Choreographer presents just the (horrific) facts

Because of a claustrophobic staging of real-life violence – random mass murder, domestic abuse, suicide – some audience members are so troubled by Bill T. Jones’s controversial dance theatre Chapel/Chapter that they walk out of the show.

But for Jones, the legendary Harlem-based choreographer who is no stranger to controversy, crafting the work was a breath of creative fresh air. “This piece is not about inciting revolution and storming the citadel.

“Rather, I raise questions through a series of stories. Chapel/Chapter is not polemics. I make art.”

Over the years, Jones’s hard-hitting works have assaulted the audience with ugly truths about racism, AIDS and the loss of values.

Now 56, the co-founder and artistic director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (Zane died of AIDS-related causes in 1988) is still regarded as an enfant terrible of dance, who has used the art form as a platform for his socio-political agenda.

B.C. government release of forest company lands draws criticism and lawsuit

VANCOUVER — A Vancouver Island First Nation is asking the courts to put a stop to a deal that would give a private forestry company control over land it says has been used by its people for millennia.

The B.C. government agreed last year to allow Western Forest Products (TSX:WEF) to remove more than 28,000 hectares of private lands from three tree farm licences, two in the north and one in the southern region of Vancouver Island.

The tree farm licence offers the private land some of the same protections as Crown land.

The agreement means the company can now sell the land – located on some of the most prime property of the southwest coast – to developers and eventually even sell raw logs out of the province without penalty.

In the north, the Kwakiutl First Nation is concerned that the company won’t have to consult the community or government when cutting trees or even building a logging road over a sacred aboriginal site.

Miller talks trade in Chinese city

BILL SCHILLER
ASIA BUREAU
CHONGQING, China – As his flight began its descent into the heart of China yesterday, Air China issued a personal welcome to Mayor David Miller over its in-flight p.a. system.

On landing, a plush red carpet awaited him.

And down on the tarmac, an official delegation was there to greet him.

Mayor Miller could get used to this.

But it’s not everyday that you get to meet the most powerful man in the region.

Landing in this megacity last night – a municipality with 32 million people, roughly as many as Canada – Toronto’s mayor met for more than an hour with Bo Xilai, China’s former Commerce Secretary and currently Chongqing’s Communist Party chief.

He’s also a member of the central government’s powerful politburo.

Bills will face Dolphins in Toronto

Miami’s late-season visit to play the Buffalo Bills will be a little more comfortable than usual this December, as the Dolphins visit the Rogers Centre for the first NFL regular-season game played in Canada.

Though Rogers Communications, the hosts of the game, and the Bills themselves had no input into choosing an opponent for the Dec. 7 game, both seemed delighted at the prospect of taking one of the NFL’s historic rivalries on the road.

“The rivalry between the Dolphins and the Bills is sort of legend,” Rogers Communications vice-chairman Phil Lind said.

“We’re so, so pleased about it. I think it demonstrates the league’s commitment to the Bills-in-Toronto series.”

Mariah Carey: E=MC2

With erotic lead single “Touch My Body” recently garnering Mariah Carey her 18th No.1 hit (breaking Elvis Presley’s record, but lagging two behind the Beatles) the 38-year-old singer’s decision to stick with the formula of 2005’s three-time Grammy winning The Emancipation of Mimi is already paying off.

Cary’s 11th album finds her in quintessential posture: self-aggrandizing girly girl with a penchant for hip-hop beats. Though the disc opens with the celebrated five-octave singer mocking the dog whistle high notes she’s known for, she keeps the vocal gymnastics to the minimum throughout, save a cringing attempt at patois on “Cruise Control,” which guests Damian Marley.

A show with drawing power

KLEINBURG, ONT. — The Canadian painters who came together in 1920 as the Group of Seven were an alliance of like-minded artists dedicated – as A.Y. Jackson wrote in his 1958 autobiography, A Painter’s Country – “to interpret Canada and to express, in paint, the spirit of our country.”

The artists making up the Group were Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, Fred Varley, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael and Jackson himself. “The organization,” Jackson adds, “was a loose one; it had a name and a purpose but it had no officers, no bylaws and no fees.”

The work of the Group, as everyone knows, was met with remarkable hostility at first (“art gone mad,” “the cult of ugliness,” and so on), though, as Jackson amiably points out, by the time the Group was dissolved, in 1933, public horror at its “hot mush” style of painting had abated considerably.

A commitment to himself

LOS ANGELES — Next month, in the season finale of his hit television series Brothers & Sisters, Canadian actor Luke Macfarlane will dress his best and say his vows as his character, Scotty Wandell, marries his partner, Kevin Walker.

It’s an episode the London, Ont.-born actor is looking forward to, on may levels: It’s one of the few shows on network television to portray a gay marriage between two main characters – a feat the 28-year-old actor is quite proud of, from a professional perspective. But the episode also holds personal resonance for Macfarlane, who wants to be married himself some day, and has finally decided to go public with his own sexual orientation.

Though no secret to his family and close friends, Macfarlane has, until now, been guarded about his personal life as a gay man. Over lunch in Los Angeles, where he lives, he initially insists that he has no concerns about his public revelation – but a few seconds later he is shifting nervously in his chair, and concedes that he is “terrified.”