PuSh Festival 2023 line-up includes six world premieres

Lovers of adventurous, boundary-pushing art that traverses all disciplines rejoice: PuSh International Performing Arts Festival has announced its 2023 festival line-up, which runs from January 19th to February 6th .

Spanning theater, dance, music, circus and multimedia, the 18-day event presents 20 original works of art from 12 countries, including 6 world premieres and 6 Canadian debuts.

“We prioritize innovative works that make us feel a need, wake us up or offer new dreams to the disillusioned,” said programming director Gabriel Martin in a press release. says.

Cultural curator and choreographer and former Cirque du Soleil performer Martin joined PuSh last August. She was formally appointed to that position in her July, and in 2023 she will be part of her team in leadership, alongside her Director of New Operations Kelty Forsyth and Indigenous Initiatives Director Margo Her Kane. was curated for the second year.

“We have returned to our mandate of facilitating transformative experiences through live performances, and we are honored to have been able to curate the 2023 Festival, fueled by this experience,” said Martin. increase.

Works from Belgium, Finland, Bulgaria, Argentina, South Africa, South Korea, India, Great Britain, USA, Zimbabwe, France and Italy. Boca Del Lupo, Electric Theater Company, The Elbow/Itai Ardal, Delinquent Theater/Lisa Ravensbergen, Markus Youssef and Rakesh Sukesh, Itzazu Productions and Afotic Theatre. Ten Canadian groups are lined up, including local talent.

Club Push is the festival’s favorite platform for intimate cabaret and weird and wonderful experiences, with three days of performance work from February 2nd to 4th, running at 9pm. It’s time. One-night performances curated by Vancouver collaborators Talking Stick, Black Art Center and Frank Theater Company.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, some performances will also be available online.

The shows scheduled to premiere worldwide at PuSh 2023 include:

* bad theater the seventh fire (January 25-29 and February 1-5 at Lobe Studio), an immersive audio ceremony with Lisa Cook Ravensbergen and sound designer Michelle Cutler.

* by Rakesh Sukesh Because I like diversity (this microattitude, we all have it) (January 29-31, at Performance Works), a solo performance that travels through dance, music, and text to question the use of technology in racial profiling.

*Electric Theater Company undeveloped sound (January 30th to February 4th at SFU’s Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theater), Faust Question the complexity of communication.

* New Dance Horizons this When the last caribou (February 2-4, Orpheum Annex), two world premieres of a series of three dance pieces exploring the relationship between humanity, history and nature.

* Elbow Theater soldier of tomorrow (February 3-5 at the Roundhouse Performance Center), a theatrical production of a former IDF soldier exploring his personal responsibilities related to the complex geopolitics of his home country.

Tickets for individual PuSh events or festival passes are on sale now. pushfestival.ca.