Rosie’s pick: Short & Sweet Rejected Edition
Each edition of the Short & Sweet dance series features performances from 25 Montreal dancers – each one just three minutes long. In fact, if the pieces go over three minutes, a referee blows a whistle, effectively cutting off the dancer. The series is the project of choreographers Sasha Kleinplatz and Andrew Tay, who founded it with the goal of creating an accessible dance event that anyone would feel comfortable attending, not just those in Montreal’s professional dance scene. This edition explores the theme of rejection, asking dancers to draw inspiration from their personal experiences of artistic rejection. So for anyone feeling a little down on themselves, or maybe down thanks to the winter weather, this night will be a creative reminder that we’ve all been there – but maybe that feeling of rejection doesn’t need to last longer than three minutes.
Niyousha’s pick: CMTC presents The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine
If you’re in need of a laugh this weekend, the Chocolate Moose Theatre Company (CMTC) may have your cure. Relatively new to the Montreal theatre scene, CMTC aims to produce quality theatre that won’t leave your wallets empty. Opening this Thursday, The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine is CMTC’s fourth production. The 1987 play written by Martha Ross, Robert Morgan, and Leah Cherniak is a comedy about Ernest and Ernestine, a very happy couple – until they move in together, that is, and become an uncontrollably angry couple instead. The story follows the pair through their comic and tragic efforts to keep their anger from boiling over, while they attempt to hold on to their fading affection for each other. CMTC’s production promises to be a heartwarming (or heart-wrenching) comedy, inviting the audience to both laugh at and empathize with the angry couple.
Short & Sweet is on Saturday, January 24 at 10 p.m. at La Sala Rossa.
The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine plays at the Mainline Theatre from January 22 to January 25 at 8 p.m..