Sapphic social squad

“It’s an immersive experience,” says Miriam Ginestier, organizer of le Boudoir, Montreal’s annual lesbian dress-up retro-glam cabaret extravaganza. Over the last 12 years, the event has carved out its place as a queer underground rendez-vous. With 700 attendees last year, “We’re expecting to break the 1,000 mark this time,” Ginestier says.

This year, le Boudoir moves into the historical Théâtre National in the Gay Village (1220 Ste-Catherine E.). Performances will include knife juggling, flamenco fan-dance, extreme striptease, “combat theatre,” drag kings, film noir, burlesque and a short bilingual play by local favourite Nathalie Claude.

For the second year in a row, Ginestier has created a full weekend of sapphic events. In addition to le Boudoir itself on June 29 and 30, Lezziepalooza takes place July 1 —“eclectic musical acts to offset the cabaret show aspect of the Boudoir”—and on July 2, the Dandy Picnic, “a fancy-dress, wind-up gramophone lesbian potluck in Lafontaine park.” Get tickets ($10–$20) and information at www.leboudoir.org. Gentlemen should be accompanied by a lady escort. —Andrea Zanin

Tango cocktail

In her teens, Marjolayne Auger inadvertently discovered her passion for the tango when she ended up tagging along to one of her parents’ lessons. Auger says she had no choice but to learn because people kept inviting her to dance with them. Years later as a university theatre student, she stumbled across another way to move, contemporary dance.

For the past two years, Auger has been working on combining her two loves in a project called Saudade: “I’m trying to make that fusion by creating a vocabulary where it’s a melting of the two worlds,” she explains. Auger will be giving a sneak peak of excerpts from this group choreography tonight, Thursday, June 22, at la Place à Côté (4571 Papineau) at 9:30 p.m., $12–$15. After the presentation, join in the milonga, an informal tango dance party. For more info, call 804-8272, or visit www.tangoyalgomas.com. —Marites Carino

Pot griot

John Akpata is a spoken word artist with a new full-length CD everybody loves, Kerheb. “The response to the disc, for me, has been overwhelming,” says Akpata. “I never thought that writing my thoughts and feelings on a piece of paper would lead to so much, it’s crazy.” The Ottawa Xpress columnist has also run (twice) as a candidate for the federal Marijuana Party. “Because I live in Ottawa, I am a bit over-stimulated by politics,” he admits. This Sunday he brings it to Coco Café, along with a reading of works by local scribe Jerry Alexandre, and Coco regulars like Aliyah Thomas, Zu, Steel, Maggie Metalus, Katalyst, Mr Weyes and Tatum B. June 25, 8 p.m. at Pub Quartier-Latin (318 Ontario E.J), $8. —Vincent Tinguely

Comme ça change

Those who’ve lived in Montreal for the past five years know that the city has been through some pretty sweeping changes in even that much time. In Montreal Then and Now (Thunder Bay Press, HC, $18.99), Gazette writer Alan Hustak and translator Johanne Norchet put Montreal’s considerable growth and change into perspective, using photos from decades ago to compare the city to its current state. Particularly surprising are some of the shots that date back as far as 1890, when parts of the city looked like a rural backwater. And while some noteworthy buildings have been preserved, sadly, too many have been destroyed, as this book makes very clear. Montreal Then and Now is a beautiful collection of glimpses of our fair burg, launched just in time for the summer tourist season. —Matthew Hays

Is it Art?

PETAL TO THE METAL: The first-ever International Flora Montreal is underway and has so many lovely flowers and gardens you could be struck by a sudden stress attack. Show gardens, water gardens, city gardens, avant-garde gardens, street-side gardens, tilted gardens, nature gardens, nurturing gardens, rooftop gardens and balcony gardens have taken over the Old Port’s Parc des Écluses, and with them, a cult of gardeners and more bussed-in tourists than you can shake a Tilley hat at. The site is also host to a workshop and conference centre, where chiropractors will assess your planting posture and featured experts will come to speak on topics covered by theme weeks, including growing many (but not all) medicinal plants, pesticide alternatives, veggie gardens, greenhouses, sustainable development and more. The flower fever continues until Oct. 9—sow up www.floramontreal.ca on the Internet for more info.

ArtsHole

HOT TO TROT: Montreal collective Pony TV (no relation to similarly named musical act) kicks off their summer series this June 29 at the Nest with a screening of video and film works based on the themes of sound and movement, showcasing a mix of emerging international artists. The event is the first of three, followed later this summer by a Cinemasports competition in which participants have 10 hours to create a film, to be screened on the 11th hour, and finally a show of silent works by artists from home and abroad. In it, local musicians and DJs will improvise to create the soundtrack. Visit http://theupgrade.i-space.org/csmontreal.html for more info. • SUNDAY FEVER: Arscenique Nights invade Blizzarts (3956 St-Laurent) on the last Sunday of each month till the end of the summer, with a mash of music, art and fashion. The first goes down this weekend, on June 25—check out www.highbreed.com/arscenique for all the info.

ARTISTAT: Total number of cities in the UNESCO Creative Cities network—divided into categories of Folk Art, Literature, Design, Gastronomy and Music—now that Montreal has been appointed North America’s first UNESCO City of Design: 9

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