April 2000 - Nr. 4
Culture blooms in Canada
President’s Ball 2000 in Kitchener
As
every year, the Kitchener Concordia Club invited the most important
community members to a ball at which the new board of directors was
introduced and sworn in. Everyone who had in any way contributed to
forwarding German Canadian Culture through, with or for the club was there,
including local and regional politicians.
This includes also the presidents of the many other German Canadian clubs and organisations in and around the area.
Each year, when Echo Germanica represents our communities
print media, we are amazed at the accomplishments of this vital community,
which tends to hold together very well. It does not matter which club or
organisation, when it comes to the representation of German culture and
heritage in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, they all stick together and act
cohesively for the betterment of the community at large. At events such as
this one, this becomes abundantly clear. Proceedings are held in English to
honour all non-German speaking guests, with just enough German to remind us
where we are.
To start with, every visitor passes a receiving line, registers in the guest book and is escorted by their respective table host to their seat. As long as people are still arriving the bar offers a fine red or white wine, bottled especially for the club with its own label, and delicious hors d’oeuvres are being offered.
When
everyone was seated Natascha Steckel welcomed the guests officially. She is
president of a fairly new group of individuals, called Treffpunkt, who are
very keen on supporting and preserving their cultural heritage. After a
sumptuous dinner the invited guests were introduced, consisting of 4
government elected officials, 2 city and regional officials, including Carl
Zehr, Mayor of Kitchener, no less than 11 presidents of German Canadian
clubs or organisations, 3 representatives of charities, who were given a
generous donation later in the evening, and of course Miss Concordia Diane
Untch, Mr. Alfred Kunz, the Concordia’s choir director and Peter Pijet,
the club’ s manager. Also 9 past presidents were introduced. Last but not
least, au contraire, Elisabeth Rowsell was presented again as President of
the Concordia Club for the second year. She asked the new board members to
come to the front for the swearing in ceremony.
Afterwards
all enjoyed a rousing presentation by the Concordia Choirs. After cheques
had been handed to the charities (Anselma House and Citizens Concerned with
Crime Against Children) the evening commenced with dancing and pleasant
conversation.
This
annual event is so well run; there are never any mistakes, awkward pauses or
other mishaps. All concerned are well grooved in and have served their club
and community for many years. The long time of devotion to the community
shows at every event that is being held in this club, but especially at the
President’s Ball.
Canada Blooms
The
4th annual Canada Blooms is produced by the Garden Club of
Toronto and Landscape Ontario. As a non-profit event it promotes awareness
of horticulture and showcases outstanding floral and landscape design,
products and services.
Toronto’s outstanding efforts and success in "greening" the city have resulted in the city being rewarded the "Green Oscar" at Nations in Bloom 1999, the world’s only international environmental management competition.
Toronto
placed 1st in the category of cities with a population with over
one million. This is great praise indeed for the hundreds of thousands of
volunteers who participate yearlong on an ongoing basis.
This year the displays were as resplendent as always, but a Canadian backyard from sea to sea caught everyone’s special attention. In a variety of displays visitors could admire a great selection of our flora in various geographical regions and climate zones.
The north was represented with stone pebbles and boulders,
which were interplanted with alpine species and cool season grasses, typical
of the northern landscape.
The west was exemplified with luxurious evergreens and flowers of vibrant colours to typify a west coast garden.
The prairies were resplendent in early spring grasses,
including dormant winter growth.
Our central woodlands were depicted with a tranquil setting of birch and maple trees.
The east boasted dynamic drifts of colour and texture.
In the urban garden we found lovely examples of regional gardens in an urban context.
And
then there were the glorious flower arrangements. One of the competition
themes was "Totem" From the traditional to the sublime, every
entry showed incredible imagination.
If you have never been to Canada Blooms it is advisable to look out early next year for the promotions of this divine show, which is always held at Toronto’s Convention Centre, South Terminal.
Finds
Being an avid reader I often visit my neighbourhoods second hand bookshop, which is run by a young man, not so long out of university. He too loves to read and decided to secure an unlimited supply for himself and others by becoming an entrepreneur in his own right. Arthur’s Book Shop, named after one of his cats, is located on St. Clair Ave. West, just west of Vaughan Road. In a large open space I can search among thousands of books in dozens of categories for that special something that will strike my fancy when I see it, but Thomas has also searched for certain authors for me and always came up with what I was looking for.
