ITM Model Look North America - Model Search

The 5th annual River Rock Resort ITM Model Look North America event is back!

Be a part of Vancouver's largest model search. ITM is looking for females between the ages of 16 and 26, who are passionate about the fashion industry, and who aspire to become a top international model!

With over $10,000 in prizes, including an all-expense paid trip to China, ITM has something in it for you!

APPLY NOW at www.itmmodel.com
Deadline: April 1, 2009.

Presented by CHMB AM1320

Benefitting BC Cancer Foundation

Sponsored by River Rock Casino Resort, Rogers Wireless, Omni Television, Ferrari Maserati of Vancouver, Red Rain Energy Drink, Bluefly.com, JC Studio, The Art Institute of Vancouver, ToyWatch and [yellow tail].

Supported by explorASIAN

Yes!+ (Youth Empowerment Seminar): "Be the Change You Want to See in the World!"

Develop Leadership & Life Skills
Improve Fitness & Health
Increase Focus & Concentration
Learn Time Management Skills
Challenge Yourself to New Heights!

Vancouver:
Where: UBC (University of British Columbia) March 10th to 15th, 2009

Contact for information & registration: 778-317-6656 or 604-339-0179
Email: yesplusvancouver@gmail.com

Victoria:
Where: UVIC (University of Victoria) March 17th to 22nd, 2009

Contact for information & registration: 250-748-3133
Email: victoriayesplus@hotmail.com

Website: www.artoflivingyouth.ca

Hosted by:
Youth Chapter of Art of Living Foundation, a worldwide educational humanitarian non-profit organization.

The Youth Empowerment and Skills Training Seminar (Yes!+) is specifically catered to the needs and demands of today's youth, teaching valuable leadership and communication skills as well as techniques and processes that allow individuals to overcome personal barriers and joyfully excel in life. This is accomplished through many fun and exciting practices including profound breathing exercises that 'cleanse you of stress', anxiety, and negativity while breaking monotony and adding much dynamism and joy to one's life.Yes!+ challenges young people to reach their highest potential and has made a difference to thousands across the world.

96 % Improved Focus
85% Better Sleep at Night
98% Reduced Stress
99% Improved Mood

TESTIMONIALS

IT IS AMAZING. I feel much stronger. Stronger than ever before. I believe I can do whatever I want to. I believe I can be a change in this world. And I'm so grateful I had this chance to get this wonderful experience and knowledge. I'm so happy. Thank You.
Neringa (Psychology Student, 23 yrs)

Why didn't I discover the Art of Living earlier? I could have prevented so many disasters in my life! My life has changed so much, I wouldn't have believed it if I was told this before. Whether it's frustration, anger, jealousy, shyness, there are so many things that we leave behind us in this course that at the end of the week we are not the same. Today I personally cannot get angry.
Robin (Engineer INSA Strasbourg-France, 24 yrs)

The Art of Living YES!+ course has given me greater strategies for maintaining inner peace. It has helped me love the world more fully because of all the wonderful people that exist together, experiencing and living every day. . . . it has given me greater strength to take on the challenges that life presents.
Elsa Lau (Concordia University)

Unconference 2009, hosted by ACCO

Start Time: Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 11:00am
End Time: Friday, March 6, 2009 at 5:00pm
Location: SUB rm 214, 216 @UBC
City/Town: Vancouver, BC
Email: info@ubcacco.com

for more info, check out www.ubcacco.com

Join in on our *FREE* Unconference
a two day event that consists of six workshops facilitated by our student members. Each workshop tackles a different topic that affects the Asian Canadian community.

Note:
- no sign up required!
- Pop in ANY time! attend any of the topics *mentioned below*
- Food and refreshments will be provided, complimentary of ACCO ;)

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Program:

March 5th, 2009 – Day 1

Opening - 11 am to 11:30 am

Workshop 1 - 11:30 am to 12:50 pm SUB 214

Asian Women are Sooo Exotic
This workshop will open up a nice girly flow of conversation pertaining to the cultural and sexual stereotypes of Asian women in the West. Topics to be addressed include: media representation, family and cultural upbringing, and, sexuality and identity. Led by UBC student Crystal Tai, we invite you to join us in breaking down some of the misnomers that affect Asian women, and help us come up with different ways to counter such misconceptions.

