Day of the dead at Habourfront Centre

By Dea Yu (age 9), Selena Xu (age 9), Edward Wang (age 9)

On   November 9, 2014, Voice K journalists went to the Day of the Dead Festival at Toronto Harbourfront Center. Colourful lights lit up the rooms. The halls were filled with beautiful Mexican paper cut-out decorations and stunning flower arrangements.  Mexican music was heard almost everywhere. This festival looked like a memory from Mexican past.

When we got there, we went downstairs into a room full of information on the Day of the Dead. We went to the back where we started to do some paper cutting, just like the ones that were hanging on the ceiling. 

When we got to the theatre for the band performance, it was already very cramped. A couple minutes later, the show started and the audience quieted down. A man walked onto the stage and gave a mini-speech. He talked about the birth of the festival and he introduced the band ─ which was all female ─ that was called “Mariachi Flor de Toloache”. The band members explained that “Flor de Toloache" is the name of a flower in Mexico that they put in love potions.

The show included various songs from the people of Mexico and also Latin America. They have slow, fast, high- and low-pitched songs. They sing many famous songs like Calaca and Guadalajara.

All band members wore skull makeup on half of their face. They were also dressed in beautiful band costumes. To us, we didn’t see a band with costumes and makeup. When they were playing slow music, we saw a musical river with beautiful cherry blossom trees all over it. When they were playing fast music, we saw an empty desert with a rampaging horse dancing in the distance.

 The audience cheered for the Mariachi Band on stage while they were singing a wonderful tune and clapped to the beat while others danced or sang. That is the Mariachi Flor de Toloache. They are the first ever Mariachi band that are all women. In 2008, Mireya Ramos found the Mariachi band. The Mariachi band was originally from New York, but the members are from Indiana, United States, Australia, Dominican Republic, Mexico and even Canada! What you can explore are celebrations from Mexico and other areas of Latin America.

 “My father was a mariachi and I used to go with him to all his shows,” says Ramos, a violinist and a singer. “So I fell in love with mariachi music and through that I would learn violin and voice.”

The band explained their half skull makeup: “The day of the dead is about celebrating our ancestors. Part of the makeup represents the ancestors and part of it represents our generation.” 

“It was very exciting when I learned the festival is happening and is assigned to me,” said lead artistic associate, Umair Jaffer. “Harbourfront Centre has a theme of legacy this year. Under this theme, we are transforming from the past to the present and to the future,”

Day of the dead (Dia de los Muertos) is the time of the year when people celebrate and be happy for the people from the past. This celebration was born before Christianity was invented.


“All the activities from the festival are about legacy, celebrating the past and passing onto the next generation,” said Jaffer.

ARTIST AT DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

BY: Leo Yin (age 11)

Crafts, music, and fun! I couldn’t decide which was best.

From the craft section, there was a great artist, Steve Loretta, who made attractive skull crafts. The most interesting skull was a sugar skull completely covered in icing leaves which was really breath-taking since the leaves looked real.

He made about four types of crafts for the Day of the Dead celebration. Loretta said, “I started making the these crafts five years ago when I was running a children’s workshop on making the sugar skulls in 2009 at the Brick Works, which made me now have a good memory of how to make them.”

There were paper skulls, sugar skulls, full skeletons, and skull decorations. The biggest question in my head was how he created so many decorations for the celebration and did not run out of ideas.

 “I was inspired from my heart to make these creations and that is just a thing I like to do,” Loretta said.

He even made a sugar skull kit with which to decorate your own sugar skull with icing. The decorations came with eye catching colours and irresistible style.

This is a Mexican celebration to respect the dead. Next time don’t forget to have fun with some awesome Day of the Dead crafts!

by Raymond Qiu (Age 10)

About HarbourKids 

HarbourKids was started in 2007, and it celebrates three holidays which are specifically: Victoria Day, Family day, and Thanksgiving.

 “HarbourKids is a program for children under 12.  Instead of doing Shakespeare, or something, we do contemporary art. It is a place that children have fun and gather,” introduced by Katherine Sanders, the Artistic Associate of HarbourKids program.  Katherine has worked with Harbourfront for 7 years and done the HarbourKids festival for 5 years.

There are similar events in different cities around Canada.  A lot of different art centers also have activities for kids, but what makes HarbourKids unique? “It is free and we do so many different kinds of art.  We don’t do just theatre, or music, or crafts.  We do everything,” Katherine told us proudly. 

