All-Nighters And Cheap Dates: PuSh Festival Has Something For Everyone
One of Vancouver’s edgiest performing arts festivals has a message for all you fence-sitters: take a walk on the wild side. Oh, and bring a friend if you’re feeling shy.
The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is one of Vancouver’s signature events. Produced over three weeks each January, the PuSh Festival presents groundbreaking work in the live performing arts.
I had the chance to talk with Joyce Rosario, PuSh’s Associate Curator, about this year’s festival. Joyce has looked up to PuSh ever since beginning her career in arts programming, and is a long-time festival goer. Her new role in programming allows her to curate the best and brightest new works for Vancouverites to enjoy over a three-week period.
Joyce Rosario, Associate Curator, PuSh Festival
PuSh For Youth
PuSh has this fantastic program called Young Ambassadors, which allows youth between 19 to 24 to pickup tickets to select shows for dirt cheap. At this moment, they’ve had over 150 young people sign up. This is in conjunction with all of the other ways youth can get involved, including their always popular volunteer roles.
I’ve volunteered for PuSh in the past and found it a ridiculously fun ride. (But sorry – there’s a waitlist for this year’s volunteers, as PuSh is oversubscribed as usual.) Besides recommending single shows, Joyce also came up with a few ‘Signature Tracks’ to help the uninitiated with their PuSh adventures.
The All-Nighter
Nightowls rejoice! PuSh happens at all unholy hours.
- Start your artsy late night at Tucked & Plucked: Vancouver’s Drag Herstory at Club Push at 8pm.
- Then stumble over to Vancouver Art Gallery’s special FUSE event, which goes until 1am.
- Hit the bars afterwards to celebrate your artsy-ness. . .or make a pit stop on Granville Street sometime in between?
The Dance Fanatic
Put on your ballerina shoes and come experience dance to new heights. Here are some interesting gems:
- Inheritor Album: Collection of short pieces that explores the concepts of inheritance and succession, set to an atmospheric electronic score.
- Dance Lhasa Dance: Honours the life and work of New York-born, Montreal-based folk singer and musician, Lhasa de Sela, who lost her voice, and ultimately, her life to cancer.
- Usually Beauty Fails: Three musicians plugged into the power grid, six dancers ready to explode, the energy of pop music to intensify the beat, burning desire to set things ablaze.
The Cheap Date
By cheap they mean free… you cheapster, you!
- Sight is The Sense That Dying People Tend to Lose First @ The Fox Cabaret (converted porn theatre)
- Push Assembly is a wide variety of lectures, workshops, and more for all tastes & interests
So much to see at PuSh Festival this year! Get your tickets now and watch out for some special Vancity Buzz giveaways!
Follow Channels and Categories