Red Sky News, Reviews and Accolades, On the Road, Sandra's Blogosphere, Works in Progress, Events, Tono, Raven, Red Sky at Night

We have just finished our first week of the 6-month tour of Canada and the U.S. Our tour started in Burnaby, B.C at the Michael J. Fox Theatre where we performed 14 shows for over 7000 local children. The Children’s Concert Series presented us as part of their yearlong programming geared to elementary schools. One of our audiences included students from a local school for the deaf. They had translators onstage interpreting the show and I got a chance to speak to a couple of students after the show about what they thought.

On the cusp of its 10th anniversary, Toronto's Red Sky Performance proudly announces that its much-lauded Tono- a stunningly vivid dance and live music creation that connects the Indigenous cultures of Canada, Mongolia and China- will be a featured highlight at the Cultural Olympiad of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games, running February 11-14, 2010 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Featuring the live music from Red Sky's highly acclaimed dance production, Tono.

An evening of ancient music from the steppes of Mongolia. Come hear the stunningly evocative music that connects the Indigenous cultures of Canada and Mongolia. Tono is en route to our Western Canada Tour culminating at the Cultural Olympiad of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo in May.

DATE:

Wednesday, January 20 and Thursday, January 21, 2010

WHERE:

Featuring the live music from Red Sky's highly acclaimed dance production, Tono.

An evening of ancient music from the steppes of Mongolia. Come hear the stunningly evocative music that connects the Indigenous cultures of Canada and Mongolia. Tono is en route to our Western Canada Tour culminating at the Cultural Olympiad of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo in May.

DATE:

Wednesday, January 20 and Thursday, January 21, 2010

WHERE:

Tono is now a CD; a portal into the Indigenous world of music. The theme of Tono is heavily grounded in horse culture, spanning Indigenous plains traditions in Asia and North America with a storyline about shamanism in both continents, and the creature universally regarded as the epitome of strength, grace and beauty. This CD is a portal into this rich, textured music of Mongolia and Canada using traditional and contemporary musical practices, ancient instruments and cutting edge technology.

After five successful weeks on tour, the Raven cast has landed back in Toronto and dispersed until the new year. We flew as far afield as Rainy River, Ontario, which marks the far end of Yonge Street, 1,896 kilometres from its origin at Queens Quay in our home base of Toronto. This community, with a population of 1000, was a fantastic audience for Raven – so many of these communities have limited access to live performance, and we felt the mutual excitement of bringing the magic of the theatre directly into each small town.

This is my very first Blog. How very exciting to be part of this virtual world! I thought that I’d start with a question that I get asked all the time. People always ask what me “what inspired you to start Red Sky?”

Red Sky takes a traditional story to new contemporary heights through a compelling theatre dance piece for family audiences.

The outrageous Raven is a fabulous and magical creature of impulse and curiosity. In order to satisfy his overwhelming sense of curiosity, Raven hatches a brilliant scheme for stealing the stars, the moon and the sun and ends up bringing light to the people of the world.

It’s that season again – we’re hitting the road all over Ontario with performances in the GTA, Meaford, Ottawa, Chapeau, Atikokan, Rainy River, Fort Frances, Devlin, and Mine Centre. This season, Raven features two returning cast favourites, Jonathan Fisher and Carlos Rivera, and a new member to our crew, Andrea Moseanu, in the role of Seik. We have had one week of rehearsal and one week of shows together so far, leaving us in great shape for the upcoming weeks (and months!) on the road. Our first performance on Bear Island, Lake Temagami was a magical way to begin this tour.

Red Sky at Night continues the international focus that is at the heart of all of our work: bringing together Indigenous cultures from around the globe to celebrate our diversity, artistic scope and to collaborate on our new creative possibilities. Red Sky at Night is about expanding its reach and celebrates the many nations under one sky.

You don't want to miss our next Red Sky at Night Gala which will be held in November 2010, so check back for more details soon!