zisimatos, and Tramp by Griffin Prize winner Fanny Howe. Friday, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m., at Zeke’s Gallery (3955 St-Laurent), free. —Vincent Tinguely

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This weekend, you can relive Montreal’s jazz scene with 70-year-old tap legend Ethel Bruneau as your guide. Bruneau shares her stories at Sophisticated Rhythms: The Black History Month Edition, an event that showcases rhythms, sounds and words.

Bruneau grew up in Harlem and came to Montreal in 1953 with the Cab Calloway Orchestra as a singer and dancer. What was supposed to be a three-week contract turned into a new home. Since then, she’s been performing and teaching the percussive dance to students such as Justin Jackson and Travis Knights, who’ll hoof it up later in the evening, and Bruneau herself may join in if you’re lucky: “We’ll see how the legs are!”

Besides tap, keep an ear out for vocalist Kim Bryant and MC/poet Rawgged MC on Saturday, Feb. 25 at Lounge 417 (417 St-Pierre). Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., $10 or $8 with an RSVP (send to katalyst5@yahoo.com). —Marites Carino

Is it Art?

THE TRICK IS IN THE STICK: Along with rabbits, doves, a deck of cards and a hat, you’re more than likely to find a bottle of moisturizer in a smart magician’s suitcase. Dry palms are the enemy of sleight of hand—in the flash of an eye they can render a smooth trick transparent and sober up a once-captivated audience. Guy Camirand, Harvard Business School graduate, long-time magician and co-founder of the Camirand Academy of Magic, experimented with many a moisturizer over the years and usually found them too sticky. So he and partner Gary Ouellet invented their own. Spray on a little Elite Magician’s Hand Lotion 10 minutes before performing, they say, and prematurely popping classic-palmed coins will be a thing of the past. It’s available at www.camirandmagic.com/ac_037.html for $8 (U.S.).

ArtsHole

DADDY DEUTCHE: Derick Lengwenus, aka Doctor Avocado, aka Montreal’s King of Deadpan keeps it stern and organized with My German Father: A Comedy About a Serious Man, his new one-man show that revisits his youth in a small, Northern Ontario mining town with an overbearing dad. It runs March 1–4 and 8–11 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.), $12–$17, 284-3939. • STREET SUMMONS: Montreal’s biggest street-painting party is sending out the call to artists who’d like to participate in this summer’s edition. Nuit blanche sur tableau noir runs from June 8–11 and sees a chunk of Mont-Royal turned into a giant asphalt background for frescoes and funtimes, amidst a flurry of art kiosks and live music. The application deadline is March 17. Check out www.tableaunoir.com for all the details.

ARTISTAT: Number of years that the small Quebec village of St-Tite has played host to a big annual Western festival and rodeo, as documented by photographer Roland Lorente in Passion Rodéo, on display at the Maison de la culture Rivière-des-Prairies from Feb. 25–April 23: 35

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