To the limit

The 16th edition of the Edgy Women
Festival breaks down barriers and
wants you to do the same

LEGGY LADIES: Even Steven II

by LINA HARPER

Living on the edge of arts, disciplines and gender politics for six nights only is the Edgy Women Festival, Studio 303’s annual celebration of boundary pushing artists.

This year’s 16th edition (March 14–21) includes performances by professional artists from across North America and Europe and runs the gamut from video and performance to intervention, installation, theatre and dance. Or, most often, a hybrid of all possible forms.

“Most of the Edgy artists have relatively marginal practices—their work tends to be politicized, experimental, often falling outside of established disciplines,” says festival founder and artistic director of Studio 303, Miriam Ginestier.

The fest opens with Meow Mix cabaret dance party on March 14 at Eastern Bloc (7240 Clark). Also created by Ginestier, the cabaret portion will feature Mildred Gerestant’s alter character, DRED, who transmogrifies from a mack daddy with a fro to a pimp decked out in shabby ghetto flash. Burlesque performer Pinkie Special presents Red Hot Need, hypnotizing the audience with her hula-hoop, while Miss Saturn shows off her hooping talent (she performs with 70 hula-hoops!) and vaudeville antics with Hula Hell Is Miss Saturn.

Interdisciplinary artist Antonija Livingstone’s movement play, Even Steven II, with Eli Ward and kg Guttman is at Tangante (840 Cherrier) on Monday, March 16.

On Sunday, March 15, the Edgy Challenge brings together seven artists that have been given themes, props, sound effects and just three weeks to create a masterpiece, it’s hosted by Edgy regulars Nathalie Claude and Dayna McLeod. A quiz segment of the show forces the audience to interact. “The structure of Edgy Women’s programming is inherently community-building,” says Ginestier. “The interactive aspect of Challenge allows audiences to become part of the entertainment, and provide artists with a shared, challenging experience.”

Peur Laine and Pickton

Thursday night, March 19 Tangante plays host to SI! VA!, new movement-based works by Edgy veterans Tammy Forsythe, Nathalie Baroud, New York’s Susana Cook, Lesley Farley, Mary Ann Lacey and Paris-based Viva Delorme. The following night, Friday, March 20 sees the premier of Peur Laine, Montreal artist Val Desjardins’ “baby.” She’ll be presenting it at Tangente alongside Kristine Nutting’s Pig, a dark musical comedy inspired by the Pickton murders. “Every realm of performance that I enjoy doing is included in this piece,” says Desjardins. “I had the craving to bring them all together.” This includes on-stage costume changes and the use of spoken word and video, which will intervene intermittently, allowing her to embody various characters.

The title of the piece is a play on an oft-used expression in Québécois vernacular—the term pure laine refers to Quebec nationality. A self-identified Quebecer, pure laine is a term that Desjardins says she’d used loosely in the past without looking at issues like racism and xenophobia. The idea first came to Desjardins during the Bouchard-Taylor Commission’s inquiry into Quebec’s reasonable accommodation policies. “For me, what the commissions revealed, essentially, was this kind of blatant racism and xenophobia that still prevails in Quebec,” she adds.

But in the end, Peur Laine—and the entire Edgy Women festival—is all in the name of entertainment. This becomes clear when, for example, Desjardins roller-skates around in her actual prom dress. “Basically the performance, at this point, is going from childhood on. I transferred Super 8 videos of me as a child and edited it to reflect my personal religion, one that replaces God with the vagina,” she deadpans.

Closing out the fest on Saturday, March 21 is Just Being a mixed bill of six performing artists with diverse backgrounds, including Julie Tolentino’s performative Cry of Love, Montreal favourite Alexis O’Hara’s audio, video and movement piece, Obsecration Free and a visual concert by contortionist Mimi and accordionist Willow Rutherford.

“I want the Edgy Women festival to inspire people, make them laugh, reflect, feel visible and connected,” says Ginestier. “For me, building community is about making people feel connected to one another. It’s no fun being an outsider if you are totally alone.”

To help create a platform for bridge-building between artists and community, the fest also includes satellite social events at neighbourhood joints such as Dépanneur le Pick-Up, Les Pas Sages and Cagibi, spaces that will hopefully provide a vital space for talking. “Pre and post-show socializing is extremely important to the success of a festival,” Ginestier says. “The most important ingredients for community-building are people, food and drink, and something to talk about.”