Alone together
SIMON SAYS: UQÀM dancers
For her most recent project, Debout et être: une reconstruction chorégraphique, movement maker Dominique Porte cast a look back at her expansive repertoire and selected three excerpts, two duets and a solo, and used them as a base for a creation with a dozen dance students finishing up their last year at UQÀM.
Porte brought in the original dancers to perform and work with the students in order to give them a glimpse of the initial idea and mood behind the excerpts. “I had so many memories of these works,” says Porte. “I realized the material had its own life and was driving somewhere else,” she adds describing the creation process.
In this choreographic facelift, which became a 50-minute piece, Porte wanted the students to feel they were performing solo, but within a group.
The work is set to a live performance by composer Laurent Maslé and percussionist Thom Gossage. It runs nightly, Dec. 12–15 at 8 p.m., at Agora de la danse (840 Cherrier), info: (514) 525-1500.
by MARITES CARINO
Werewolves of New Orleans
For Patrick de Moss, it started with the image of a woman walking into a police station, claiming to have killed a werewolf.
Even the playwright didn’t know at first what the character meant by that. Only in the process of writing Full Moon Fever did de Moss figure out that  werewolves, for him at least, were a metaphor for seemingly normal people who “suddenly go berserk,” and the way violent behaviour seems to breed violence.
He ended up setting the play in post-Katrina New Orleans because of the way law and order broke down and the murder rate skyrocketed in the wake of the storm.
“Werewolves are everywhere,” the woman tells the cops, but she has figured out a way to stop them. But is the cure any better than the disease?
You can view the show’s chilling trailer at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AovwmRhu8sM
At Théâtre de l’Esquisse (1650 Marie-Anne E.), tonight Dec. 13 through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 16 at 2 p.m. (514) 670-0225.
by AMY BARRATT
Art for all
It’s easy to forget that for an art scene to actually function and prosper, it needs more than art and artists. It requires curators, critics, dealers, viewers and—a group that is often overlooked—collectors.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ latest exhibition All for Art pays homage to  some of Montreal’s top art collectors and their collections. With nearly 350 pieces on display, All for Art contains something for everyone; jewellery, furniture, objects, sculpture, photographs, paintings, drawings and etchings by some of the most famous names in art.
See this show and be as amazed as I was by the works that live right here in our fair city. Such as Rembrandt’s “Old Man Shading His Eyes With His Hand,” 1669; Kathe Kollwitz’s “Self-Portrait with Hand on Head,” 1910 and Edward Hopper’s “Night Shadows,” 1921.
There are Canadian classics such as George Back’s “Icebergs at the Entrance of Hudson’s Strait,” 1834, Paul Kane’s “Assiniboine Indians Hunting Buffalo,” 1848 and Anne Savage’s “Quebec Farm,” 1935.
You can also check out some contemporary pieces, such as Zhang Huan’s haunting “Ash Head #10” or French artist Valérie Belin’s arresting photography. Admission is free, don’t miss it.
Until Feb. 24, info: (514) 285-1600.
by CHRISTINE REDFERN
Holiday raunch
Since 1991, the Contes urbains at Théâtre de la Licorne have been a seasonal must. Now the Centaur Theatre (453 St François-Xavier) is offering the English translation: Urban Tales.
The line-up includes Ian Ferrier and Catherine Kidd, two prominent Montreal spoken word artists performing specially commissioned pieces. 
“I’ve seen the French version and it’s amazing,” says Kidd. “I didn’t have a sense of what the flavour of the Urban Tales thing is, it’s a lot raunchier than many of the poetry readings I’ve been to!”
The show also includes pieces in translation by Yvan Bienvenue, Claude Champagne, Justin Larramée and Michel Tremblay.
“They’re tales about people over the holidays, when things don’t exactly go picture-perfect Norman Rockwell Christmas Time,” says Kidd.
Directed by Harry Standjofski (who doubles as musical accompanist), Urban Tales also stars Andreas Apergis, France Arbour, Jeanne Bowser, Eric Davis and Clare Schapiro.
December 13–15, 7:30 p.m. $26/student $17.
by VINCENT TINGUELY
Is it art?
HUNGOVER FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Rum and eggnog is certainly the holiday standard, but there is more than one way to mix a martini.
Drinkswap.com is one of many sites dedicated to the art of the cocktail but  what sets this site apart, aside from its expansive Christmas recipe book, are the pictures.
Breakfast Eggnog might sound kind of disgusting (Triple Sec, Apricot Brandy, cream, eggs, milk, powdered sugar and nutmeg) but a glance at the adorned highball and it seems like the perfect chaser to scrambled eggs.
There’s a ton of festive recipes to choose from, like Minty nipples, Grinch’s Christmas, Santa’s Little Helper, the Doc Holiday, and for the hipster purist at your party, the Williamsburg Eggnog. All of which should help you stay in good cheer all season long.
Arts
hole
JUST IN TIME: Montreal’s creative community will be out in force this weekend, Dec. 14–16 showing off and selling their wares just in time for the holidays as part of Souk @ SAT (1195 St-Laurent). Go to www.souk.sat.qc.ca for a list of all the vendors and times of operation. • COUNTDOWN: Graduate students in Concordia’s Studio Arts program get the last laugh—and the last gallery show of ’07—at the Leonard and Bina Ellen Gallery (1400 Maisonneuve W.) with their group show Ignition, until Jan. 12 (closed Dec. 22–Jan. 2). • IN MEMORY: A memoriam will be held this Sunday, Dec. 16 at 11 a.m. for gallerist Thérèse Dion, who passed away last month. Hosted by Dion’s family, artists she represented and her colleagues, the event will take place at Thérèse Dion Gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W., #527). Dress code is eccentric.
Artistat
Amount you can donate to Share the Warmth ((514) 933-5599), which will allow them to reach their goal of giving 600 teddy bears to deserving and needy children in the Montreal area: $10 |