Workshop 2 - 1:00 pm to 2:20pm SUB 214

Asian Man, Take a Stand! Reframing the Angry Asian Man Experience
Are you angry? Asian? Join UBC Students Kenji Shimizu and Mark Lee on a journey of self-discovery. From media portrayals to interracial dating, explore the causes of the angry Asian man phenomenon and discuss practical methods to grow and overcome these problems. Women, non-Asians and the non-angry are also welcome!

Workshop 3 - 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm SUB 214

New versus Old: Conflicts between Immigrants and Canadian-Born Asians
Have you ever wondered where your Asian parent is coming from? Or pondered about what your immigrant and Canadian-Born Asian peers think about one another? UBC student Andrea Chan will explore the culture and value differences between Asian immigrants and CBAs. This workshop will discuss social interactions, thoughts and feelings between those new to Canada and those that are born in Canada and have thus been accustomed to Western culture.

March 6th, 2009– Day 2

Workshop 4 - 12:00 pm to 1:20 pm SUB 214

Drugs, Gangs, and Asian Youth Culture
With the rise of gang-related crimes in the Lower Mainland, the street gang lifestyle has been increasingly associated with Asian Canadians. Police-raided grow-ops have also indicated that Asians own a fair share of these illegal operations. Are these statements a fair assessment? Are Asians really more prone to joining gangs and dealing drugs? UBC students Narith Heng and Angela Wong will lead a workshop examining the association of drugs and gangs with Asian Canadian youths and the social and political consequences it has on the Asian Canadian community.

Workshop 5 - 1:30 pm to 2:50 pm SUB 214

Prudes! Nymphos! Asians?
Ideas of Sex in an Asian Canadian Mindset
Did you grow up in a traditional Asian household where sex was a taboo subject? Did you learn about sex through other outlets besides your parents? Are Asian women really better in bed? Do Asian men make bad lovers? UBC students Angela Wong and Crystal Tai will explore traditional Asian concepts of sex and how the younger Asian Canadian generation bridge traditional and western concepts of sex. Ideas of sexual stereotypes associated with Asians and the implications for Asian Canadians will also be examined.

Workshop 6 - 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm SUB 214

The Rise of Canadian-Born Asian (CBA) Culture
In the vibrant and dynamic multicultural city of Vancouver, you can hardly take one step outside without noticing this relatively new phenomenon: Canadian-Born Asian culture. Bubble tea at the movies, Korean Supermarkets in downtown, Anime Conventions attracting thousands of participants and Bollywood movies rapidly gaining a surprising audience: When did it start and how did it become such a ubiquitous and uniquely "Canadian" culture? In this interactive and thought-provoking workshop, UBC students and CBA connoisseurs Rainie Tian and Kristina Chang will take you through the rise of CBA culture in Vancouver and discuss its social, economic, and political implications.

4:30 - 5:00 pm - Closing

South Asian Family Association SAFA International Women's Day Celebration

International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated every year on March 8; globally it connects women all around the world and inspires them to reach their full potential. IWD marks to celebrate the collective power of woman past, present and future.

The South Asian Family Association (SAFA) and presenting sponsor, Simon Fraser University (SFU) will celebrate IWD 2009 at SFU’s Surrey Campus.

This event is free for all to come and celebrate the goddesses in their lives.

Programme:
11:45 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
12:00 Keynote Speaker: Hon. Senator Mobina Jaffer
Panel Discussions
1:00 Empowerment & Education featuring Jinny Sims, Awneet Sivia, Anne Chopra & Councillor Barinder Rasode
2:00 Financial Health powered by Envision Credit Union
3:00 Women in Media featuring Shushma Datt, Dawn Chubai, Tarannum Thind & Meera Bains
4:00 Lifestyle: Health, Beauty & Wellness featuring Dr. Nirvair Levitt & Nurse Practitioner Karol Ghuman
5:00 Closing Remarks

Free Change Makers Leadership Institute Workshop to be delivered by the WE CAN Stop Violence against Women Coalition. By pre-registration only. What is “We Can” and who are the Change Makers? Workshop on violence against Women, Leadership and Workshop Facilitation Skills

Live entertainment provided by Shez Khan, Shivangi accompanied by Paul Boparai, PCAC Girls Bhangra & Giddha Punjabna Da.

Marketplace throughout the event.

FREE ADMISSION, Sunday March 8, 12:00 - 5:30, SFU Surrey Campus.
Free gift to first 500 guests.

