 | Sunday, March 13, 2022 | |  | Sunday, March 13, 2022 | | Hi, art lovers! | | |  | The following link is basically a digital glitter bomb.
Kaboom.
CBX: Canadian Ballroom Extravaganza debuts on CBC Arts this Wednesday. I’m talking about this kind of ballroom, by the way, and there are scenes thriving in cities around the country. CBX puts those communities in the spotlight, but it isn’t Pose. It isn’t Legendary either. And that’s no dig against it. From what I’ve seen of CBX, the project throws a pile of programming formats in the proverbial blender and the result is a genre of its own.
Here are the basic tune-in details so you don’t miss out.
March 16, the first episode will go live on the CBX website.
(This is the CBX website.)
More videos will follow the next day, and that’s when the fun bit is supposed to begin.
When it comes down to it, CBX is an online competition. The show features 10 teams: performer duos from around Canada. And each team will compete in a different challenge. They’ve been assigned classic ballroom categories — styles including vogue, runway and bizarre. (The show will give you some background on all those genres, so spare yourself from Googling.)
Here’s where you would think they’d perform live — or you know, live for a studio audience or something. Nope. Instead, the teams have to produce a style-laden short film. They have help: each performer gets to collab with a filmmaker.
Which film nails the brief? That’s up to you. Votes will be gathered via the CBX website starting March 17.
After everything’s tabulated, the teams will move on to a new (mysterious!) phase of the project. What could be in store for them? Regional fame? Glory? A lifetime membership to Fabricland? Keep watching. And maybe bookmark this informative blog post while you wait.
| | | And because we promised you eye candy ... | | |  | @parkavearmory/Instagram | While we gear up for one ballroom-related project, another has just wrapped. Here’s a scene from Assembly, an installation by Rashaad Newsome that closed in New York earlier this month. Imagine getting a voguing lesson from a holographic android … while also learning about decolonization. | | | | |  | Dustin Thierry | | A scene from Opulence, a photo series documenting Europe’s ballroom scene. The photographer is Dustin Thierry. | | | | |  | Ebony G. Patterson and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago | | Keyword: opulence. When the land is in plumage… by Ebony G. Patterson. | | | | |  | @thirzaschaap/Instagram | | I must have spent too much time Googling reuse centres last week because the algorithm keeps serving me Thirza Schaap’s Instagram. She made this unusually satisfying composition out of ocean trash. | | | | |  | @aurorarobson/Instagram | | Same kind of reclaimed materials, totally different result. Follow Toronto-born artist Aurora Robson for more. | | | | |  | @daweski/Instagram | | We’re coming up on the two-year coronaversary, folks. Time really flies when you’re having no fun! But remember when Laura Dawe made us this COVID diary? Well, she has an exhibition at Toronto’s Patel Brown East right now. This is a detail of one of the featured paintings (reunion). Made “at the height of the pandemic” (i.e. summer 2020), it was the next best thing to having all her pals together again. | | | | |  | Toni Hafkenscheid/Courtesy of the Gardiner Museum | | | | | If the phrase “interactive theatre” makes you cringe, just chill. That’s definitely not what’s going on here, and yet, there’s still something subtly interactive about this new exhibition. It might just be the perfect return to museum-going. (And did I mention there are animatronic sculptures?) | | | | |  | Alexander Malofeev/Facebook | | | | | From cancelled gigs to policy changes, here’s how Canadian arts organizations are handling projects involving Russian artists. | | | | |  | Emile Vallée | | | | | | | Aisling Chin-Yee reflects on her relationship with the late Canadian filmmaker. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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I’m Leah Collins, senior writer at CBC Arts. Until next time! | | | | | |
