Solid State swings

The Solid State girls are back, but with a slightly new look. Firstly, the group, launched as an eight-member collective in 2000, has been streamlined, and original members JoDee Allen and Helen Simard are now carrying the torch as artistic directors of a company—no longer a collective.

Simard says the creation of their new piece Take it Back reflects the change. “For the first time, we had a clear idea of what we wanted to do, because now we’re two instead of eight.” The duo’s concept was to examine partner dancing and the ideas of leading and following. They worked with Lindy Hop expert Alain Wong, who taught them swing and Charleston elements they then melded into their signature breakdance-inspired spins, kicks and flips.

Another notable change is that the b-girls teamed up with b-boys Raul Guevera and Joe Danny Aurelien. “We’ve dressed up as guys before in a choreography, but we’ve never had them in a choreography,” says Allen laughing. “And they were joking we were going to make them dance like girls!”

Although Take it Back looks a tad more formal than previous works, it’s never far from that Solid State playfulness we all know. Catch it at Tangente (840 Cherrier) at 8:30 p.m. nightly until Oct. 28, and Oct. 29, 4 p.m., $13–$16, info: 525-1500. —Marites Carino

Women do laundry

Lesbians on Ecstasy play an acoustic set tonight, Oct. 26, at 6:30 p.m., to open Beyond Feminism, a multi-generational exhibition they are a part of at the Parisian Laundry (3550 St-Antoine W). Curator Sarah McCutcheon Greiche has put together a personal selection of works that grew out of her interest in renowned Costa Rican artist Priscilla Monge.

Monge manipulates 1970s feminist art-making materials such as sanitary napkins and tea cups as part of the new wave of international feminist art. Three photographs from her series Art Is a Matter of Life and Death, alongside two performance stills and three sculptures (including the pair of pants made out of sanitary napkins used in the performance) will be on display. Also on view are works by 12 other artists exploring female iconography. Some highlights include: empty bras by Rundi Phelan, signs by Jo-Anne Balcaen, installations by Jeanie Riddle and Tricia Middleton and so much more. Beyond Feminism runs until Dec. 2, info: 989-1056. —Christine Redfern

Back in Blue

The Blue Metropolis Foundation, best known for the yearly Montreal International Literary Festival, keeps the lit flag flying throughout the year with the Blue Metropolis Literary Series. This Friday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m., the series co-presents Scottish author AL Kennedy at Concordia’s J.A. de Sève Theatre (1400 de Maisonneuve W.).

Meanwhile, former Montrealer Mairuth Hodge Sarsfield is one of several authors scheduled to read in the brand new gallery space of the converted Little Burgundy industrial building that also houses the Foundation’s offices. “Sarsfield is a marvel,” says Blue Metropolis founder Linda Leith. “She grew up in the neighbourhood where Blue Met has its offices. Her novel No Crystal Stair is about the black community living in that working class neighbourhood.” Sarsfield reads Monday, Oct. 30, 6 p.m., at 3520 St-Jacques W. (Lionel-Groulx metro). Both events are free. —Vincent Tinguely

Romantic gender bender

I was very excited when I heard about the major retrospective of a female painter’s work from the late 18th/early 19th-century opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Turns out, though, that Anne-Louis Girodet: Romantic Rebel is actually an exhibition of works by a guy. But never mind, the quality and number of pieces make it highly worth a visit if the early romantic period is an artistic era that appeals to you. Interestingly, Girodet’s paintings of feminine-looking men did stand out among the 130 works on view, making me think these paintings would make a nice counterbalance hung next to Michelangelo’s well-known masculine-looking women.

Two other exhibitions also just opened at the museum, and are free. Germaine Krull: The Monte Carlo Years shows photographs taken between 1935 and 1940. These provide a small glimpse into Krull’s fascinating career, which spanned over seven decades and many different countries during the 20th century. And place your bets on who is going to win the $50,000 Sobey Art Award—an exhibition of the five finalists’ works is now on view. The winner will be announced Nov. 7. Exhibitions run until Jan. 2007, info: 285-2000. —Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

RED, WHITE AND YOU: “Do not delude yourself in the foggy world of international wine production,” writes John Ralston Saul, who’s smarter than you, in his foreword to The Wine Atlas of Canada. “The most famous European systems are dysfunctional as quality control systems, and they won’t help you figure out the difference between great, good and awful wines.” What he’s getting at is that there’s a wealth of good grape in the oft-overlooked country we call our own, and homegrown-wine guru Tony Aspler’s atlas is the distinctive guide. The book moves from Vancouver Island to Nova Scotia’s Malagash peninsula, thoroughly covering Canada’s wine regions, makers and their products, as well as special chapters on tasting, etiquette and icewine, “Canada’s gift of winter to the world.” (Random House, $60).

ArtsHole

FOOT FETISH: Vancouver company Wen Wei Dance unwraps the old Chinese practice of binding women’s feet to increase sexual allure in their first-ever Montreal appearance, a mix of ballet, traditional Chinese and modern dance. Unbound is at Agora de la danse (840 Cherrier) from Oct. 31–Nov. 4, $18–$26, 525-1500. • CROWD CONTROL: French horticulturist and landscape architect Gilles Clément and Swiss architect Philippe Rahm address issues of energy consumption and natural resources, the question of limiting human beings’ control over the environment, the search for renewable resources and optimal ways of using them in Environment: Approaches for Tomorrow, showing at the CCA (1920 Baille) until April 22.

ARTISTAT: Number of years we’ll have to wait for Pangea Ultima, a reconvergence of the world’s continents that can be found sooner in Helen Cho’s multifaceted exhibition of the same name, running until Dec. 3 at Articule (262 Fairmount W.): about 250 million

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