Montreal Magic!

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What a magical week this has been in Montreal! Le Quartier des Spectacles de Montréal has launched newly decorated sites ready for summer in the city. These sites will host many cultural events and performances like the  HOLOSCENES featured in the video above that I snapped during the press conference at l'Esplanade Tranquille. 

MAY 25, 2022 TO MAY 29, 2022

As part of FTA - Festival TransAmériques

Esplanade Tranquille

FREE !

Then there was the opening at Jardins Gamelin a few seconds of which I snapped in the video below. It is a nice place in the city to be with friends, outside in the trees and summer air. There is a restaurant, bar service and entertainment.  Montreal's mayor, Madame Valérie Plante has successfully implemented a strategy to allow Montrealers to experience summer in the city with beautiful accommodations surrounded by art and nature. I swear to you! I was walking in the downtown core and I was breathing in fresh air! It is magical! I could feel the mystical essence and spirit of my home city once agin! To accommodate people with cars, the parking is free in the city all weekend starting Fridays but the Mayor asks you to please take public transit to maintain the air quality.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

-LENA GHIO   

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TECHNO WORLD 12.05 -19.06.2022

 

Photos ©  Lena Ghio , 2022

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Three Montreal cultural hot spots have joined together to propose a walk about the city to enjoy spring weather while hopping in to view exhibits or walk beside the building to observe projections on the outside in the evening. Goethe Institute, SAT, and Centre Phi  have curated the three pronged exhibition that reveals an underground subversive art scene that is ongoing where the artists create music, art, pop using new and traditional media to express points of view that are sometimes way out of the mainstream.

I visited the project in the afternoon but be mindful of the schedules:

A 3-PART PATHWAY

Part 1: PHI Centre
Espace Rhino & Espace Plateau
315 Saint-Paul St West
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3
• Tuesday: 10 am to 5 pm
• Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday: 10 am to 8 pm
• Friday and Saturday: 10 am to 9:30 pm

Part 2: Goethe-Institut Montreal
1626 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec, H2X 2T1
• Monday: 3 pm to 6 pm 
• Tuesday to Saturday: 3 pm to 8 pm

Part 3: Society for Arts and Technology
1201 Boulevard Saint-Laurent
Montreal, Quebec, H2X 2S6
• Tuesday to Saturday: 5 pm to 10 pm

Admission is free, no reservation required.

The underlying concept of the exhibition, that is the object of a world tour, is not to evoke nostalgia but to review visions of the future the artists had as they used new media. One striking example of the spirit of the exhibition is the movie featured at  SAT Sisters with Transistors. Young women begin creating electro music with the sound systems of their time. The prejudice against female creators stifled their popular success but did not stop them from producing moving works. Here you have two innovations, techno music and female artists daring to use the new medium. 

Fashion is included in the exhibition. At the Goethe Institute a you will see samples of clothes from the 1990s, with magasines, fanzines and video installations. There are movies that reveal how black musicians created techno music and the particular struggles they went through. A 1995 sample of techno music: La Bouche: Be my lover.

ENJOY!

-LENA GHIO   

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FLOWER POWER to fight burnout!

 

White Magnolia  Photo ©  Lena Ghio , 2022

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If recent years have challenged us to our limit, nature has continued her devotional mission of creation. If we are dazzled by technological developments, there are other segments of research that have been busy accumulating alternate sources of energy that are more subtle. Case in point, Dr Edward Bach who has created the Bach Flower Essences (BFE) therapies in the early part of the 20th century and his one time associate Elizabeth Bellhouse who went on to create Vita Florum and Vita Fons II .

DISCLAIMER I will discuss a few essences here that will help you out of your slump. The reason I share this information with you is because all these products are made with water and flowers. While the BFE are preserved in a slight percentage of alcool they must be used by the drop inside water. ALSO, this information does not replace any type of medical advice or diagnostic AND everyone is different and may react differently to any type of therapeutics. 

Whenever I need an energetic boost I take a combination I prepare myself with Hornbeam, Olive and Wild Rose. Hornbeam will get you up and moving if you are mildly sluggish and find yourself resting more than you really need. A few drops of Hornbeam and you will get busy pretty quick. Olive is for those times when you may need longer to recuperate. In March, before spring begins and winter seems to drag on and on, I often will use Olive to be ready for the time of most activity beginning in mid May. Olive is also good to add to beauty products to give energy to your features and hair. Just add a few drops to the portion of the product you will be using, then apply. Wild Rose is for more profound needs. I often use Wild Rose at the end of fall before winter sets in. After witnessing nature shedding her fruits and seeing the summer flowers wither, I need some energy to keep moving forward. Wild Rose is like plugging into a charger. Don't hesitate to consult the site to find a remedy that will fit better with your needs. The Bach FES are available in many natural food stores and many pharmacies.

The Vita Fons II products assist mainly the physical body to connect with its healing force and Spirit. It has helped me cope with physical pain in many circumstances. I am the kind of person that falls a lot. So my knees and hips are often bruised. What VF does is help hasten the healing process and minimize the pain greatly. If you think this may help you, do visit the site for more information. This product can only be obtained by personal order.

You can also share the above remedies with plants and with pets who often need a boost too.

Once your energy rises, you may wish to try Healing Mandalas.

Be Well. Go Well 

-LENA GHIO   

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Butterfly on Echinacea / Photo ©  Lena Ghio , 2021 

KOOZA back in Montreal!

The entire production came out for a family photo! photo ©  Lena Ghio , 2022

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©  Lena Ghio , 2022

This week, we were invited to the Big Top as Cirque du Soleil is getting back to the business of giving us thrills and chills! Present were the new President and CEO Stéphane Lefebvre and Artistic Director Jennifer Lécuyer to introduce the return of Cirque's operations and the introduction of the three scenes we were going to see. We found out that Cirque is getting ready to fulfill a ten year engagement in the Old Port bringing to life some of its classics as well as new creations.

KOOZA is a Cirque classic that features the most insane acts you can tolerate. Take the jumping board, featured on the short video on the left, it's not that the artists simply jump to staggering heights, some are wearing leg extension sticks and using stilts! Then there is the unicyclist duo, below, where the man is pedalling while the woman is accomplishing stunning acrobatics on his shoulders that leave me breathless! On the menu for our press tour, there was also the straps act when a lovely young acrobat flies dangerously high pirouetting about.

The Old Port installations are ready to greet visitors and this includes the big wheel and the food trucks! A must see event for this summer! 

Cirque du Soleil 

-LENA GHIO   

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Au cinéma cette semaine

 

La Fine Fleur Bande Annonce

Finalement arrivé à Montréal, cette merveilleuse comédie de Pierre Pinaud m'a beaucoup plu. Mettant en vedette Catherine Frot dans le rôle d' Eve Vernet, une femme qui poursuit le rêve de son père de créer la rose parfaite, le film nous transporte dans ce monde rarissime qu'est la culture des roses.

Confrontée a la faillite, Eve accepte d'engager des criminels en programme de réinsertion sociale pour essayer de survivre. De là, des amitiés se développeront alors qu'ensembles les protagonistes confrontent les défis économiques et climatiques pour sauver l'entreprise.

Melin Omerta est Fred; Olivia Côté est Véra; Marie Petiot est Nadège; Fatsah Bouyahmed est Samir et Vincent Dedienne, l'ennemi d'Eve, est Lamarzelle. Tous livrent des performances qui ajoutent au charme de ce film autant que les fleurs magnifiques.

Au Cinéma Beaubien.

Bon Visionnement!

-LENA GHIO   

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