Tag: profile

Categories
Sports

A bright flame on the glistening ice

Student-athlete Kalena Korbiak is a three-time vice Canadian figure skating champion

Did you know that Concordia University’s psychology program holds a second-year student who is also a figure skating sensation?

At just 21-years-old, Kalena Korbiak is a three-time vice Canadian figure skating champion with her Montreal-based synchronized skating team, Les Suprêmes. In this context, “vice” means that the team stood second on the podium at the national level.

Korbiak has been an avid skater since she was four, when she was introduced to the sport by a family friend at the Aréna de Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts in the Laurentians.

“We were just sitting there at the arena, watching, and she said ‘Oh mommy, mommy! I wanna go shkate too. I wanna go shkate,’” said Vera Korbiak, humoristically imitating her then-four-year-old daughter.

“It’s something I connected with. It automatically became part of my identity since I was placed in it at such a young age,” said Korbiak.

From that day on, Korbiak joined the Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts skating club as a freestyle skater, and competed regionally in that category from the age of nine until she joined her elite synchronised skating team at 17.

Her loyalty to the sport was tested numerous times as she enrolled in other disciplines throughout the years, like downhill skiing, horseback riding, and even Ukrainian dancing. However, none could compete with the feeling she got once strapped in those skates.

“I was always placed into something else in order to help me with figure skating, particularly ballet,” said Korbiak . “Me and my mom decided that I was going to be doing ballet and I did so for six years until the end of high school to improve my core and skating skills.”

As a child, Korbiak would head to skating practice right after school. Korbiak and her mom would then drive from their hometown of Sainte-Adèle to Montreal for karate lessons; a Ukrainian dance class followed. If that isn’t exhausting enough, she would sleep at her grandmother’s in the east end of Montreal so that she could attend Ukrainian school on Saturday mornings, and Girl Guides later.

That lasted for three years until ballet replaced karate. Two years later, she stopped Ukrainian dancing.

During her last year of high school, in 2016, her devotion to figure skating finally paid off. After obtaining the highest regional score in her different freestyle elements, she earned an eight-minute solo at the Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts 2016 Fantaisie sur Glace Gala.

“The people there were saying ‘Oh my god she’s such a beautiful skater,’” said Vera. “I always told them the secret is ballet because that really brings out the beauty in a skater.”

This was Korbiak’s first year with Les Suprêmes.

“I found out about Les Suprêmes when I was about to go to Dawson and was staying with my grandparents in the east end,” Korbiak said. “So, I did my research and found out they were doing synchro in Saint-Leonard, and that the team was looking for skaters, so I tried it out.”

At that point, Korbiak had only been doing freestyle and was completely new to synchro. The audition period had already ended, but the team had still not found the number of skaters they required. When Korbiak showed up, she was thrown right into a practice to see if she could keep up with the choreography.

“We were and are always looking for skaters that can show different technical skills and are well rounded,” said Geneviève Rougeau, the team’s head coach for the last two years. “I think Korbiak fit in that category perfectly.”

Rougeau explained that right out of the gate, Korbiak demonstrated exemplary skills, executional versatility, and quick adaptation, which is exactly what they were looking for.

Not only was she quick to adjust, but she was quick to make new friends.

“I am actually pretty shy, so I don’t usually talk much to new people, but I noticed right away that [Korbiak] was super bubbly. She came up and started talking to me right away. I learned very quickly that she is a really nice and friendly person,” said Aly Bernardo, a fellow Les Suprêmes skater who has been on the team for 15 years.

Ultimately, Korbiak aspires to become a renowned national figure skating freestyle coach. As for synchro, she wants to take it up a notch and enter the ISU World Synchronized Skating Championships (WSSC) in the senior division and become an international Canadian champion.

 

Photos courtesy of Kalena Korbiak

Swept under the rug: An island nation lost in time

North Sentinel Island: home to an uncontacted tribe that kills its visitors

Located in the Bay of Bengal, India, the Sentinelese are some of the last peoples on Earth who remain virtually untouched by modern civilization. This island nation does not know about the existence of electricity, cars, or cellphones, and meets visitors from the outside world with violence.

Between 50 and 400 people are estimated to be living on North Sentinel Island, whose surface area is just 60 square kilometres. While it is officially administered by India, the government does not intervene into the island’s affairs and declared it a tribal reserve in 1956.

The island is not only separated by a distance of 1,200 kilometers from the mainland, but also by an entire era from the rest of the world. The people on the island live in huts, with fire being the only man-made light source.

There is no evidence that the tribe has discovered agriculture or created its own writing system. The main source of food appears to be the sea, where the locals use small outrigger canoes to hunt fish, sea turtles and crabs with spears.

The tribe itself is part of the Andaman Indigenous population. However, its language cannot be understood by any related ethnic group, as it has been separated from all civilizations since at least the 19th century.

In fact, the British Empire, Burma, and Japan have all attempted to occupy the island, but the tribe showed strong resistance and successfully defended their territory from the powerful nations.

Even today, the Sentinelese continue to meet visitors with aggression, as they perceive every foreigner as a threat.

In the past decades, Indian anthropologist Triloknath Pandit was one of the few explorers who successfully interacted with the tribe. In 1991, he attempted to befriend the island nation by offering them coconuts, pots, as well as iron hammers and knives.

