The Fab Five Cabaret was held at the River Run Centre on Friday, Feb. 7, and was the opening of this year’s Hillside Inside. The Cabaret consisted of five acts that have been showcased in five festivals here in Guelph.
The show opened with Tony Dekker from The Great Lake Swimmers. Dekker, a singer-songwriter, has been hailed a “national treasure” by the CBC. Dekker has opened for likes Robert Plant, Jeff Tweedy, and Feist. His songs have special geographical significance for listeners, with lyrics like “…everything frozen, slow, somewhere near Thunder Bay.”
The evening continued with a showing of Georges Melies’ film from 1912, Conquest of the Pole, with the musical accompaniment of GUH, a group of talented musicians from Guelph and Toronto. GUH created an inventive musical score for the silent film, one that responded to the diverse screen images created by Melies. GUH have been making music together for over 20 years. They used a variety of instruments and moved briskly through their soundscape. Some of these scapes were dominated by bagpipes, drums, and horns; others scapes were softer and made up of string instruments. GUH has a unique repertoire of sound.
Melies was a French illusionist and filmmaker. He was also an innovator of special effects. He is hailed as the first “Cinemagician” because of his ability to manipulate and transform reality on the screen.
The performance continued with a ballet titled The Young Lions. This ballet was choreographed by Kelly Steadman, and was performed by five young women of the Guelph You Dance Company and Apprentices Company. This company provides young dancers with an opportunity to work with professional choreographers. This work incorporated the music of Constantine, a rock-artist from Guelph. The lyrics, “Oh young lions, this is your kingdom” set the tone for a dance that exuded the energy of youth in a playful and aggressive way.
The Portal Dance Project performed excerpts from a dance choreographed by Janet Johnson, called This Side of Light. Johnson and Catrina von Radeki are the co-founders and co-artistic directors of the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival, which was established in 1998. This Side of Light was inspired by the role light plays in our lives. The dancers chase the light and retreat from the dark. In pursuit of this force, this energy, they become physically buffeted and mentally confused. There was drama and terror present within this scene. The producers used fixed and moving lights of varying intensity and hue to create and manipulate their stage images.
Maestro Fresh Wes is the author of the critically acclaimed book, Stick to Your Vision. The subject matter of his book is crafted around how to define your talent or vision, how to achieve it, and what to do with your success. He has also hit the bright lights, so to speak, with his hip hop number “Let your Backbone Slide.” He’s no shrinking violet and he never apologizes if he tramples on any of the audiences toes. At times he talked like a comedian, and when the audience laughed his responses were, “you’re beautiful,” or “reach for the sky, babe.” Sometimes he leaned in on the audience and brushed knuckles in an intimate way with a mutter, a god-bless, perhaps. He told the audience that making records was not enough; we had to have a higher vision. His vision seemed to be caught up in the fame of such stars as Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, and Michael Jackson – saints of celebrity. Many of the audience members were likely fans of Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, and Uncle Tom Cobley, but they remained quiet, stationary hands crossed in laps. No one stood, climbed out of their bucket seats, or shouted in agreement. They lacked the courage to stand up and declare their passion. Is this the attraction of entertainers like Wes, someone who projects a fearless and audacious attitude?
Eventually, Wes cooled down and began to rap a few of his tracks – a heavy, emotional poetry that seemed to embrace both mood and bodily action.