SAFA would like to thanks its sponsors for making this event a reality:
Durga (Presenting) Sponsor: SFU Surrey
Lakshmi (Major Event) Sponsor: Envision Credit Union
Shakti (Community) Sponsor: The Bay
Saraswati (Media) Sponsors: RJ1200, OMNI Diversity Television, The Voice Newspaper, CKNW, Mehfil, South Asian Post, mybindiwest.com

SAFA is also seeking energetic and dynamic volunteers for this event. Preference will be given to secondary school students requiring volunteer credits. Letters of participation will be granted.

For more information please contact the Event Coordinator Cindy Dhaliwal at 778-552-7222 or cindydhaliwal@hotmail.com

OPEN TEXT READING SERIES: ROY MIKI

Sponsored by The Canada Council for the Arts
& the Creative Writing Program at Capilano University

The Spring 2009 OPEN TEXT series at Capilano College continues on Thursday, March 5th, 2009 with a reading by Vancouver critic, editor, poet and teacher Roy Miki:

Library 321 @ 11:30
Capilano University
2055 Purcell Way
North Vancouver

ROY MIKI is the author of Justice in Our Time (co-authored with Cassandra Kobayashi) (Talonbooks 1991), two books of poems, Saving Face (Turnstone 1991) and Random Access File (Red Deer College Press 1995), and a collection of critical essays, Broken Entries: Race, Subjectivity, Writing (Mercury Press 1998). His third book of poems, Surrender (Mercury Press 2001), received the Governor General’s Award for Poetry. His two most recent publications are Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice (Raincoast 2004), and There (New Star Books 2006), a book of poems. He received the Order of Canada in 2006.

For info:
Reg Johanson
rjohanso@capilanou.ca
604.986.1911 (2428)

SONIC BOOM 2009

A Festival of New Music by BC Composers, Presented by Vancouver Pro Musica
March 19 - 22, 2009 at 7:30 pm
The Western Front (303 East 8th Avenue, Vancouver BC)

Sonic Boom is an annual festival of new music by BC composers. This festival is widely regarded as one of Canada's most important showcases for new work, including pieces by both mature and emerging composers, all performed by top-quality ensembles and soloists. Sonic Boom 2009 will feature the talents of 12-member vocal ensemble musica intima as Ensemble in Residence, and Stephen Chatman as Composer in Residence. Nu:BC is the featured ensemble for our first evening.

Concerts take place over four evenings. This year’s highlights include the world premiere of “Varley Suite” for solo viola by Stephen Chatman, performed by David Harding on Thursday, March 19. Also on that program, Beth Orson performs on oboe for Farshid Samandari's "the mirage bona fide", and Jordan Nobles's "Undercurrents" - an open-score piece with "a single fluid melodic line performed by a soloist while accompanied by reflections and eddies from the remaining ensemble members." Nu:BC is the featured ensemble for Thursday.

Asian flavours accent Friday’s program with Mark Armanini's "Night Wind" for solo erhu featuring Song Yun, one of China's very best performers, as well as Jin Zhang's "Singing in Mid-Autumn" for erhu and harp. David Litke's "Conduits" for clarinet (François Houle) and computer, centres around the concept of transmission - that of the clarinet, and the computer as it expands and responds to acoustic sound. Over the course of the piece, a larger-scale transmission is effected as the harmonic structures gradually shift according to processes based upon an evolutionary metaphor. "Waver / 160 Years of Pressure" is a video by Krista Dragomer, who is currently pursuing a graduate degree in art history, visual art, and theory, focusing on sound art, at UBC. Paul Plimley (piano) and Victoria Gibson (computer) are both featured composers / improvisers in “The Sapphire Choir”.

Come Saturday evening to hear musica intima perform twelve works a capella, including André Cormier's "En monochrome", performed on a single pitch in unison, but with each performer interpreting this note by varying only one of the parameters such as dynamics, timbre, micro-pitch, and duration according to Cormier's semi-graphic score. The vocal ensemble will also perform Iman Habibi's powerful setting of Hart Crane's "Black Riders", Colin MacDonald's "At Sea" (poetry by twentieth-century writer and occultist Aleister Crowley) and Rita Ueda's setting of Harumi Makino's highly onomatopoeic "Tokei no Oto Nimo", which celebrates the sounds of Sapporo.