Although the Sentinelese accepted the gifts, Pandit recounted in an interview with the BBC that “Warriors faced [his group] with angry and grim faces and were fully armed with their long bows and arrows, all set to defend their land.”

The Sentinelese, however, go far beyond intimidating their visitors.

In 2018, the tribe brutally murdered John Allen Chau, an American missionary who attempted to introduce Christianity to the island nation. In 2006, the tribe also killed two fishermen with a row of arrows, as their boat was approaching the island.

Today, it is a criminal offense to have contact with the islanders, as they are not immune to foreign diseases. Moreover, in 2017, the Indian government ruled that even photographing and filming the Sentinelese people could result in up to three years in prison.

Therefore, as the outside world has an extremely limited access to the Sentinelese, the island nation is likely to continue its traditional way of life. Ever since Pandit made a peaceful entrance in 1991, all attempts of contact have resulted in violence, so the tribe is expected to remain in isolation for many years to come.

“A safe space to learn and grow:” an interview with Alina Murad of PoliticalThot

 Political podcaster Alina Murad talks social justice, Concordia, and getting involved in activism

Alina Murad is a Concordia student and the host of “PoliticalThot,” a political explainer and interview podcast with a specific focus on systemic and institutional racism and xenophobia. The first five episodes are available on Spotify, and the most recent two are in video format on Instagram. I spoke to her via video call on Friday.

What prompted you to start your own podcast? 

I’ve always been a pretty politically involved person, but one day I was in class and learned something that really pissed me off, so I went on Instagram and I took a selfie, captioned it “political thot of the day” and just, like, did a rant, and I got a bunch of responses. Positive, negative, I got some threats, it was a whole mixed bag of things. And I realized, like, I actually have a lot of thoughts here that need a platform, so why not make a podcast?

So now that you have that platform, who are you speaking to?

It’s geared toward millennials, young people, primarily, but focused on people of colour. And the reason for that is the topics my podcast deals with — racism, xenophobia — this isn’t the first time people have heard about them, but a lot of the time the way these topics are dealt with doesn’t keep in mind that they are sensitive and emotional and triggering, especially for people of colour. So I am keeping in mind that these topics are sensitive … It’s primarily a safe space to learn and grow.

I definitely get that impression listening to it — often political podcasts tend to be more news-focused, analyzing specific current events as they occur, but PoliticalThot seems broader in scope. During this time of the 24/7 news cycle, what role do you see your podcast playing in the political media landscape?

I’m actually really glad that you asked this question, and especially that you mentioned the 24/7 news cycle. While it’s so important to keep up to date with news, the way that the news is dealing with reporting, it’s often very sensationalized. And most media outlets will not show you what’s happening behind the scenes, they’re not going to say “hey, here’s the reason for all of these xenophobic behaviours we’ve been seeing.” So PoliticalThot deals with things more broadly in the hopes that it’ll help people to analyze more news, more everyday situations.

Likewise, your most recent episode was a three-parter on anti-Blackness at Concordia. Alongside checking out that episode, what do you think Concordia students should be considering about this institution as we start our classes this year?

There’s so much to consider. I find it really interesting because part of the appeal, to me at least, of Concordia was that it’s this integrated campus in the city, and the facade they give off in their advertising is “oh we want you to get involved in the community, give back, get involved with politics, get involved with social justice,” but they have a very long line of “political incidents,” if you will – good and bad – that they cover up. So the first thing I’d say is to do your research, learn the history. The computer riots, the bomb threat in the EV building three years ago that was targeting Muslim students, the sexual assaults that still haven’t been properly dealt with. And the second thing is to really actively bring pro-Blackness into our institution. Because more times than not, Canadian institutions will inherently be anti-Black. So pay attention to Black scholars, Black activists– and not just on Instagram! Read books written by Black Canadian authors like Robyn Maynard and be aware of the racism disguising itself as credibility in academia. Actively seeking pro-Black information and materials and bringing them into the institution is so important.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to take action on social justice issues but might be afraid to get started?

It’s definitely a scary thing to put yourself out there, but I think the one thing to keep in mind is that everyone is learning, and making a mistake isn’t the bad part, the bad part is not taking accountability, not fixing it, not learning from it. That’s all we can ask, right? For people to learn, to try, to grow. And if you’re gut-wrenchingly terrified of doing something, I’m sure you can find friends that also want to try and get involved — you’ll have friends who might already be involved. Just ask people. That’s honestly one of the best things about social justice work, it’s the humanity. It takes a village to do anything, and when you trust people and you put faith in people, people are good.

 

Graphic Courtesy of Alina Murad

Categories
News

Swept under the rug: Modern Day Atlantis

Tuvalu: A disappearing country

For decades, the country of Tuvalu has been at risk of being swallowed by the Pacific Ocean. Despite this, sea levels keep rising and the world turns a blind eye.

At risk of becoming the first group of climate refugees, Tuvalu is a group of islands — or archipelago — located in the Southwest Pacific, near Australia and New Zealand. Home to 11,000 people, this nation is the fourth smallest in the world in terms of land area.

Approximately one third of the population lives on the main island, Funafuti — the largest land mass in the country — where most government buildings are located. On Niulakita lies the highest point in the islands, a mere five metres above sea level.

