15 must-see shows to check out at the PuSh International Arts Festival

PuSh International Performing Arts Festival returns this month for its 15th anniversary and with a huge selection of groundbreaking and provocative shows, picking just one to watch is definitely not an easy task.

If you need some help narrowing down your choices, we’ve got you covered.

These are Daily Hive’s must-see picks at the 2019 PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

salt.

salt/ Dick Davenport

It’s the first on the list for a reason. Young, queer woman of colour talking about slavery with a sledgehammer? Yes please!

Attractor

When was the last time you saw Indonesian metalheads with self-made instruments whip dancers into a frenzy?

Prince Hamlet

Gender, race and ASL actors in starring roles, this is woke Shakespeare, and we’re here for it.

Pancho Villa From a Safe Distance

With everything happening right now in the US with the caravan and the wall, a hipster rock opera about Mexican Revolutionary hero Pancho Villa sounds like a night well spent.

Kids

Kids/ Etang Chen

Dancers’ bodies are their paint and their canvas and Taiwanese choreographer Liu Kuan-Hsiang uses all the colours in this tribute to his late mother.

100 Keyboards

Where kawaii meets cool, Japanese artists ASUNA literally plays 100 keyboards in this maybe-visit-a-dispensary-before style piece we can’t wait to check out!

Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools

KIINALIK: THESE SHARP TOOLS/ JEREMY MIMNAGH

Especially considering recent headlines, settlers should run not walk to this powerful concert-performance that touches on colonialism, climate change and what it means to be from Canada.

PALMYRA

This one caught our eye because of how minimal it seems — two men onstage breaking dishes — but seems like one of those classic PuSh shows that sticks with you long after you leave the theatre.

ZVIZDAL (Chernobyl – So Far So Close)

This one is partially a documentary about two people who stayed in Chernobyl’s exclusion zone after the nuclear accident in 1986, and partially a multimedia marvel that has detailed miniature models of the town through the seasons. Bring your art-school friends.

Fragile Forms

Fragile Forms/ Natalie-Purschwitz

Take the SkyTrain to New West for this site-specific 360-degree dance performance that is tailored to the Anvil Centre. Calling all architecture nerds!

This is the Point

Presented with the Cultch, this play is by and about folks with Cerebral Palsy living their lives, exploring love, companionship sex and even violence.

Bicycle Thieves

Bicycle Thieves/ PuSh

Looking for the perfect late January mom-date? With a live score and live accompaniment to Italian landmark neorealist film Bicycle Thieves, this one is a sure thing.

Ringo

From what we can tell, it’s like a magic show where science and tech are this Japanese artist’s instruments. Bring a date and then go talk about what you just saw over cocktails.

Suddenly Slaughter

Local artists The Biting School radically reinvent a classic Iranian theatre piece in this is-it-dance, is-it-theatre performance at Russian Hall.

L’Homme de Hus

L’Homme de Hus/ Olivier Chambrial

We can’t wait for this “circus” piece! This French artist makes a fantastical show with—wait for it— sawhorses. Whimsical and fun, bring your cool niece or nephew to this all-ages friendly show!

15th Anniversary: PuSh International Performing Arts Festival 2019

Where: Various Vancouver Venues

When: January 17 to February 3, 2019

Tickets: Available online. To take advantage of limited $15 tickets enter the promocode PuSh15JoinUs at checkout.

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Daily Hive is a proud media partner of the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival.