Day in, day out dance

Swedish choreographer Mats Ek has a knack for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. “By separating things from their surroundings, like a TV chair or a stove, you see them as something alien, but as something recognizable,” he explains during a recent rehearsal break. The prolific Ek is back in town working with les Grands Ballets Canadiens for their season’s closing event, which revisits two of his pieces you may have missed three years ago.

Ek’s group work Appartement takes 11 snippets from la vie quotidienne, using familiar household items like the ones he describes in ways that go beyond their normal function. On a more intimate level, Ek looks at the male-female relationship in the intense duet, Solo for Two, a stage version of an Emmy-winning choreography set to the melancholy melodies of Arvo Pärt.

Before we get Ek, Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman opens the evening with a North American premiere of Tender Hooks, an urban work that confronts the daily challenges of city life. And be sure to arrive in advance for the pre-conference talks that run from 7–7:30 p.m. at Place des Arts, May 25–27 and June 1–3 at 8 p.m., $30–$81, 842-2112. —Marites Carino

Smells like stand-up

Ah, what a strange cultural landscape this nutty 21st century brings us. Have you absorbed that ubiquitous Gamekillers ad campaign for Axe pit rub yet? You know, those highly stylized television commercials where there’s always some obnoxious character or other getting in the way of some deserving young stud’s quest for poontang?

Anyway, whether you’ve seen it or not doesn’t really matter, ’cuz here’s the amazing—albeit arguably disturbing—thing: this ad campaign has recently been developed into its own television program, and better, now there’s a live Gamekillers comedy show touring the country based on the characters from the TV show. Even more fucked up, if possible, is word on the street has it that it’s actually pretty good.

Hitting the Tokyo Bar (3709 St-Laurent) Thursday, May 25, and the Jello Bar (151 Ontario E.) on the 26th, host Ryan Belleville says, “Look, the Gamekiller ads are funny, so doing a comedy show with them just seems like a good idea. Anyway, the Gamekillers bit is only 30 minutes, which is a great start to the evening’s festivities [of stand-up comedy].” —Chris Barry

Get out

Autour de l’Agora, happening over the next two days, will be the last hurrah for Dare-Dare in its Viger Square location (between Berri and St-Denis). Rain or shine, artists, architects, sociologists and activists will gather together to talk about site-specific art practices within the cityscape. Dare-Dare will soon be moving and eventually Viger Square itself will be demolished. The city has stopped maintaining this park designed by Charles Daudelin, but even now its former glory is visible. Take this opportunity to look at the remnants of the raised gardens, the waterfall, the outdoor stage and all the secluded nooks and crannies that make this park unique. Talk about ephemeral art while shedding a tear for the ephemeral park. The complete schedule is at www.dare-dare.org, 878-1088. —Christine Redfern

Sound the bugles

In this day and age, we hunt for bargains, for love, for a missing sock, but rarely for a beast. So it is hard to conceive of a time when our concrete playground was someone else’s hunting grounds.

Recently, local curatorial duo Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley (aka Leisure Projects), discovered old images in the McCord Museum archives of the Hunt Balls, which were held at the Ritz-Carlton during the 1950s. This annual theme party was a last vestige of the original island hunts. The curators felt they had come across “a rich site for ruminations on the aesthetics and objectification of both violence and pleasure through leisure activity and sport.” The outcome is The Montreal Hunt Ball exhibition, a coming together of archival material and contemporary artworks by jake moore, Erica Eyres and the Discriminating Gentlemen’s Club. It’s at Galerie Yergeau (2060 Joly) until Sept. 2, info: 843-0955. —Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

CALAMITY CONSTRUCTION: The World Trade Center, the Oklahoma City Federal Building, Chernobyl, the Unabomber’s cabin and the New Orleans Superdome all have at least two things in common: they’re buildings where bad things happened and they’ve been replicated in miniature for New York-based BOYM Designs’ “Buildings of Disaster” collection. “The images of burning or exploded buildings make a different, populist history of architecture, one based on emotional involvement rather than on scholarly appreciation,” says the company’s Web site. “In our media-saturated time, the world disasters stand as people’s measure of history, and the sites of tragic events often become involuntary tourist destinations.” The nickel-cast, hand-finished models are created in editions of 500, retail for $95 (U.S.) and are going fast. Visit www.boym.com to order your own.

ArtsHole

AUCTION HAUL: Montreal’s favourite community art space/place to get loaded with artists/non-profit exhibition space the Long Hall (450 Beaumont) is putting the work of 19 local artists on the block at their Silent Art Auction. The event stretches out over two days, May 27–28, 1–8 p.m. The bidding closes at 8 p.m. on Sunday with a closing reception and door prizes flying around from 6–8 p.m. • GARDEN PARTY: The CCA puts the “us” in sustainable development with its new summer program for families, Green Roofs, in which kids and their guardians get to build model rooftop gardens with earth, plants and seeds, take them home and watch them flourish over the course of the summer. The sessions run most Sundays at 10:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. until Aug. 27. Visit www.cca.qc.ca or call 939-7026 for more info.

ARTISTAT: Number of museums that will let you look around for free this Sunday, May 28, between 9 a.m.–6 p.m., as part of the 20th annual Montreal Museums Day: 35

>> Arts Listings