Previously being a non-believer in climate change, Nausaleta Setani, a local to Tuvalu, said, “the weather is changing very quickly, day to day, hour to hour,” in an interview with The Guardian.

“I have been learning the things that are happening are the result of man, especially [from] other countries. It makes me sad. But I understand other countries do what is best for their people. I am from a small country. All I want is for the bigger countries to respect us, and think of our lives,” Setani said.

In an interview with Sky News Australia, Jonathan Pryke, Director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program said, “what the Pacific leaders want is not more money thrown into the region to mitigate climate change, it’s more domestic action in Australia to help reduce climate change in the first place.”

Tuvalu also faces a lack of viable land to grow food on. A once self-sufficient nation now almost entirely relies on imports from the mainland. The Journal of Ocean University of China said, “the land loss in Tuvalu is mainly caused by inappropriate human activities including coastal engineering and aggregate mining, and partly caused by cyclones.”

The rising sea levels are the biggest impending issue for the archipelago, which is a direct result of melting ice caps, caused by western industries such as Australia’s coal mining industry.

Countries that are the most vulnerable to climate change are often the least powerful ones. And it will continue to swallow Tuvalu, taking the country’s unique culture and thousands of inhabitants with it.

Graphic by @the.beta.lab

Categories
Music

Maky Lavender is a momma’s boy

An interview with the West Island rapper following the release of his anticipated album, …At Least My Mom Loves Me

Maky Lavender’s trajectory to becoming a common name in the top contender category of the Montreal rap scene has been unique. His slow-growth over the last few years has been organic—word of mouth between those in the know with their ears to the ground, listening for the city’s next up-and-comers.

“There’s always things that come out through the cracks, and this time, I think it might be me,” Maky said with a hint of optimism. “I don’t get streams but I still get some attention because of the music, I’d like to think. It’s rare to see. I don’t know the last time I’ve seen it, maybe with Chance the Rapper or something, but it’s fun to be independent.”

Maky may have spoken too soon, as the recent release of his 4th studio album, …At Least My Mom Loves Me, has been positively received, and widely spread, among the Montreal hip hop community since its debut on Feb. 29. While this isn’t Maky’s first project by any means, the hype, legitimacy, and seriousness of it all makes it feel like it’s a new chapter.

“I feel like this is the first album,” he said. “Everything else before matters to me, but as an album, this is the first one.”

Maky’s discography differs depending on what streaming platform one uses. On Apple Music and Spotify, Blowfoam 2 is listed as his first album. “That’s good, we start with a sequel,” he laughed.

On Soundcloud, one can delve into his earlier cuts, Lavender Fields and BLOWFOAM. As for the first mixtape he ever released, that one is wiped clean from the internet.

“I started with dance first and then making music when I was 13, 14,” Maky recalled. “The first project was a little student mixtape. I made an album cover and people asked me where the album was, so I had to make a mixtape. So that’s where my music career really started.”

Despite the three year gap in between his most recent releases, Maky has stayed busy. His consistent rollout of singles such as “Cheese” and “TikTok” have kept him relevant and most recently gained the attention of local bookers for the upcoming festival season. In May, Maky will perform alongside industry names like 50 Cent and Booba, playing on the Saturday of Montreal’s second Metro Metro Festival. The following day, he’ll play the Santa Teresa fest in Ste-Therese. Last week, he participated in a promotional campaign with Reebok and Off The Hook boutique for the release of their new sneaker.

“I don’t trip about being overlooked or underrated,” he said. “I know that it’s really only because someone hasn’t told them about me yet.”

Maky’s achievements may seem sudden to some, but the artist has been chiselling away at his craft for years now. Working what he guessed to be over 10 or more jobs throughout his life, Maky enrolled in audio engineering school following a few years of CEGEP. While he produces a lot of his own material, Maky is working on earning respect as a rapper before asking for respect as a producer.

“I bet on myself a lot,” he said. “I went to school for this shit. You can’t get the credits to do everything though, so I’ll take the rapper credit. You can’t force people to give a f*ck—it doesn’t matter. It’s just about the music.”

…At Least My Mom Loves Me was first teased with the February debut of “Bloom,” a single accompanied by a well-received music video that acts as social commentary on the frequent racism experienced as a black performer, aptly released during Black History Month. The album title, commonly a response given to oneself in times of self-doubt or poor decision-making, is also a commentary on the world around us. Maky speaks about his patriarchal family history as Black men whose life circumstances and opportunities revolved around the time they were born in. With some relatives facing slavery and others who were soldiers at war, men were often consumed with toxic masculinity as a product of their environment and the times.

“The world just closes down so bad that you have nothing else but the woman who put you on this earth,” he said of the album title. “My mom has been good with this shit forever, she has never crossed me or done anything wrong, she’s always been there. Only women can have that way of loving something that they make. I think that was an important thing to say—that I’m a momma’s boy. People hated on me when I was growing up, calling me a little baby. But my mom never faked, she was always real. That album cover is actually a picture of my parents, with the lavenders.”

Maky is a proud and self-proclaimed momma’s boy, but he’s not perfect by any means.