Yota Kobayashi's "Tensho", which last year was awarded first prize at Musica Nova, the international competition for electroacoustic music organized by the Society for Electroacoustic Music in the Czech Republic, will be featured on Sunday evening. David Mesiha's "Imaginary Friends", dedicated to Vancouver’s Downtown East Side, explores a deep schizophrenia between beautiful tonal melodies and dreamy atonal sequences and colours. Perhaps this is similar to the contradictory and paradoxical nature of the DTES, where humanity and inhumanity seem equally real and where beauty and foe can be found in the same place — where schizophrenia is not only an individual disease and struggle, but also a social and cultural phenomenon to which many can turn a blind eye. Ernst Schneider, who lives in Penticton, is a celebrated German-Canadian composer who has done a great deal to promote Canadian music through many lectures, workshops, and a weekly two-hour radio program, and presents his composition "This Place" with Rebecca Whitling on violin and the Infinitus String Quartet.

Sunday morning’s student composers' master class is free, and will be conducted by Steve Chatman with Tiresias (Mark McGregor, flute and Rachel Iwaasa, piano) as the reading ensemble.

Tickets are $20 General / $15 Students, Seniors, Artists / $35 Festival Pass for all four concerts. Available cash only at the door.

www.vancouverpromusica.ca
info@vancouverpromusica.ca
604.688.6407

A Celebration of Kabir at the University of British Columbia

March 8-10, 2009

Institute of Asian Research,
The University of British Columbia
251-1855 West Mall, C.K. Choi Bldg.

Come together this March to celebrate the poet-saint Kabir, who sang of the ultimate and challenged the people of his time—and us today—to rethink the religious and other boundaries that bind us.

The celebration features a performance of Kabir singers, led by Dalit folk artist Prahlad Tipanya; a series of four documentary films entitled Journeys with Kabir directed by Shabnam Virmani, which move through contemporary spaces touched by the music/poetry of the 15th century mystic-weaver-poet of north India; and two scholarly lectures by leading figures in the study of South Asian devotional culture and literature.

Schedule of events:
Sponsored by the Centre for India and South Asia Research, The Departments of Asian Studies, Art History-Visual Art, and Theatre and Film.

Films Sunday March 8 in Lasserre Auditorium, Room 102
1-3 pm, Film 1: Hadh-Anhadh: Journeys with Ram and Kabir
3-4 pm, Tea and conversation with the filmmaker, Shabnam Virmani
4-6 pm, Film 2: Chalo Hamara Des: Journeys with Kabir and Friends

Monday March 9
4-5:30 pm, Lecture by Christian Novetzke, University of Washington, in Choi 120:
“The Flashpoint of Bhakti and the Genesis of 'Devotion'"
7:00-8:30 pm, Film 3: Koi Sunta Hai: Journeys with Kumar and Kabir, in the Asian Centre Auditorium

Tuesday, March 10
11 am -12:20 pm, Film 4: Kabira Khada Bazar Mein: Journeys with Sacred and Secular Kabir in the Asian Centre Auditorium
4-5:30 pm, Lecture by Valerie Ritter, University of Chicago
“Living Words: The Pleasure in Kabir's Proverb,”
7:00-9:00 pm, Performance of Kabir Singers from India, in the Asian Centre Auditorium

“Indonesia’s Urban Future: Directing Urban Change”

CENTRE FOR SOUTHEAST ASIAN RESEARCH

Wednesday & Thursday 4 – 5 March
C.K. Choi Building Conference Room #120
1855 West Mall, UBC

“Indonesia’s Urban Future: Directing Urban Change”

Ten years have passed since the fall of the New Order and a sense of hope and concern has developed in regard to how things have changed since 1998. Starting from the idea that the city is an “act of will,” this workshop aims to contribute to an understanding of the post-Suharto era in at least two ways: by focusing on the attempts of social groups to represent and transform the city, and by examining the role such attempts play in the formation of social identities. What kinds of visionary ideas, influential programs and activism have been set in motion for the city? According to what rationalities are they put into play? Who was enabled and disabled by the urban programs? This workshop brings together prominent urban scholars from Indonesia, Canada and the US in the purpose of sharing ideas and perspectives, and working toward articulating an understanding of what the future holds for the continuing urbanization of Indonesia.

PROGRAM:

WEDNESDAY, March 4, 2009:

4:00-5:30pm: "Street Tales from Jakarta": Documentary films from Jakarta Arts Council and the Goethe Institute (with English Subtitles)

THURSDAY, March 5, 2009:

[8:30-8:45am: Refreshments/Coffee]

8:45-9:00am: Welcome Remarks:Mr. E. Wibanarto, Acting Consul General of the Republic of Indonesia in Vancouver

9:00-10:30am: Keynote Address: "Competing Visions: Planning the Megacity of Jakarta."

Christopher Silver, Dean of College of Design, Construction and Planning, University of Florida. Editor of Journal of Planning History and author of Planning the Mega City: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 2008)

[10:30-10:45am: Coffee break]

10:45am-12:15pm: Presentations from the Office of the Governor of Jakarta
M. Suhadyoko, Urban Spatial Management Department (Dinas Tata Ruang) Priyadi Priyautama Ignatius, (Regional Development Planning Board – Bappeda DKI Jakarta)

[12:15-1:30pm: Lunch]

1:30-3:00pm: Session I: Chair and Discussant: Terry McGee (Geography, UBC)
Thematic Panel: Informal Settlements and Evictions

[3:00-3:15pm: Coffee Break]

3:15-4:45pm: Session II: Chair and Discussant: John Friedmann (Community and Regional Planning, UBC)
Thematic Panel: Cities and Citizenship

[4:45-5:00pm: Coffee Break]

5:00-6:30: Session III: Chair and Discussant: Michael Leaf (Community and Regional Planning, UBC)
Thematic Panel: Sustainability

Panelists for all the Sessions above:

Wardah Hafidz, Chief Coordinator of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) and Winner of 2005 Gwangju Human Rights Award, and 2008 Dubai Best Practice Award

Jo Santoso, Chair of the Graduate Program in Real Estate and Urban Development and Director of the Center for Metropolitan Studies, University of Tarumanagara, Jakarta. Dr. Santoso was project manager for Bumi Serpong Damai, Lippo Karawaci, and Bukit Semarang Baru. Recent publication includes Menyiasati Kota tanpa Warga (Strategies for the City without Citizens) (Gramedia, 2006) and Arsitektur-Kota Jawa: Kosmos, Kultur dan Kuasa (Javanes Urban Architecture: Cosmos, Culture and Power) (Centropolis, 2008).

Marco Kusumawijaya, Chair of Jakarta Arts Council; Founder of the Green Map Indonesia; and Board Member of Indonesian Heritage Trust; Authors of Jakarta Metropolis Tunggang Langgang (The Runaway Metropolis) (Gagas Media, 2004); Kota Rumah Kita (Our City House) (Borneo, 2006)

The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra presents PLANETFUL OF SOUND

March 14, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts – Telus Studio Theatre
http://www.chancentre.com/

Tickets $20/$10 at Ticketmaster 604-280-3311 or www.ticketmaster.ca

The Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra presents sounds of China, the Middle East, India and the West, in works by Vancouver composers Mark Armanini, Moshe Denburg, Lan Tung, Jin Zhang and special guest composer Joel Bons (artistic director of Amsterdam's Atlas Ensemble): music that transcends cultural boundaries, performed on instruments from all over the world. For the first time ever at a VICO concert, the performance will include large-screen video, giving audiences an up-close view of the musicians and their instruments in action.

The VICO is currently the only professional orchestral ensemble in BC (possibly in Canada) devoted to performing inter-cultural music on a grand scale. Planetful of Sound offers VICO musicians and composers an exciting opportunity to connect with Joel Bons, who has been breaking similar ground in Europe with his acclaimed contemporary music group Nieuw Ensemble and the Atlas Ensemble. The latter is described (very similarly to the VICO) as “a unique chamber orchestra uniting brilliant musicians from China, Central Asia, the Near East and Europe, presenting an unheard soundworld of western and non-western instruments.” Like the VICO, the Atlas Ensemble's repertoire consists almost entirely of specially commissioned works, by such composers as Guo Wenjing, Jia Daqun, Faradj Karajev, Fabio Nieder, The o Loevendie , Frangiz Ali-Zade, Bun-Ching Lam, Jack Body, Stefano Bellon, Artjom Kim, Javanshir Guliev and Evrim Demirel. (www.atlasensemble.nl)

Planetful of Sound will feature the North American premiere of Joel Bons’ piece Tour à Tour as well as Floating on the Sea of Serenity (Armanini), Little Suite for Erhu and Harp (Zhang), Market Place, Chapter 1: China (Tung) and Camel Hop at the Caravanserai (Denburg), performed by a 22-member ensemble that includes zheng, sanxian, santur, oud, dizi, bansuri, sheng, suona, flute, oboe, clarinet, marimba, Celtic harp, percussion and Western strings. The programme will also feature a solo by visiting Taiwanese musician Janelle Yichen on satar (Uighur fiddle from northwestern China).

In the VICO, Western-trained orchestral musicians rub shoulders with performers in musical traditions from all over the world…shedding light on the musical traditions of Canada’s many cultures and the myriad bridges between them. www.vi-co.org

Planetful of Sound was made possible through the generous assistance of the Chan Endowment Fund of the University of British Columbia.

New Asia Film Festival Monthly Film Series screens Warrior Boyz

Public Screening of Warrior Boyz and Community Forum on Gang Violence

Saturday, February 28, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 10:30pm
Location: Richmond Cultural Centre, 7700 Minoru Gate, Richmond, BC

Co-presented by the Richmond Cultural Centre, Cinevolution Media Arts Society and the National Film Board of Canada

A panel discussion will be followed, featuring director Baljit Sangra, Jagdeep and Sukh from the film, as well as social workers, community leaders, and police. This special forum will be a rare opportunity for the public to obtain a deeper understanding of the gang violence. We wish through open and constructive dialogue among different groups of the community, this event will bring new perspectives to this issue and helps to find solutions for the future.

http://www.vnaff.ca./

Vince Mai Project

We're going to groove at the Yale Hotel again. Trumpet based instrumentals with some vocal RnB faves. NO COVER!

featuring:
Daryl Jahnke,
Brent Gubbels,
Darryl Bennett,
Pepe Danza,
Russ Klyne,
Timothy Fuller,
& Vince Mai

Hope you can make it!

The Yale Hotel - 1300 Granville Street, VANCOUVER BC
Thursday Feb 26, 9:45 pm - 1:15 am

Filipino Youth For Social Justice - 2nd Annual Canadian National Day of Action

Join Filipino-Canadian youth in their struggle for equality and social justice!

January 27, 2009 will mark the one year death anniversary of Filipino youth Deeward Ponte who tragically lost his life after being stabbed in Gray's park and later died in the hospital. In one month we will gather in support of his family and in memory of not only Deeward but the other Filipino youth who have lost their lives such as Mao Jomar Lanot who was beaten to death in 2003 at Sir Charles Tupper, and Charle Dalde fatally stabbed outside of his Richmond home last April.

We will continue our call to End Systemic Racism, Social Justice for the Filipino community and the scrapping the racist and exploitative Live-In Caregiver Program!

"Filipino Youth For Social Justice"
2nd Annual Canadian National Day of Action
Friday, February 27, 2009

In Vancouver:
Friday, February 27 at2:00 pm
Sir Charles Tupper Secondary- 419 E. 24 Avenue, Vancouver, BC.
From Tupper we will march to Gray's Park for a candlelight vigil.

Similar actions/activities will take place in Montreal and Toronto.

For more information please contact Niki at Phone: 604-215-1103 or Email: ukpc_fcya@kalayaancentre.net

Divine Performing Arts World Tour comes to Vancouver

The Vancouver Falun Dafa Association and New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), both non-for profit organizations are presenting the Divine Performing Arts performances that will take place at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver from April 3-8, 2009as part of their grand world tour.

The New York based Divine Performing Arts (DPA) has dazzled audiences the world over with extraordinary dance and music that capture the true spirit of 5000 years of authentic Chinese culture. Inspired by the myths and legends of China's long history, DPA weaves wondrous stories of heavenly realms, ancient heroic legends and
modern-day epics. The show stirs virtue, compassion, courage and hope in audiences' hearts breaking all language and cultural boundaries.

DPA performed over 220 shows during it's 2008 world tour, including 15 at New York's prestigious Radio City Music Hall, reaching a live audience of over 600,000 people in 66 cities. Some of the world's great venues have hosted DPA shows, including Le Palais des Congres in Paris, London's Royal Festival Hall, the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and the Sony Centre in Toronto.

