Tonight I headed down to Rhizome Cafe, at 317 E Broadway in Vancouver, for the closing celebration for Centering the Tangent. I heard about the event, and yesterday's conference, from last fall's featured artist Kim Villagante. The conference and celebration wrapped a month of artist explorations in community and movement building. The conference looked amazing, with local artists, community leaders and organizers giving talks and workshops on various topics centered around the role of arts in the urban community. Unfortunately, I failed to sign up to attend and when I finally went to check out specific talks, times, and places, the conference was full. I was able to glean the spirit of the conference at tonight's cabaret-style show however, and thoroughly enjoyed the mostly spoken word and hip hop performances. A beautiful mix of people filled the cafe to brimming, and I felt a huge rush as performer after performer enlightened and entertained. How inspiring! It was particularly thrilling to see Kim do her thing (as Kim Possible), as I have heard her amazing singing voice before, but hadn't yet been treated to her poetry and rhyme. Thanks Kim for making me aware of the event, and for your powerful words!
As luck would have it, longtime Freed contributor Karissa Fyrrar lives just around the corner from Rhizome, and she met me at the show for a brief catch up. Karissa is in the final stages of her dance training at SFU, and after her grad show in May she plans to head to Toronto for the summer and beyond, to continue her burgeoning dance career. Go Karissa!
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