While you see all the interesting things in HarbourKids, have you ever wondered about the background effort?  Katherine had to face many difficulties while setting up HarbourKids events, such as filing up the massive building with as much cool stuff as she could.  Katherine told us, “My favorite part of this event is seeing kids like you have a good time.  That’s the payoff.  I spend all year working on programming to make this festival awesome.  When I see kids actually show up and enjoy, it is the best part for sure.”    

This fall, there were more than 15 activities being setup inside and outside of the Harbourfront Center.  The festival was fun for everyone and it wouldn’t be hard to keep you busy for the day.                                                                                                               

 Arts and Crafts           

The Arts and Crafts are certainly one thing many children love. The place looked crowded with youngsters even with its size. The activities attracted kids from all ages. Kids were eager to check out the “Lego Construction Zone”, “Cool Crafts with Mary Breen & Friends”, “Let’s Talk Science”, and “Stroller Salon.”  

When I stepped into the LEGO room, the display table was filled with creations by other children.  Very quickly, I built a temple and a face of an alien, and squeezed them on the table. 

The idea of Stroller Salon was really cool too.  You can design a stroller for the Natrel Stroller Parade.  I made a car in blue, black and yellow color, with a pair of plastic sticks attached to the top as the windshield.  During the parade, my stroller box was selected by a family to decorate their double stroller to be a wedding carriage.  I felt happy to see my stroller box get marched down the fields. 

Among all these activities, I have to say my favorite one is “Cool Crafts with Mary Breen & Friends”.  It was amusing to make paper pumpkins and design them, and create pins with your own drawings.  I created a pin whose face shows ‘Voice K’, and a pumpkin with a red eye.

At the corner of the same tent, a nice lady wearing a wool jacket was showing kids how to make yarn with spindle tools used in the old times.  It’s pretty impressive to see the raw wool be spun into yarn string.  Of course people nowadays don’t use this inefficient tool anymore, but it reminded me about pioneers. These activities definitely inspired children to think and design creatively.

No matter what type of the festival it is, music is always welcomed to cheer up people, and yes there is music here at HarbourKids. On the Lakeside Terrace, people were lying on the lawn around the stage, listening to the booming tempo ejected from the drums, and watching performers on stage barefoot flipping here and there, doing something called an “African Dance.”  The clothes they wore were floppy as if it were made of animal’s skin. The rhythm gave me the sensation that a lion was hunting for food and chasing after an impala. 

You must admire how these great performers can translate the music into such a breathtaking piece. Would you also like to try? It’s possible here. HarbourKids has brought you a chance to try out different instruments, demonstrated by Musical Instrument “Petting Zoo” with Sistema Toronto. I bet your fist experience of playing an instrument is surly memorable.

It may sound boring to those who are not bookworms. Don’t worry; it’s not really like what you thought of. HarbourKids brought us more than books.

In the theater of the West Arcade, I watched a series of 17 films named “Handmade Puppet Dreams”, presented by Heather Henson.  I actually loved them more than cartoons.  Although the word ‘puppets’ might sound immature, when it is funny, you won’t describe it that way. Every few seconds, the entire stage would burst into a cry of laughter.  Also, the music was nicely attached to the film.  Nearby, there was also a storytelling session called “Imagination on the Loose”.  It was presented in 2 different languages by Nathalie Vachon.  


Do you like comics as much as I do? Little Island Comics store is a good place for you to explore. You can also create hilarious comics in a neighboring room. I had a chance to interview a lady named Betina Krebs, who was a library service coordinator in Little Island Comics.  She was enthusiastic about the interview and told me, “We get a lot of books from different categories, and schools also order from us.”  Although it’s much smaller comparing with Chapter and Scholastic, so far Little Island Comics is the only store that carries the most kid comic books in Canada. 

Now, it’s time to just have fun and relax. Smaller kids definitely loved the tour on the HarbourKids express.  Girls and boys can dress up silly or cool as knights, princess, and zombies at “Cool Costume Collection“. We can also get tattoo at “Tattoo Parlour”. Look what I’ve got! A knight with helmet, vest, and a play horse.  I’m ready for the Halloween!

After a busy day exploring all the activities, you must feel hungry and thirsty. Soymilk, ice cream, burgers …feel free to enjoy the yummy refreshments with your parents and friends.

By Voice K Summer Camp

Chinese culture arrived at Habourfront last weekend. The place was jam packed with Chinese art, craft, dance and outstanding food. 