“I know what it is,” he said. “I’m not an angel. You have songs like ‘Billy Gin’ and ‘5 Stars’ where I’m talking rowdy shit, but you also have songs like ‘Bloom’ and ‘Funkds.’ I think it’s just growing up and figuring out what the fuck it is—that’s just life.”

Photo by Laurence Brisson Dubreuil.

Categories
Music

Léonie Gray wants to start a conversation

A look at the singer-songwriter’s growing career as a mental health activist and feminist

On Jan. 31, Montreal singer-songwriter Léonie Gray took the stage at L’Escalier. Its stage is one she knows well, having played there monthly for the past three years.

Through her empowering presence, Gray made it clear that she is a natural performer and a seasoned vocalist. She managed to capture the audience’s attention with her impressive jazz runs and soulful belts as she created a space for them to have fun. Gray told a story with the emotions she portrayed through her music and, with an intimate venue, managed to connect with her audience.

With music founded on themes like mental health, feminism and self-growth, Gray opens a door for conversation.

“I love when people come and see me after a show and instead of being like ‘I like your music,’ they’re going to talk about themselves, like the songs they relate to and the things that happened to them, and now it’s a whole conversation between two people, not just someone going to go see an artist to say it was good,” said Gray.

With a hard-hitting EP on its way, Gray doesn’t beat around the bush. “I’m addressing the topics and that’s it,” she said. “There are no love songs. It’s really about mental health, feminism. That’s pretty much it.”

Gray performed some songs from her upcoming EP and said it is the project she is most proud of. Gray continuously puts work into her music and has been seeing significant growth in her career. One of her biggest accomplishments is her three performances at this past summer’s Montreal Jazz Festival. She described the experience as amazing, and it was only the beginning of her busy festival season.

Having recently signed with a new management team, taking on a new process with her latest EP, and pushing through challenges that arose this past year, it seems as though nothing is stopping Gray.

Sensitive, her latest EP, is different than anything she has done before. The completely self-made project was one that took time. The process started with no direction in mind. There was no theme and no goal, but Gray sat at her piano, wrote the first song, “Needed,” and it guided her through the rest of it.

“For me, it wasn’t a project I wanted to do something with after the release, it was more like ‘this is who I am, this is a part of me, have a listen and I’ll see you for the next one,’” said Gray.

Gray authentically communicates her experiences and relationships through her art and creates a human connection to which her audience can relate. She hopes her listeners will feel her music the way she does with other artists.

I want people to relate,” she said. “I’ve been listening to the same two albums for the last fifteen years, and I still feel the same way every single time. I really hope some people are going to discover my music and still feel the same way in fifteen years listening to those songs.”

Gray keeps true to her feminist beliefs and advocacy for mental health as she persistently continues to grow with her career. “I just want everyone to know my name,” she said.

With music that stays true to her authentic self and a hard-hitting EP coming soon, Léonie Gray is a name to know.

Photo by Anne Sophie Coiteux

Categories
Sports

Injuries won’t stop Nelly Owusu from playing basketball

Recruiting is essential for university sports teams, as in most cases, student-athletes play about four or five years with their team before graduating.

The Concordia Stingers women’s basketball team recruited great talents from college in the past years––Nelly Owusu being one of them.

Owusu played basketball for Dawson College in division 1 of the Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ) before playing for the Stingers. She was one of the best players in her league, especially in terms of defence, where she finished the 2017-18 season first in steals.

Head coach Tenicha Gittens said that when she recruited Owusu, she saw a player who had explosiveness, speed and an ability to take hold off defenders.

“It was amazing,” Gittens said. “She has one of the best attitudes. She’s definitely someone you want in your locker room, and as part of your program. We just saw her being able to be very disruptive on the defensive end of the floor.”

Owusu said she decided to join the Stingers because of the team’s coaching staff. She had offers from other places, such as McGill University and Bishop’s University, but Owusu said the coaches made her choice easier.

“I think it’s important to have a great coaching staff who believes in you and has your back,” Owusu said. “It’s important to know that your coaches not only care about you in terms of basketball, but also for your future. They’ll be around for the four-to-five years that you’re here.”

Owusu admitted she thought that the university basketball experience would be similar to when she played in college, but she quickly realized the difference in speed, strategies and talent level.

“At Dawson, we would [practice] an hour and a half, but it’s like two and a half hours here,” said Owusu. “It’s being able to remember everything, and apply it in the games. I thought I would be playing against all those same players that I played against in college, just like I played the same players in college that I played before in CEGEP.”

Gittens said the coaching staff was looking for that kind of defensive support when Owusu started with the Stingers. Owusu’s defensive game, as well as the little things she was bringing on the court, pushes her teammates to be better.

“When she first came here, it first took her like two games to kind of get the hang of it,” Gittens said. “Her ability to single handle defensively was what we were looking at. She was our leader defensively.”

Owusu has faced some challenging moments since her university debut. Unfortunately, two injuries slowed down her development, including an ACL tear. The point-guard said it was a frustrating moment, as it was her second ACL injury.

“I came in every day, and came at practice every day even if I couldn’t do much,” said Owusu. “I came back again for preseasons, but dislocated my shoulder. I really love basketball, and have played it for a long time. It was really demoralizing [to get hurt again], and be cheering from the bench once again. My experience [so far] includes a lot of determination, pushing and mental strength especially.”

Gittens said it’s hard to describe Owusu’s development so far because of her injuries. However, she thinks her defence has been an important part of the Stingers’s game since her arrival.

“When she’s really locked in, it opens up for more offensively. Nelly is more than just what you see on the scoresheet,” Gittens said. “On paper you’ll see steals, but you won’t see deflections. You won’t see that she created the steal. She was on her way to challenge Myriam [Leclerc] for rookie of the year, just based on what she was doing defensively. It was really exciting, and allowed us to play and do our thing.”

Owusu is obviously aware of her defensive talents, saying that she really likes the satisfaction of when she stops opponents, and does all those little things you won’t necessarily see on the scoresheet, but are as important as the baskets scored by the offence.

“When you get to lock down some specific players, for example the best players of the other teams, you feel that strength in you,” Owusu said. “I know that defence is important, even if a lot of people mostly just think about the amount of points and things like that. I feel like that low-key part is my best asset.”

With five games left to the team’s regular season, Owusu wants to improve her decision-making. She likes to attack the basket and shoot the ball, but is aware she sometimes needs to analyze the play better.

“Most of the time, all I see is the basket instead of looking around me and being aware of where the [opponent’s] defence is, or where my teammates are,” Owusu said. “If I’m not patient and not making the right decision, I can [make us lose possession]. If I do my job on defence, that’s fine, but if I can’t do it on the other end, than it won’t help the team.”

 

Photos by Cecilia Piga

Categories
Student Life

Braving the world of stand-up comedy

Photo by Cecilia Piga

After getting out of a bad relationship where she felt powerless, and dealing with health issues consisting of debilitating migraine attacks, Diana Gerasimov found herself in a very dark place. For months, she felt that there was nothing that interested or captivated her. 

One day she was scrolling through Facebook when she saw a post calling for people who wanted to try stand-up comedy. She signed up, feeling reckless and thinking that this would be a one time thing. Turns out, she was wrong.

“No one was expecting me to do this. I didn’t expect myself to do this and I didn’t really care if it turns out bad,” she said.

The process of getting ready for her first show helped change Gerasimov’s outlook. “I didn’t feel motivated by anything, as one does when their mental health is poor,” she said. “This gave me a sense of purpose that I hadn’t felt in a while.” At the end of her first show at Barfly in Montreal at the start of the year, she felt extremely proud of herself.

Gerasimov finds inspiration for her jokes in many places. For one, she was raised by her single mother who is a Russian immigrant. She was always able to make people around her laugh by imitating her mother’s accent or pointing out her superstitious ways. She built jokes around what her friends thought was funny about her cultural background.

I exploited the stereotypes against me, and now I’m reclaiming them,” she said. Gerasimov also gets inspired by her environment. “I’m a big eavesdropper, on transportation especially, and I try to build a context around whatever joke or punchline I’ve written.”

Gerasimov is a Concordia student, studying communications and cultural studies. Even though she works hard on her stand-up, she doesn’t find that it really interferes with her schooling.

“Juggling school work and stand-up feel pretty easy,” said Gerasimov. “They both compliment each other, where stand-up kind of feels like eating a greasy poutine and school is like eating a jar of pickled beets.”

Being a 22-year-old woman, there aren’t many comics like Gerasimov. Comedy is a male-dominated space and can often feel intimidating; because of this, Gerasimov didn’t expect to find such a feeling of togetherness through this craft.

“I found a sense of community and support. People are inviting you to shows and people want you to meet other comedians,” she said. But it was more than that for Gerasimov: she noticed that people are interested in specifically seeing her do stand-up. She says that most people that do stand-up are 35 years old and over, and are typically male. She loves surprising people on stage because she doesn’t look like your typical stand-up comedian.

Gerasimov explained that this surprise comes from a lack of representation. “You are constantly put in a box as a woman,” she said. “You’re either smart, pretty or funny. You can’t have it all. You can’t be multidimensional and complex. You have to be one thing.”

“During my last set, a 50-year-old guy came up to me after and was grazing my arm for four minutes,” she recounted. “This was before he gave me advice on how I should go forward with my set and telling me that my tone was too monotone. He also said he found me to be extremely hilarious.”

Her routine often includes men and sexism, although not without repercussions from the audience. When she does certain jokes, she sometimes gets bombarded by unwanted suggestions at the end of her shows.

A few times, Gerasimov has been heckled or cat-called during a performance. While this can be quite alarming, she explained it’s important to try and tie the comment into her joke somehow. If she’s doing a bit about how men are frustrating and a man yells “I love you,” she can use this to help her own joke and make her point. This helps her regain control, because problems can arise when she lets something like that destabilize her.

One of Gerasimov’s favourite times performing was at LadyFest, a female-run comedy festival in Montreal that’s been going on for five years and showcases female performers. She attended as a guest and didn’t expect to be performing, but then received a last minute opportunity.

“I think it went well because I didn’t have so much time to psych myself out, which I normally tend to do,” said Gerasimov. “I analyze a joke for so long it becomes unfunny to me.”

Sometimes Gerasimov suffers from imposter syndrome; she often questions if she is even allowed to call herself a comic.