Like the Silk Road that connected China with the West for thousands of years, DPA illustrates the great traditions and universal values that have survived across time and space. In New York City, Over 17,000 students and teachers have attended and thoroughly enjoyed the DPA shows. In Canada, critics have described the shows as "breathtakingly beautiful," "inspirational," and "a top-rate family show."

For more info about DPA, please visit: http://www.divineshows.com/vancouver

Fourth Annual Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture: Yu Hua, author of “Brothers”

The Department of Asian Studies at The University of British Columbia is delighted to welcome you to the Fourth Annual Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture:

With Yu Hua, author of “Brothers”

February 25, 2009, 6pm reception, 7pm lecture in the Asian Centre Auditorium
1871 West Mall, UBC

Yu Hua, one of China’s most prominent contemporary novelists, was born into a family of doctors in Hangzhou in 1960 and grew up in the coastal town of Haiyan, Zhejiang. Following the Cultural Revolution, at his father’s urging, he worked for five years as a dentist before abandoning medicine for literature. He gained national attention in 1984 for a series of short stories distinguished by Kafka-esque scenes of banal cruelty rendered in plain language with surgical precision. Some critics have attributed the preponderance of the macabre in Yu Hua’s fiction to his childhood living near a hospital morgue and overhearing the nightly wailings of bereaved families. (Dentists also surface frequently in Yu’s fiction, notably Yanker Yu in Brothers.) These “experimentalist” stories explored the relationship between memory and the violence of the past through disjunctive narration, denial of character interiority, and other avant-garde stylistics.

Yu Hua’s first novel, Cries in the Drizzle (1990; English translation, 2007), a story about an ostracized boy growing up during the later years of the Mao era, signaled the beginning of a shift from conspicuously formalistic experimentation towards a more realist narrative style. To Live (1992; English translation, 2003), an existentialist masterpiece, is an old man’s account of his and his family’s struggle to survive the vicissitudes of life in rural China from the 1940s through the 1960s. The novel remains Yu Hua’s best-known work to date, having been adapted into a film in 1994, and, more recently, a 33-part television series. Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (1995; English translation, 2003), chronicles the physical and mental debilitation of a town-dweller whose habit of selling his own blood to feed his family eventually becomes an addiction. Like To Live, Chronicle was voted one of China’s ten most influential books of the 1990s by a wide array of critics and is reportedly being adapted into a film. Yu Hua’s works have won numerous literary awards, including Italy's Premio Grinzane Award (1998) and the James Joyce Foundation Award (2002). He lives in Beijing.

About Brothers
Brothers, Yu Hua’s most recent novel and longest work to date, broke sales records in China when its two volumes were published in 2005 and 2006. The epic tale follows two stepbrothers, Baldy Li and Song Gang, from their scrappy childhood during the Cultural Revolution through the economic and social liberalization of the post-Mao era. The novel deepens Yu Hua’s absurdist vision of life in modern China, a direction which has not sat well with all critics. While some have criticized Brothers for merely reiterating the author’s fixation on historical violence, others have been offended by its sensationalistic elements, such as a “national virgin beauty competition” that sets off a stampede for hymen reconstruction surgery among would-be contestants. Critics and fans alike agree that this is a book of extremes. The English translation of Brothers will be published by Pantheon in January 2009.

Asian Studies
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver, BC
Phone: (604) 822-9266
http://www.asia.ubc.ca/

Tibetan monks of Dzongkar Choede Monastery Sand Mandala Exhibition

For five days, the Tibetan monks of Dzongkar Choede Monastery will create a Buddha of Compassion sand mandala at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden.

What emerges is, for a limited time, a timeless piece of art and a meditative ractice.

Tickets: $10. Good for multiple visits during the creation of the sand mandala.
Garden members are free; a donation to the monks will be most welcome. A portion of the ticket price will be given to the monks to support their monastery.

The experience includes a Tibetan thanka exhibit by Kalsang Dawa

Tuesday February 24,
10am-4pm: Opening Ceremony, monks begin creation

Wednesday February 25,
10am-4pm: Creation continues

Thursday February 26
10am- 2pm: Sand Mandala on display
2pm-8pm: Monks continue creation

Friday February 27
10am- 2pm: Sand Mandala on display
2pm-8pm: Monks continue creation

Saturday February 28
10am-3pm: Completion and closing ceremony

For more information:
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
578 Carrall Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 5K2
Tel: 604-662-3207

www.vancouverchinesegarden.com