“ It’s amazing to have 70 artists from China to perform at this festival”, said Rodrigo Fritz, Senior Artistic Associate and Project Coordinator at the Harbourfront Centre. The China Now event lasts three days starting with an opening showcase on Friday, July 11th, 2014. 


“The hardest part to organize was the opening showcase that involves 7 artist group. Coming up with the correct schedule and getting everybody together is the most challenging part," said Fritz. It took Habourfront over a year to organize the event. They started discussions with the Ministry of Culture in China and their major partner, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington about a year ago. Between different departments there were at least a hundred people involved.

“We are very fortunate to live in a multicultural society,” said Dr. Nelly Ng, the chair of Can 4 Culture, a not-for-profit organization that connects culture. "My goal is to by introducing this magnificent art, for people to understand one another better." 


China has a history of five thousand years. Some of the crafts, such as the clay figurine and kite making has a history of two thousand years. 


"Because we don't know much about China and its rich history, and we get fascinate about it, and we hope more people get to see it. I think through art, we are connected." said Dr. Ng. 


This is the first time Harbourfront Center hosting a festival solely focused on China.  be sure to check it out yourself!

Pan-Asia Fortune Cookie Festival

By Wendy Wang (Age 14), Edward Wang (Age 8), Tom Yang (Age 13)

Nagata Sachu – Drum Performance

Boom! Boom! Boom! The Japanese Taiko drum ensemble, Nagata Sachu, was drumming at the West Jet Stage. We sat amongst the crowded audience and enjoyed the performance. We heard the drummers hitting the drums with wooden sticks as soon as we walked near to the West Jet Stage. It was such a loud sound! Each piece of music was better than the one before.

Most of their songs were imitations of nature, such as horses in the springtime. We could hear the horses' hoof beats as they raced across the meadow. During the song "Echoes of the Heart", we heard a steady heartbeat amidst the melody.

The name Nagata Sachu was taken from its leader, Kiyoshi Nagata, and sachu, an old Japanese term for "group". Nagata has been Taiko drumming for 31 years, ever since he was inspired at 12 years old.

"Our group started in 1998 and has been performing across Canada, United States and Europe for almost 15 years. In fact, we'll be celebrating our 15th anniversary with a concert this coming November," he said.

Taiko drumming may not look that complicated, but it is much harder than it looks. 

"We are constantly practicing and preparing. In the beginning, it was hard to memorize all the beats while listening to each drummer's part in a song. Not only that, there is also physical strain, such as muscle strain and back pain. Our last song imitated fishermen reeling in their catch and there was good reason for it to be the last song we played. We were more or less worn out after that song." Nagata said before adding, “That's why we always stretch before playing!"

He just loves making music. The hard work paid off, as Nagata mentioned, the feeling when he performs is so hard to put into words. It goes somewhere along the lines of exhilarating, satisfying and fun. He wasn't the only person that thought it was fun, Tricia Evelya, an audience member who was sitting beside us was impressed with the drummers' power and strength.  

"What a wonderful performance! I like how the drummers play together in sync and how they explained the meaning of each song."

The drums came in all shapes and sizes, from the size of a plate to the size a flat-screen TV! All their recording, equipment and costumes were made in Japan. They also teach Taiko drumming in Scarborough for all skill levels.

"It would be cool to see a gong next time, but until then and I want to say a big thank you to Nagata Sachu," Evelya said.

Tea Dyeing Workshop

Next, the crew learned about dyeing fabrics using a natural process. Our instructor, Debbie Arruda, who studied textile design, gave us a peek into the world of tea dyeing. 

"The fun thing about tea dyeing is that it is an adventure. You never know how it will turn out and each time it will create something new,” Debbie said.  “Best of all, it's easy, something you can do at home within a few hours."

Here are the basic steps to tea dye: 

1. First, you make tea. Put a couple tea bags into boiling water; wait until the water gets dark, in tea colour. 
   
   
2. Then, you dip your white fabric into it. You can also test out many different methods. For example, bounding the cloth tightly with string before dipping in the dye, dipping some parts longer than others or just dunking it in!
   
   
3. Experiment with it and have fun. 

Shadow Puppet

Soon after, we participated in a form of storytelling that originated in Southeast Asia. 


It was invented by an emperor in Han Dynasty who was trying to remember his lover. The traditional puppets were made of leather. Our puppets were made out of black construction paper and wooden sticks. 

