Collaborative Effort Achieves
Interactive Performance

Umera Umera Sha
(Rwandan for, "find and let live your courage")
Reviewed by Aren Altman

This ritualized production depended upon the participation of the audience. To me it was an inspired and captivat-
ing interpretation of human spiritual metamorphosis. To others it was a lot more “out there" than they were com-
fortable with experiencing, but no one could deny there was a serious vibe happening.

Directed by Pravin Pillay and Chloe Ulis, Umera Umera Sha was a multi-media dance performance by the impres-
sive team of Collaborative-Interactive which saw the media studio transformed into a womb-like cave and an
immense primordial temple (thanks to stage manager Sasha Popove and set designer Maya Ersan).

While others were worrying about how they would see the performance if there weren't seats and a stage, | was
happy to follow the direction of the shaman-like figure and took a seat -- cross-legged of course -- in a circle
around an altar. Video projections of fire on the walls and the enveloping sound of wood crackling created a vast
magical landscape. The audience was then asked to focus on breathing. You either felt as though you had joined a
yoga class or, like me, that you had been initiated into an ancient tribe - a tribe practicing a cosmic ritual seeking to
bring balance to our troubled spirits. | closed my eyes for a while.

Around the altar, two pairs of sculpted dancers (Pravin, Heloise, Janik and Scott) in the guises of ancient humans
and earth spirits, acted out a ritual battle. Their hypnotic movements built to ecstatic peaks alternating with the
beats of the percussionists. The audience was prompted to beat their chests in rhythm with their hearts. My
breath quickened as | joined in. Then, simple instruments were passed around and | shook a rattle to the celebrato-
ry rhythm. The performance reached its peak when we participated together in chanting, "umera umera sha," until
our voices faded into space.

When it was all over, | felt as though | had just awoken from an encouraging dream and my foot was really asleep
from sitting cross-legged. | dragged myself onto the street and while my body was pumping blood back into my

foot | had the sensation that | was somehow suspended
between the earth and the sky. It felt good to recon-
nect with my surroundings and to the people in my

life. | guess that is the balance that we all try to keep.

It's hard to communicate how it feels to be living on the
brink of

something. Umera Umera Sha celebrated that feeling
and was an affirmation in support of our own discovery
and transformation. Its success ought not to be based
on the acceptance of the audience but rather on the
experience of the participants.

Keep your eyes open, because Umera Umera Sha will
be performed again at the Western Front and a growing
tribe from Vancouver is working on taking this produc
tion and other extreme art to the greatest show on
earth: Burningman.

Participants are welcome; spectators can stay at home.

Supersonic Transport: A Survey of
Independent Pop Culture Magazines

Charles H. Scott Gallery
March 15th to April 24th
reviewed by Cameron Manning

Go see this show! Now!

A taste of independent magazine culture from around the world, Supersonic Transport gives a glimpse of the space
between super-low budget zine culture with which only the coolest hipsters are familiar and mass market interna-
tional publications that even the country bumpkin can name. From the tourist who checkmarks the hot spots off
their list of places to go while in a new city, to the academic who breathes the world of snooty high culture fine
arts, Supersonic Transport caters to them all. If you have ever picked up a magazine in your life there will be some-
thing in this show for you. This is one of the most interesting shows | have ever seen. It works on so many levels,
from the basic pretty pictures in cool magazines to the questioning of the place of pop culture publications in the
world of high art. Like the overload of images that exist in mass culture, this show has so many things to look at it
made my head spin. | say go a few times; take it in small doses.

to by Jesse Birch

Collaborative Effort Achieves
Interactive Performance

Umera Umera Sha
(Rwandan for, "find and let live your courage")
Reviewed by Aren Altman

This ritualized production depended upon the participation of the audience. To me it was an inspired and captivat-
ing interpretation of human spiritual metamorphosis. To others it was a lot more “out there” than they were com-
fortable with experiencing, but no one could deny there was a serious vibe happening.

Directed by Pravin Pillay and Chloe Ulis, Umera Umera Sha was a multi-media dance performance by the impres-
sive team of Collaborative-Interactive which saw the media studio transformed into a womb-like cave and an
immense primordial temple (thanks to stage manager Sasha Popove and set designer Maya Ersan),

While others were worrying about how they would see the performance if there weren't seats and a stage, | was
happy to follow the direction of the shaman-like figure and took a seat -- cross-legged of course -- in a circle
around an altar. Video projections of fire on the walls and the enveloping sound of wood crackling created a vast
magical landscape. The audience was then asked to focus on breathing, You either felt as though you had joined a
yoga class or, like me, that you had been initiated into an ancient tribe - a tribe practicing a cosmic ritual seeking to
bring balance to our troubled spirits. | closed my eyes for a while.

Around the altar, two pairs of sculpted dancers (Pravin, Heloise, Janik and Scott) in the guises of ancient humans
and earth spirits, acted out a ritual battle. Their hypnotic movements built to ecstatic peaks alternating with the
beats of the percussionists. The audience was prompted to beat their chests in rhythm with their hearts. My
breath quickened as | joined in. Then, simple instruments were passed around and | shook a rattle to the celebrato-
ry thythm. The performance reached its peak when we participated together in chanting, "umera umera sha," until
our voices faded into space.

When it was all over, | felt as though | had just awoken from an encouraging dream and my foot was really asleep
from sitting cross-legged. | dragged myself onto the street and while my body was pumping blood back into my

foot | had the sensation that | was somehow suspended

between the earth and the sky. It felt good to recon-
rect with my surroundings and to the people in my
life. | guess that is the balance that we all try to keep.

It's hard to communicate how it feels to be living on the

brink of
something. Umera Umera Sha celebrated that feeling

‘and was an affirmation in support of our own discovery

and transformation. Its success ought not to be based
cn the acceptance of the audience but rather on the
experience of the participants.

Keep your eyes open, because Umera Umera Sha will

be performed again at the Western Front and a growing

tribe from Vancouver is working on taking this produc
tion and other extreme art to the greatest show on
earth: Burningman,

Participants are welcome; spectators can stay at home.

Supersonic Transport: A Survey of
Independent Pop Culture Magazines

Charles H. Scott Gallery
March 15th to April 24th
reviewed by Cameron Manning

Go see this show! Now!

A taste of independent magazine culture from around the world, Supersonic Transport gives a glimpse of the space
between super-low budget zine culture with which only the coolest hipsters are familiar and mass market interna-
tional publications that even the country bumpkin can name. From the tourist who checkmarks the hot spots off
their list of places to go while in a new city, to the academic who breathes the world of snooty high culture fine
arts, Supersonic Transport caters to them all. If you have ever picked up a magazine in your life there will be some-
thing in this show for you. This is one of the most interesting shows | have ever seen. It works on so many levels,
from the basic pretty pictures in cool magazines to the questioning of the place of pop culture publications in the
world of high art. Like the overload of images that exist in mass culture, this show has so many things to look at it
made my head spin. | say go a few times; take it in small doses.

photo by Jesse Birch

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