“Men don’t have a problem calling themselves comics after a few times performing, and women constantly have to prove they are funny to an audience,” she said.

If Gerasimov could become very successful, she would do comedy as a career, but otherwise, it is a difficult thing to pursue professionally.

“It’s either you’re doing comedy and several other things to keep you afloat or you’re super successful,” she said. Gerasimov is also interested in script writing. She’s written a few episodes for a web series, and hopes to continue to develop skills that she’s learned from writing stand-up routines.

“[Comedy has] given me so much more confidence in day-to-day interactions, networking, approaching people and putting myself out there for different opportunities,” said Gerasimov.

She also explained that comedy can be terrifying because it’s so vulnerable. It’s not like a music show where it’s polite to clap whether a performer is good or bad; it all comes down to audience responses. It’s automatic, and you don’t have any control over it. You are truly at the mercy of your audience. “It almost seems pathetic to be like, ‘let me make you laugh’,” she said. “I’m basically on stage begging for people to laugh at me.”

“If you really must joke about something that might offend, be ready for the commentary,” said Gerasimov, noting that accountability in stand-up is becoming more of a priority. “But to be quite blunt, if you feel as though you have nothing to joke about because ‘everyone is so sensitive,’ then you’re just a lazy writer.” She explained that this doesn’t mean issues shouldn’t be addressed in comedy.

“There are ways to write jokes that offer a commentary on the state of the world, I think it just comes down to intention,” she said.

This past week, Gerasimov performed twice at the Diving Bell Social Club. Keep an ear out for her next show on Facebook – it might just be the study break you need right now!

Photo by Cecilia Piga

Categories
Arts

Anne-Audrey Remarais and the art of healing

How a Concordia student is using art to help people be kinder to themselves

Anne-Audrey Remarais is a Concordia student, studying Performance Creation. Prior to her current major, she studied theatre at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, where she got her first taste of performance art. Later, she went on to pursue a Bachelors in Social Work at McGill University.

That kind of academic background is one of the many things that inspires her pursuing a current career in art. Since Nov. 16, two of her visual art installations, Miwa, I … and Seeing and Be-Coming, have been on show at the VAV Gallery as part of the No.03 exhibition. Remarais is part of the many artists showcasing their pieces in the exhibition.

Seeing and Be-Coming is a beautiful interactive installation, a video projection with the words “Will you move with my shadow?” standing out. It shows two figures struggling to find a rhythm, as if they can’t seem to trust enough in each other to come together.

Seeing and Be-Coming.
Photo by Youmna El Halabi

Miwa, I… is not for the faint of heart. The installation is simple, a mirror, with headphones hung right next to it, in an empty room, but the emotional effect on the viewer is intense. Imagine standing in front of your reflection, with the words “I AM ENOUGH” written on the mirror, listening to words stemming from self-doubt, and insecurities, daring you not to sob.

“Performance comes in different ways,” Remarais said. “People in the creative space become the performers. I’m changing the way I view performance and realizing that a story can be told without the need for a script. It can be through lighting, through visuals, and I wanted to explore the different types of storytelling.”

What inspires Remarais the most is her own life and the highs and lows that come with it. 

“The past few years, I’ve been on this healing journey and throughout the year I’ve had a better understanding of what it means to be vulnerable, realizing through therapy that I needed to focus on that,” she said. “Building the foundation and routine of taking care of myself for real and being able to speak kindly to myself — I want to commit to it. Art helps me with that and including people with me like ‘let’s do this together, I don’t wanna do this alone.’ I feel like this is something we can all share, you know?”

Remarais first experienced a sense of unity and security at a visual arts installation in New College, at the University of Toronto, on April 7, 2018.

Song for the Beloved was an interactive performance honouring those who have died from urban violence in Kingston, Jamaica, linking these experiences to other forms of violence in communities around the world.

“It was an intimate healing experience,” Remarais said. “A space where we can come together, quietly. I remember thinking about my uncle even if we didn’t talk very much. I remember crying and being so touched by what I was seeing. To me it really was … it really fed my soul.”

As a person of colour, Remarais has dedicated part of her installation, specifically Miwa, I … , to the black community, and the suffering they have experienced throughout history. When asked if she ever felt a sort of political burden as a black artist, she shook her head.

“I feel like I haven’t done enough to have that identification in art,” she confessed. “But I’ve seen other people go through it. Especially people of colour — it’s like, people always ask them ‘how do you feel about the political state of the world?’ It’s ridiculous to focus on that and to give a person the responsibility to represent a whole community cause we’re all unique individuals. Yes, I’m black but it’s a subjective experience, even if it’s political.”

In Remarais’ words, her art can be summarized in three actions: healing, seeing, and dialogue. She wants people to feel comfortable enough to have a healthy dialogue with themselves, and others, about their suffering.

“[Art] gives me life,” she said. “It allows me to dig deeper into myself. I see it as an outlet.”

Remarais had planned on hosting a workshop called ”A spell for my healing,” dedicated to the black community to find their voices and create personalized loving mantras, prior to the exhibitions finissage. However, due to unforeseen infrastructural issues, VAV Gallery was forced to cancel both events, and close their space on Dec. 9. It will open again early mid-January.

