Sometimes a show grabs your eye because you’re familiar with the artist who created it and you want to see more. Other times, it’s a hunch based on the particular presenting partner, or you just love the premise. With that in mind, here are five shows from the 2017 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival (Jan. 16-Feb. 5) that promise to enlighten, intrigue and provoke (or, even better, accomplish all three).
SCULPTRESS: THE MUSIC OF NICOLE LIZEE
If you didn’t catch Lizée during November’s Modulus Festival, now is your chance. The master turntablist (and Music on Main composer in residence) reunites with the six-piece Standing Wave Ensemble for two evenings of mind-bending visuals and avant-garde electro-acoustic music. For fans of: MTV on strings. Jan. 30-31 at the Fox Cabaret. Tickets
PORTRAITS IN MOTION
Longtime readers will already be aware of my love of “tiny” performances. So, naturally, I was drawn like a moth to a magic lantern by Volker Gerling’s flipbook production, Portraits in Motion. Flipbooks, for those who had no childhood, are made up of pictures that change slightly from one image to the next to convey movement as you flip the pages. With Portraits, Gerling uses this centuries-old “thumb cinema” format to animate his photography as he recounts the story behind each moment in time. For fans of: Analog arts. Jan. 24-26 at York Theatre. Tickets
MOUTHPIECE
As conversations around sexism and equality dominate the headlines, many women have ceased keeping their so-called private and public personas separate, in favour of speaking plainly about their 21st-century thoughts and wants. It might not sound revolutionary, but generations of “politeness conditioning” stand in the way of this being an easy or natural act. Which makes Quote Unquote Collective’s exploration of one woman’s duel with assertion, submission and identity all the more compelling. Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava play two halves of the same woman as she prepares for her mother’s funeral. They speak in unison, but as their different personas collide, cracks develop and gaps widen. For fans of: Women who speak their mind. Jan. 31-Feb. 4 at The Cultch. Tickets
SWEAT BABY SWEAT
Jan Martens introduced himself to Vancouver in 2015 with a mesmerizing yet gruelling performance that forced his dancers to jump for 70 minutes straight. The Belgian taskmaster returns for PuSh with a different kind of workout: Sweat Baby Sweat– his heartbreakingly beautiful portrait of hetero love. For fans of: The eroticism of exhaustion. Jan. 18-20 at Scotiabank Dance Centre. Tickets
DIRTSONG
Presented with Coastal Jazz and making its first appearance in Canada, this Australian tour de force is one of the biggest ticket items at PuSh. Created by multi-disciplinary collective Black Arm Band, Dirtsongcelebrates the connection between Australia’s indigenous peoples and the earth via a deeply researched assembly of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander songs, as well as dramatic interludes and striking visuals. For fans of: Continuing the conversation around truth and reconciliation. Feb. 4 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Tickets
• Full festival lineup and info at PuShFestival.ca
