Chutzpah! Festival

Chutzpah! Festival
The Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver
950 W. 41st Ave.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
Phone: (01) 604-257-5111, Ext. 235 or Ext. 293

Now in its eighth year, Chutzpah! continues to present professional local, national and international Jewish artists and their collaborators creating an exciting multi-cultural celebration of music, theatre and dance of the highest calibre. Audiences are in store for a not to be missed line-up of performances from the world stage at the 8th Annual Chutzpah! Festival: The Lisa Nemetz International Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts. This year’s Festival features more than 25 performances and workshops with over 100 international, Canadian and local artists creating an exciting multi-cultural celebration of music, theatre, dance and comedy of the highest calibre.

The 2008 festival kicks off at the Norman Rothstein Theatre on Saturday, February 23 at 8:00 pm with The J.A.P. Show: The Princesses of Comedy, a Canadian premiere direct from New York. Audiences will be in hysterics with the Jewish American Princesses of Comedy and their special brand of irreverent humour. Cory Kahaney, Jessica Kirson, and Adrianne Tolsch are set to bring their Off-Broadway show to the Norman Rothstein Theatre with original stand-up and great tickle-the-funny-bone stories, while at the same time paying homage to the comedic Princesses of the past. The show will be peppered with vintage footage of past Jewish American comedy queens like Belle Barth and Totie Fields.

Most of the events take place at the 318-seat Norman Rothstein Theatre as well as other venues at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver with the exception of one off site special co-presentation at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (UBC) of Israeli-New Yorkers the Balkan Beat Box (Saturday, March 1 at 8pm). Described as “a magnificent mash-up melding music from every conceivable corner of the globe” (Chicago Sun Times), the Balkan Beat Box is situated at the crossroads of both genre and geography. Well-known for their energetic and unpredictable live shows, the eight member group interweaves the organic sounds of artists from Israel, Turkey, Spain, Morocco, and Bulgaria with electronic dancehall grooves, creating a unique sound that defies categorization. This show is co-presented by Chutzpah! The Lisa Nemetz International Showcase of Jewish Performing Arts, Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad and the Chan Centre.

The always exciting and innovative Dance All-Stars evening this year features Aszure & Artists led by Alberta born New York based choreographer/dancer Aszure Barton who regularly tours with Baryshnikov and whom the world icon of dance calls “fresh and arresting”. Opening for Aszure & Artists is Vancouver’s own Amber Funk Barton (no relation) in a new work entitled Bittersweet with Ballet BC’s James Gnam with live music accompaniment by The Fugitive’s Mark Berube.

The Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad is the co-presenter of Amber Funk Barton’s new work as well as the world premiere of Kaeja d’Dance’s Abattoir, a first Chutzpah! / Vancouver International Dance Centre co-presentation exposing a major Eastern Canadian international dance company to the West Coast in a world premiere.

Other Festival highlights include Montreal musician and writer Socalled (Josh Dolgin) joined by his “crew of mixed-up musical freaks and geniuses” from around the world; Klezmer Buenos Aires: Lerner Moguilevsky Duo direct from Argentina; Tracey Erin Smith’s Two for the Bush, her sequel to the hilarious The Burning Bush (Chutzpah! 2007); and Canada’s #1 Klezmer band, The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, celebrating their 20th Anniversary and new CD.