Matt Alexander Hanson is a writer in Istanbul. He produces weekly and monthly features from across Turkey, Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., covering art, books, history, travel, and food. His work with various international newspapers and magazines is translated into Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew and recently Ladino for El Amaneser, the last publication in the world entirely in the endangered Judeo-Spanish dialect. He is also an author of poetry and short stories, currently publishing a travelogue photobook, literary anthology and historical novel based on his research in the northwestern Greek city of Ioannina. His email is mhanson1717@yahoo.com
A funnel cloud split the sky in a terrifying twist of darkening wind as the Calgary Folk Festival began under a cold rain that swept over the prairie river valley.
For fear of falling into the Eurocentric trap of appreciating East Asian literature through an Anglophone lens, what must be said first is that Korean author O Ch?ngh?i is an incomparable visionary of the heart.
If art does not make the public more capable of feeling, of seeing the world through other eyes, and wanting positive change for all, then it only perpetuates class division, and in so doing, social strife.
Preeminent dance companies of New York, London, and Winnipeg all collaborated to celebrate the tenth birthday of Move: the company with a world premiere collection of works by company choreographer Joshua Beamish.
The uncanny and ingenious artistic resemblance of human relationships, Misfit Blues performs the tragicomic complex of relative mental states, the interplay of caustic vagaries, and invites onlookers to peek into a womb of loving solidarity.
The enviable and rare distinction of selling out a ticketed show at the TD Vancouver Jazz Festival is awarded to a trio that premiered their band in Canada the night before they stepped beneath The Ironworks spotlight.
Ever seen the real Roma, the homegrown flamenco of Spain? It's the kind of harmonic and choreographic precision that leaves a theater breathless, with countless eyes in a daze trying to follow each step of a dancer, pluck of a guitarist and intonation of a singer.
Cherylyn Lavagnino's choreography is an audacious blend of signatures, absolutely strong in her guidance of the body to fruition through movement and stillness.