Nevertheless, Remarais plans on making a pop-up workshop in the new year, and both Miwa, I … and Seeing and Be-Coming are up until Dec. 6 at the VAV Gallery.

 

Feature photo by Britanny Clarke.

Categories
Music

Raven talks inspiration, performing live, and her new EP

Photo by Laurence BD

Hot off the release of her second EP Some Kind of Solace, Raven sips a pint of Guinness as she talks about the musical journey that led her to Montreal.

Being from Invermere, a small town in the Rockies, she talked about her life in the mountains.

“I grew up on a small cabin homestead in the woods, definitely a sort of hippy upbringing which is reflected in my full name – Raven Juniper Winona Jane Hart-McAllister,” she said as she laughed, “I definitely didn’t have a shortage of artist names to choose from.”

Raven began her career by playing covers of folk and country songs – the types of songs commonly heard in her mountain town of 3,000 people. It wasn’t until her parents introduced her to the musical stylings of Norah Jones, Morcheeba and Billie Holiday that Raven found her niche.

My voice didn’t suit folk or pop covers, they just ended up sounding more jazz and soul than I intended – my voice led me to the direction I’m going in now.”

From the age of five, piano and singing recitals were a regularity for Raven. This resulted in a deep love for performing. Taking a quick sip of her stout, she mentioned that her “favourite part of the entire process is performing.” This is not surprising considering her performance at the Some Kind of Solace release party in an Old Port graphic design office turned, intimate, dimly lit music venue.

With the help of her band, Raven confidently took the audience through the entirety of the new EP, granting the audience’s request for an encore of her single “E.T.A.” Pink lights lit the stage while Raven swayed to the beat, the saxophone player adding an element of depth to the music that filled the space. Her love for fashion and stage aesthetics helped create a dreamscape in which the audience was enveloped, as the neo-soul songs grooved through the Old Port space.

After highschool, Raven travelled the globe before returning home and beginning work on her first EP Illusions with her childhood best friend, Moneo. Although she did not have the ability to record while moving from country to country, Raven believes that the experiences heavily influenced her songwriting and helped her find her voice. After three years of country-hopping, Raven found herself back in Invermere, unsure what to do next. This is when she and Moneo decided to put those emotions and experiences into Illusions. This gave her insight into the writing and recording process – insight which would be used to improve her songwriting and enabled her to hone her craft before heading east.

Shortly upon arriving in Montreal in 2017, Raven met producer and partner Fabrice Jean. Together, they spent hours in their home studio in the Mile End, writing and producing her most recent work. With a love for R&B, jazz, and soul, the duo worked tirelessly on the recent batch of songs, some of which include lyrics that were directly influenced by the recording process. In “Golden Hour,” the first track off the new EP, Raven sings of spending a scorching hot summer day in Jean’s tiny, studio apartment, where the “bed touched the fridge and it was chaotic, but something about it was really special.” 

Throughout all of the songs on the EP is Jean’s impeccable production that draws influence from multiple genres, seamlessly blending them in a unique mix, which provides the perfect soundscape for Raven’s voice. Although all of the music was produced in the home studio, the lead vocals were recorded at Celine Dion-frequented Piccolo Studios in Montreal, where the new environment inspired some of Raven’s best takes.

“Sonically, I felt like I was finally creating stuff I really liked and wanted to share it and to keep up that creative momentum Fabrice and I had going for Some Kind of Solace,” she said as she finished off the pint.

Graduating from Concordia’s Communications program this year, Raven is looking forward to having more time to put towards her music. With a new single ready for release this month, and an album release show in Quebec City on Dec. 6, Raven has a busy schedule ahead.

“I have no intention of slowing down,” she said. “Actually, quite the opposite.”

Judging by the quality of the most recent EP and the response to her live shows, it’s safe to say that she is one to keep an eye on.

 

Photo by Laurence B.D.

Categories
Music

Minoe’s journey in the music world

Photo by Britanny Clarke

Montreal artist Minoe explains her path and goals

Minoe, a 20-year-old R&B singer, started performing in musicals when she was around eight years old, as well as singing national anthems and in honour choirs. She joined her first band at 16. She now sings solo and sometimes plays guitar, opting for more creative, solo-driven artistry.

“I needed a stage name because I didn’t have one for a long time and I had a show coming up, so I was in a rush,” she said. “I went to my roommate and I wanted something to do with the ocean because I’m from Nova Scotia (Halifax), so she said ‘whale’ as a joke. Then, she said ‘minnow,’ and I liked it. I realized I spelled it wrong, but I liked it that way, and it ended up working well.”

Minoe came to Montreal three years ago to continue working on her music and start studying at Concordia University. She is doing a double major in art history and studio art.

Minoe’s latest song “Cellphone” is about an ex-boyfriend who would never put his phone down, but she said it can apply to anyone. She added that her previous song, “Best for You,” is about getting out of an unstable relationship, putting her needs first and doing what’s best for her.

“There are a lot of songs that I really relate to, and I want to be that for somebody else if that’s a possibility. It would be amazing,” Minoe said.

She is now focusing on shows and PR work. Her team consists of her manager Dany, also known by his producer name Fairchylde, and her stylist Julia, owner of Explicit Mess Boutique.

