Jetsettersblog

Move over sports; culture will be taking over Vancouver leading up to, and during, the 2010 Winter Games. Cultural Olympiad 2010 is a multidisciplinary festival showcasing the best in Canadian and international arts and pop culture. The 60-day festival (January 22 to March 21) features an extensive program including more than 600 ticketed and free performances with exhibitions in 60 venues across Metro Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor.

Wondering what the hot tickets are? Here are our top five music, dance and theatre picks. Cultural Olympiad tickets are available through www.vancouver2010.com/culturalolympiad

Music

Feist (Canada) – February 17, Orpheum Theatre: Canadian singer-songwriter famous for her “One, two, three, four” song.

Stars (Canada) – February 19, Orpheum Theatre: Atmospheric, literary pop music in advance of the release of their new record this spring.

Steve Earle and Joel Plaskett (USA, Canada) – January 23, Orpheum Theatre: Collaboration between the “saviour of country music” Steve Earle and genre-bending showman Joel Plaskett.

Kid Koala (Canada) – February 12, Great Northern Way Campus: Vancouver-born DJ who has opened for the likes of Radiohead and Bjork.

Hal Willner’s Neil Young Project (Canada) – February 18, Queen Elizabeth Theatre: All-star band, led by members of Broken Social Scene, celebrate Canadian rock icon Neil Young.

Dance

Joni Mitchell’s The Fiddle and the Drum (Canada) – January 22 to 24, Queen Elizabeth Theatre: Alberta Ballet performs to music by Joni Mitchell in a dazzling ballet performance.

Cloud Gate Dance Theatre (Taiwan) – February 5 & 6, Queen Elizabeth Theatre: Innovative and fluid dance performance called “a meditation” by the New York Times.

Mascall Dance: White Spider (Canada) – March 12 & 13, Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre: An innovative blend of dance and mountain climbing athletics.

Dance Marathon (Canada) – February 9 to 13, Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre: A participatory show inspired by the genuine American dance marathons of the 1930s.
Poetics: a ballet brut (USA) – February 27 to 30, Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre: Performers with a complete lack of formal dance training present do-it-yourself theatre at its most mischievous.

Theatre/Opera

Robert Lepage: The Blue Dragon (Canada) –

various dates in February, Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at SFU Woodward’s: Directed by Robert Lepage, the play is set in the paradox that is modern China.

Nixon in China (Canada) – March 13, 16, 18, 20, Queen Elizabeth Theatre: Vancouver Opera tells the story of Nixon’s historic visit to China in 1972.

BASH’d: A Gay Rap Opera (Canada) – February 16 to 20, Historic Theatre at The Cultch: Irreverent rapping troubadours skewer stereotypes with swaggering comedic flair.

NEVERMORE: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe (Canada) –

Various dates between January 21 and February 6, Arts Club – Granville Island Stage: A revealing psychology of the man whose haunting comic writings continue to resonate.

Fear of Flight (Canada) – February 9 to 14, Historic Theatre at The Cultch: A movement and musical spectacle that tracks 14 nervous passengers on a bumpy transcontinental flight.