March, 2004 - Nr. 3
Children's Festival
Arts festival presents the world's best performers for young people in an eight-day celebration!
TORONTO, February 26, 2004 — The Milk International Children’s Festival of the Arts, sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada, is a spectacular performing arts extravaganza for families and school groups. Harbourfront Centre will present the 23rd edition of its world-renowned festival from Sunday to Sunday, May 23 to 30, 2004. The festival, one of North America's biggest and best festivals for young people, showcases the world's finest theatre, music, dance and physical comedy performances. A fun-filled site with plenty of great activities, including Dairy Farmers of Canada Art Alley, will round out the festival experience. For tickets and information, the public can call Harbourfront Centre at 416-973-4000 or visit www.harbourfront.on.ca/milk ; teachers can call 416-973-4000, option 5.
Among the highlights of this year’’s festival will be:
Sunjata, high flying acrobatics propelled by heart-pounding drumming and dynamic dancing by Manding Jata from West Africa, the U.S. and Canada.
Using dynamic movement and narrative, Quintavalla-Stori-Compagnia Abbondanza/Bertoni from Italy performs A Childhood Tale, a captivating piece of dance theatre about dependency and freedom.
Also from Italy, Quelli di Grock presents Chaos, an intensely physical and highly expressive piece of dance theatre that examines the speed of modern society.
The audience can set sail on a story-telling voyage in an epic battle to save a kingdom from destruction in Beowulf by Denmark's The Telling Theatre.
Denmark's Teatret Fair Play stages A Word is A Word, a hilarious show that plays around with words where two children open a shop selling words.
Belgium's Théâtre du Copeau performs Coâa?, a musical tale, where the audience sits ‘round a lily pad and meets Jeremy Toad, a talkative toad wading and splashing knee-deep in his wonderful wetland.
From the UK, Multi-Story Theatre Company presents Firebird, a wonderful piece of story-telling theatre highlighting an ancient tale of a prince and princess, of journeys and battles, and of fantastical, mythical creatures.
Milk International Children's Festival of the Arts highlights Canadian artists: Jamie Adkins, eclectic clown, brilliant juggler and spectacular acrobat, mesmerizes audiences in Montréal's Cirque & Co.’s production of Typo. Vancouver's Scrap Arts Music, a high-voltage percussion ensemble, presents Phonk, a show featuring powerful original music, innovative sculptural instruments on wheels, and hyper-kinetic performers that sweat. From Toronto, Red Sky Performance presents the world premiere of Sun Spirits, two contemporary Aboriginal stories staged together for the first time: Tomson Highway's Caribou Song and the traditional tale Raven Stole the Sun fuse theatre, dance, live music, mask and storytelling to create a dynamic and emotional performance. In the Gemini award-winning film, Hockey Nomad, Toronto's Dave Bidini travels from Mongolia, to Dubai, to Romania to discover that hockey connects players and fans everywhere through a common love of the game. From Toronto, The Second City presents Milking the Laughs II, showcasing sketch comedy and improv based on today's pop songs, teachers, hockey parents and more!
Other not-to-be-missed festival activities include Dairy Farmers of Canada Art Alley; here participants can unleash their creative juices in a variety of hands-on activities and take-home crafts. At Dairy Farmers of Canada Great Canadian Milkshake, festival-goers can enjoy a variety of "unplugged" and intimate performances from buskers, musicians to authors. A fun interactive zone awaits visitors at the LEGO Creative Play Area where they can use their imagination to build a robot, create a creature and more. Tour the Natrel "Oh" Zone for carnival style excitement featuring creative crafts, active games and DJs. Gimme a beat! celebrates global rhythm with daily drumming spectacles including Japanese taiko drumming by Yakudo and the steel drum sensations of Jesse Ketchum Pan Vibrations.
From April through August 2004, Harbourfront Centre examines Cultural Collisions through its diverse programming with explorations of globalization, emerging identities and fusion of artistic ideas. The Milk International Children's Festival of the Arts programming explores many of these themes in highlighted performances. The Cultural Collisions symbol is used to identify these performers within printed pieces
Festival Weekend Passes
Sunday and Victoria Day Monday, May 23 & 24 & Saturday and Sunday, May 29 & 30
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Milky Way Pass
Moola Lah Pass
Festival Fun Pass
ArtShops priced as performance.
Tickets to school week performances
Tuesday to Friday, May 25 to 28
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One show + activities $9
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A second show or ArtShop on the same day is only $6 per person more.
The Milk International Children's Festival of the Arts takes place in and around York Quay Centre, 235 Queens Quay West. The festival's weekday (Tuesday to Friday, May 25 to 28) operating hours are 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and its hours on the two weekends (Sunday and Victoria Day Monday, May 23 & 24; and Saturday and Sunday, May 29 & 30) are 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Milk International Children’s Festival of the Arts is sponsored by Dairy Farmers of Canada and generously supported by Natrel Inc., the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, CIBC, LEGO, Good Humour-Breyers, evian and the Westin Harbour Castle.
