Definitions are not applicable here; dance company Destins Croisés' Futur Proche, may break your stereotypes of hip hop dance forever. The company is literally a case of crossed destinies, born of a transcontinental dance experiment. They're a collective of four of Montreal's hottest lockers, poppers and breakdancers led by artistic director and performer Ismaël Mouaraki, a street dancer from France, where hip hop has been given a legitimate place on the contemporary stage for at least a decade. As members of the legendary Flow Rock crew, Éric Martel, Natasha Jean-Bart, Clauter Alexandre and Gilbert Baptiste laid the foundations for the street dance scene in Montreal.

Futur Proche is Destins Croisés' first evening-length creation and couples their expert technical knowledge with a choreographic sensibility. Invited to Théâtre de Verdure by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal last summer and recently back from performing and giving workshops in France, you'll only get two nights to catch them here. The show is presented by Usine C as part of the DNA (Définition Non Applicable) event, a "month-long experiment in urban arts." It's worth the metro ride to the Maison de la culture Frontenac (2550 Ontario E.), March 15–16, 8:30 p.m., $13/$15, 521-4493. : » Lys Stevens

The relationship between nature and technology is as common a theme as any in art these days, and there are generally two camps: pro-nature and pro-new. Jason Wasserman falls into the latter. "We embrace technology to the point of religious experience," he says of the formula behind Ecclesia, a massive multimedia show he's co-creating with partner Krista Bursey in association with Concordia's Art Matters festival.

The duo have rented out the old Club L'Esprit space (1234 de la Montagne), complete with 40-foot cathedral ceilings, to stage a one-night-only sensory extravaganza. The visual side of the show features large-scale oil paintings, a double-sided video installation and clothing fashioned for the event complete with an iconographic heart logo, which is "a representation of nature, technology, spirituality and a play on the commercialization of design," as Wasserman explains. Ears will also be aroused, courtesy of dark, trip-hoppy three-piece Laboratory and a live soundscape built on heartbeats by B. Carriere. Sunday, March 16, 8 p.m., free. : » Matthew Woodley

Parallel Reality, an exhibition by local self-taught artist Yaakov Goldhacker opens tonight, March 13, at Zeke's Gallery (3955 St–Laurent). Completed over the past 15 years, the large-scale ink drawings and oil paintings overflow with a profusion of detail. His stream-of-consciousness approach to image-making results in work that is a vivid mixture of surrealism and the mathematical drawings of M.C. Escher.

Chris Hand, Zeke's director, sees similarities with the renderings of Mati Klarwein, who did the album covers of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and Santana's Abraxas. In the accompanying catalogue Claudine writes, "The finished work becomes for the viewer a glimpse into another person's mind, a place jammed with forms and colours derived from life… with time and space deconstructed and reassembled." Until April 6, 288-2233. : » Christine Redfern

Paris-based poet and editor Todd Swift first conceived of editing an instant anthology of anti-war poetry back in January. Within a week he had the first version of 100 Poets Against the War formatted as a downloadable chapbook posted on the Web at www.nthposition.com.

"Poets usually take weeks, if not months, to submit poems for an anthology," says Swift, "so I was astonished when they sent me poems within hours and days of my call for new work."

A media frenzy ensued, and now London-based Salt Publishing has produced a print version of the hugely popular anthology. According to Swift, "The Salt book was edited, proofread and printed in less than three days - another record!" The Montreal launch includes readings by anthology contributors Jeffrey Mackie, Jessica Carpenter, Jason Camlot and Sonja Skarstedt. More anti-war poetry is on the menu with Ian Ferrier, Fortner Anderson and Mia Rose Brooks. March 16 at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent), 8 p.m., $5 at the door will go to Doctors Without Borders. : » Vincent Tinguely

Musical fruit/foot fetish? Amidst the coverage of heavy war issues and the like that made the front page of London's The Guardian last weekend was a story on a curious ploy by an unknown man. The man entered a store in Edinburgh, Scotland, claiming to be raising money for Comic Relief, and convinced an employee to close her eyes, take off her shoes and socks and guess what he was covering her feet with. He emptied a couple of cans of baked beans on her bare flippers, snapped some photos and left without collecting so much as a shilling. Police have since warned women in the Scottish capital to beware of the menacing bean man. It was not reported whether or not the woman had guessed correctly as to what the substance was before opening her eyes. : » Matthew Woodley

Valoir and glory: The standout contemporary canvases of Martin Bureau's [Se] faire-valoir exhibition will be displayed at Galerie de Bellefeuille (1367 Greene) until March 25. See examples at www.debellefeuille.com. • City connections: Painter Mark Lang's Intersections, realistic representations of urban interaction, show at the Maison de la culture Rivière-des-Prairies (9001 Perras) from March 15–April 20. • Femcorps: Denis St-Pierre mixes printmaking and painting techniques to create his fresh-coloured minimalist images centred around the female body. Conte Allusif runs until March 30 at la Galerie Clair Obscur (2374 Beaubien E.). Vernissage on Thursday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. • Give a toot: March 16, people, is Play the Recorder Day. To mark the occasion, the esteemed Montreal Recorder Society is holding ensembles and workshops at La Cité (corner Parc & Prince Arthur) from 12–5 p.m. :

Artistat: Number of events (conferences, exhibitions, music, film, theatre and lit) in the action-packed Action Week Against Racism, March 14–23 at various locations, www.inforacisme.com for schedule: 106 :

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