Because Minoe finds inspiration everywhere – from Destiny’s Child to Louis Armstrong – she is not afraid of trying different genres.

The next step in the musician’s career is to start travelling. She said she would like to perform in Toronto.

“I really want to experience as much as I can and perform wherever people will come and see me perform. I’m grateful for any opportunity,” Minoe said, adding that one of her goals is to release either an EP or an album next year.

She also said she’d love to start collaborating with more artists, such as Kaytranada, a Haitian-Canadian DJ and record producer, and to perform in big festivals, like Osheaga and Coachella.

“It’s so important to surround yourself with friends who support you,” Minoe said. “I have that and I’m grateful. They always help me with my music. My best friends Ellis and Mia have been so instrumental and important in me believing in myself and doing what I want to do. I couldn’t ask for more incredible people in my life.”

Minoe emphasized that people shouldn’t give up because of what others say. With absolute certainty, she said: “I don’t believe in luck. If you want to succeed you have to work hard and keep going.”

Categories
Arts

Trueisms, actions without climax and dog training

“It’s a series of actions, really simple actions, focusing on the body,” said Emma-Kate Guimond about her performance at VIVA! Art Action,  a bi-annual ‘vibrant’ action-based performance art, social practice, and public intervention festival.

Before she begins, she warms up the topography of her body with a series of simple movements and stretches, like jumping jacks or simply standing on two feet, to become aware of her skin, her muscles… 

With a BFA in contemporary dance from Concordia, Guimond chose to pursue visual and performing arts in her postgraduate studies, focusing on presence (or the lack of it) in body-based exercises. She refers to the acts she performs as “trueisms,” actions that aren’t mundane, nor are they exciting. They simply have no punchline, no trick. Allowing decentralization to happen and refusing to be present during her performance, defining limits based on absolute “no’s.”

Guimond completed her MFA at UQAM with a project called Possible Performance. A script of actions at heart, Guimond wrote in the second person, addressing different types of impossibility – “you try to jump, but you also try not to jump”, “you hold the slab,” a giant silicone sculpture, “as long as you can.” She wrote about 30 of these and invited others to come to her studio to perform them.

“It was based on the economy of friendship,” she said. “A collective negotiation of how they could be in the space. I think the most intimate way of showing somebody a performance is by having them do it themselves.” 

With open individual sessions lasting for approximately 45 minutes, her final footage of the performance was six hours long. Her participants wore specific textured clothing, colour-blocked and vintage costumes selected by Guimond to resonate with her installation. She became fixed on the idea that, no matter how close you can get to someone, you can never become them, never know the inner workings of their minds. Her participants became scripted versions of herself – avatars.

“There’s a threshold there, of togetherness and aloneness,” Guimond explained. “One of the tags of my thesis was ‘Rehearsing being alone together,’ this idea of things being side by side but not necessarily integrated. It’s how I structure my performances.”

Guimond’s newer work, not entirely separate from her thesis project, breaks down these ideas into categories, rules to continue structuring her work.

“I adopted a dog in December and in dog training, they introduce this approach called the 3-Ds, distraction, distance and duration. I thought it was a really interesting structure for thinking about performance. Distraction is something I have worked on in my thesis, talking about decentralising attention within a performative space and at the same time, not having a protagonist, not having a hero and not having one thing happening at once, no focal point or narrative,” said the artist. 

Distance, on the other hand, refers to putting space between yourself and your dog, giving them a treat, leaving the room, and expecting them not to have eaten it yet. In dog training, distance is characteristic of obedience, which she decided to replace with deceleration.

“The best way to get over what we are going through as a society is to accelerate its process, a dangerous idea,” she continued. “Deceleration is this idea of anti-productivity. I kept thinking to myself, what is the performance I could do and keep going my whole life?”

Action-based performance can be quite chaotic; a series of things occur, a transformation happens that surprises the audience, but this isn’t what Guimond is putting forward. Her climaxless, ultimately pointless movements, are based on endurance, working with those ideas of duration, deceleration, distraction, and difficulty.

Difficulty is a thing that I work with a lot. Difficulty and possibility… the body having a hard time doing things…”

Whether clutching her ankles in a one-woman human triangle on top of a refrigerator or rolling stiffly and painfully slow across an uneven asphalt floor in a sculptor’s rented-out studio, Guimond’s performance art is surely strenuous, yet not impossible.

On Sept. 28, Guimond opened VIVA!’s final performance night of the Biennale with a projected video of her dog. “My dog for the duration of a cigarette,” said the artist into a microphone. She lit a cigarette, dropped it on the floor and removed her heeled oxford shoe, revealing a nude fishnet sock. Her foot blocked the smoke for a moment before stepping it out. “Tricks for the duration of a bone,” she continued, her actions intriguingly bizarre. “The pace required for the urine inside the plastic bottle to remain still as the bottle rolls.” Guimond wore a neon yellow dress and translucent, dirt-coloured raincoat. She removed a massive clump of neon yellow putty, slapped it to the floor and planked, pushing her face deep inside it. It’s form kept as she rose to her feet.–

To see documentation of Guimond’s past work, visit www.emmakateguimond.com . 

 

 

 

With files from Emma-Kate Guimond and VIVA! Art Action. Feature photo by Paul Litherland.

 

 

 

Exit mobile version