The View From Montreal: Full Circles

Kelli Hanrahan

 

 

The spring and summer in the city for me was filled with workshops in dance, theatre, yoga and shiatsu, hula-hooping performances at a couple of street festivals, and a short-lived job as an ESL teacher (through which I discovered, that, yes, I’d like to teach English, but rather on the creative, literature end rather than the grammatical, syntactical side).  I took in as much of the festival action as my schedule and energy could manage; the summer festivals in Montreal are simply an experience to be had.  There is no shortage of events to partake of, from the Fringe to the Jazz Fest, from Just for Laughs to Nuits d’Afriques, from a month-long fireworks spectacle to tango in the parks and circus in the streets.  The City of Montreal generously supports these festivals and is not afraid to shut down busy streets and entire bridges in the name of culture, comedy, or pyrotechnics–Vive le Quebec libre!

At summer’s end I had the opportunity to participate in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island’s, first-ever Fringe Festival.  As a collaborative member of TrypTychDanz, myself, another dancer, a video artist, and his 10-year-old daughter, produced a multi-media piece that included interpretive dance, video projection art, and the debut of an original piece of poetry that I recorded at a PEI beach to the sound of waves lapping in the background. The theme was Man meets Nature: Earth and Water.  We mesmerized the audience with our multi-sensory combination of light, sound, movement, music and poetry, and it was an honour to debut this piece in my home province in its first Fringe Festival endeavour.  I took in a few shows of the Montreal Fringe, and now my pallet is wetted for further samplings of this multi-disciplinary, cutting-edge, international performing arts festival.

So, back in the city and with fall on the horizon, I returned to questioning, "What am I doing with my life?" and "How am I going to make my living as an artist in this world, city, … community?"  I had thought of returning to school to take some theatre courses at Concordia, and was registered and went to first classes and all, when I discovered a technical glitch that both saved me a considerable amount of money, and set my course in another direction: tuition rates are half the price if you are a Quebec resident.  So, if I wait until January semester (when I will be an "official" resident), I would be much the (fiscally) wiser.  But, as one door closes, another one opens, so the expression goes. One of my back-up plans proved to be the most appropriate course of measure after all, and so I found myself at the doors of Compagnie F, a women’s entrepreneurial training centre.

A not-for-profit organization, funded through the Canadian Women’s Federation, I first encountered Compagnie F at a women’s community economic development conference in Cape Breton last year. I was pleased to find that my interests in community-building with women, and training in the arts, are still supported in these days when government funding for women’s and arts programs are a low priority.  During the next three months, I will share a classroom with inspiring and talented women artists as we learn to write our artists’ biographies, conduct market research, manage our time and resources, and all the essential ins-and-outs of how to make a living as an artist.  From fashion design to song-writing, from jewelery-making to photography and painting, we’ve got the artistic pallet covered, in a room full of voluptuous and vibrant, established and emerging female artists.  We all share in the feelings of isolation of our art production, and our concerns about money, but also the passion and commitment to pursue our talents and to share these with the world.  At Compagnie F, we are provided with both the practical and purposeful supporting resources to make these dreams a reality.

My project for the course is to create my own multi-disciplinary arts company--in poetry, song, writing and performance --and to invite other women artists (mostly my fabulous friends!) to come together to collaborate and perform, to learn from and support each other, both financially and artistically.  It is my vision to combine my love of the arts with women’s community-building, to create a company that is based in the spirit of creative collaboration.  Basically, doing what I have been doing all along, but under a professional banner, with company logo and business cards to boot–so wish me luck!

Last to share, in my exploration of the city’s cultural offerings, is that I joined a women’s chorus! Well … okay … I just started weekly classes in chorale singing that happens to be group of women. But, my voice teacher also leads an all-women’s chorus, so with more practice on my scales and sight-reading, I could be the newest member of Choeur Maha. 

All this to say that, no matter where I go, I find I am blessed to be surrounded with so many inspiring women and artists.  Since I moved here, I’ve re-connected with hometown friends on the street, room-mates from other cities, class-mates from univesity, and experienced many "small world" occurrences that remind me that yes, the circles are small, but they are strong, As women, we are the circle keepers, the drummers, the singers, and always, the creators.  May our voices be heard, our paintings be hung, our costumes and bodies worn with pride. 

And may the circle continue to turn …

Photo Credits:
Kelli Hula credit: Photo Réal Capuano; Juste pour Rire credit: Anthony Kerr; "Pont Jacques Cartier" (cover) credit: Anthony Kerr (all permissions granted)

Other articles by Kelli:

• The View From Montreal: Only Connect (April 2007)
• Love Our Mother: Feminism and the Divine Mother (December 2006)
• Cooperation: Necessity is the Mother of Invention (August 2006)
• The Divine Feminine: A Woman's Quest (February 2006)