In the body politics I came across a special book, "German Mosaic-An album for Today", foreword by Gustav Heinemann, President of the Federal Republic of Germany. To my surprise the book seemed to be brand new. You can tell by the way the pages open, or rather do not open. As I looked for the copyrights I stumbled across an inscription to the principal of Upper Canada College, full name given, in memory of a visit in August of 1974 by the Munich Sports Club. The president of said organisation had signed it with many thanks.
This book was designated the Official Gift Book of the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXth Olympiad in Munich 1972. It is truly an amazing book, containing 45 entries of Germany’s finest writers and their essays on many different topics.
Sad about this story is that it is so obvious that the book was never read. This is hard to understand given the fact that one could or should expect the principal of a school to have some scholarly ambition in understanding his honoured guests. But then, perhaps he belongs to the sort of dusty academician that knows it all. Unfortunately they do exist. Most of us have met a few.
What is really sad about the whole situation is that here was an opportunity to get to know a country through its finest minds and the opportunity was not taken. Or perhaps the principal was just an administrator without any studious ambitions. In any event, instead of putting the book into the school library for others to enjoy it was given away to a second hand book store, mind you, many years later, but still unread.
I pledge to make up for this gross outpoint and will read it from cover to cover to enhance the blooming of culture in Canada. In fact I could not resist and quickly read the first entry by Frank Wedekind, written in 1896. In his most satirical way, almost tending towards sarcasm, he makes his opinion on Americans and German literature of that time very translucent. Clearly, he did not think much of either. This promises to be a very good read!
One more thing
I was going to give a review of the performances of the visiting Imperial Ballet from Russia, which delighted audiences recently in Toronto, yet failed to move the critics to anything more than some not well thought out critical remarks. Especially the Dance Critic of the National Post had it in for the visitors. Some of his remarks were so acid that I decided to read as many reviews as I could find on him. The online version offers about a half a dozen or so of his reviews. I hope the Russian Canadian impresarios who brought this quite exquisite dance company to Canada did the same. In doing so it becomes instantly clear why he did not like what he saw, besides showing a dismal understanding of the plight of even old and established Russian dance institutions and other art ventures, namely that they are going bankrupt in the new Russia. In all his reviews he only gets excited if there is something sexually or erotic in the ballets performed, and especially when it touches on homosexuality, which he is much in favour of, it seems. Otherwise he only tends to give a nod if it is Canadian. History of dance, or the more current evolutions in other countries such as Russia, is obviously a book with seven seals to him.
Let me tell you what I think of the offering. Firstly: It was a trunk show, not a full production, as he dared to compare the program with the National Ballets regular programming.
Secondly: the whole tourney was privately funded by 2 men, not with grants and huge machinery behind it to catch any financial shortfall, and was therefore a big risk to start with.
Thirdly: he never heard of the Ghostly Ball, but every Russian attending was quite familiar with the piece and liked it tremendously. Yes, it was decidedly morose in the emotional part, but that is what the piece asks for. He obviously forgets that artists have to be able to create many different emotions and these dancers did it very well. It was executed with extreme precision. I could only detect one slip of the hand in a pas de deux, and most people would probably not even have noticed. This can happen even to the best of dancers.
Fourthly: he did not like the line up of the second program part, snippets of the most well known ballet scenes like Swan Lake. He should be so lucky to get to see a swan like that on a regular basis in Canada. Never have I seen arms as fluid as those!
I
could go on and on, but it is enough already! The audiences liked it, every
night! And so did I and everyone who was there with me. It was a rare morsel
indeed. Next time when this company shows up in Toronto I hope to give you
enough advance notice so you can go and enjoy some of the most classical
ballet you have ever seen, in the best of world tradition, the Russian
tradition. For balance, there is always something of a more contemporary
flavour in the program. It was a night to remember, no matter what this
other critic said. The opinion of the so-called experts are often not
rendered in a kind spirit full of admiration for some one else’s creation,
but in the spirit of a failed artist. This smacks of sour grapes at best.
On May 14th, if you come to the special Mother’s Day presentation, which we have arranged for together with Lein’s Delicatessen (see the ad), you will be seeing 2 Russian dancers, 2 of the best I know! But I hope to see you before then.
In the meantime, have a very happy Easter!
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
Comments to: sfr@echoworld.com
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