Our instructor, Alexandra Iglesias, is a visual arts teacher. She was the one, who explained all that we need to know about making shadow puppets.

We liked shadow puppets very much.

White Jade

After we finished, we ran to the WestJet stage for our last event for the evening.  But we found out that White Jade, the band we were expecting to watch, wasn't there. There was a notice saying that it has been transferred to the Redpath Stage. We moved fast to the Redpath Stage. We arrived right before the show start. 

White Jade is a unique Chinese band from Shanghai. The band is based in Shanghai and contains 8 members and this was their first trip to Canada and we think they made a great impression. Dressed in unusual yet fashionable black and white outfits, this band pulled off a new trend of music. They combined electronic rhythms with traditional instruments, such as the Pipa (Chinese lute), Guzheng (Chinese zither), Erhu (Chinese violin) and Dizi (Chinese flute). 

The performance lasted half an hour; they managed to play so many songs.  When it was time to interview, we rushed and chased down the band members. We were lucky that we caught them when they were hanging out outside the clubhouse. We got to interview the lead of the band, Tao Ye. 

“When did you start to play the lute?" we asked.

“I've been playing since I was 10," said Tao Ye. "I soon grew in love with the instrument and music. My dad is also a flute player. I saw him play all the time. He inspired me," said Tao Ye.

When we asked him what was his favourite part about performing. He said, “We love interacting with the audience!" 

That is true because they even came down from the stage and danced with the audience! After playing a remix of the popular Chinese song "Mo Li Hua", the band managed to execute a cover of the songs "Move Like Jagger" and "Oppa Gangnam Style".  Lots of people started dancing wildly during these popular songs.  

Tao also mentioned that Sunday at the Harbourfront was the last performance for the band in Canada. They will move on to tour Europe next. He says he hopes to come back to Canada again. If you ever see them perform in Canada again, listen to their performance and they will get your ears very satisfied!


We were really amazed at how they performed. It was great music! If anyone told us to rate them, we would give it a ten out of five! We even got a souvenir from them, which was a cute panda hat.  

From our missing member
By Angela Zhao (Age 12)


Voice K’s summer camp and members gathered enthusiastically at Harbourfront for the Fortune Cookie Festival. I wish I was there, but I couldn’t make it.  Though I was lucky that on Monday, my friends from the camp told me about the trip and showed me pictures of the all the events. 


I was introduced to the shadow puppets. The history of shadow puppets is very romantic. It all started in China by a king, who tried to make a shadow puppet for his lover. The other campers showed me the Shadow puppets that they made. Edward made a dinosaur, Tom made a fish and Wendy made a horse. 


If I was there, I would enjoy all of the events, but mostly the tea dying because it sounded like fun. The idea of dipping a fabric and making a pattern is very interesting.  

By: Selena Zhou

No wonder kids cannot wait to go to the Harbourfront Kids’ Toronto International Circus Festival! It’s absolutely entertaining with the Zero Gravity Circus, individual street performers, a face painting booth and much more! These activities provided kids with the opportunity to engage their critical thinking and creativity skills. The wonderful snacks gave kids like me the energy to do activities at the circus.

Even the adults were having fun! Let’s see what Ralia and Ilkka, two grandparents at the Zero Gravity Circus had to say.

“I love when the acrobats danced on two ribbons,” Ralia said. However, Ilkka seemed to like the hoops better. “My favourite is when the acrobats dangle from the hula hoops,” said Ilkka.

We also had a chance to interview Svava Stefanson, the general manager of Zero Gravity Circus. She oversees and manages everything in the circus. One of Stefanson’s main goals is to travel around the world to help others.

“My husband was a juggler in the circus. He inspired me to work at the circus,” said Stefanson. “My favorite part of the circus is when I see new skills being developed.”

Later, we had the opportunity to talk to Katherine Sanders, the artistic associate of the Harbourfront Festival.

 “This festival was started by the Zero Gravity Circus 11 years ago,” said Sanders. “About six years ago, we started to work collaboratively at the Harbourfront.” 

Sanders introduced us to three performers from the Zero Gravity Circus. They were Ginger, Alice and Mad Hatter. When we asked how long they have been performing:

“I have been performing for about 10 years,” said Ginger. 

“I’ve been dancing since I was three and I started performing at the circus since I was 12,” said Alice. 

“I’ve been performing longer than most of you have been alive!” joked the Mad Hatter. “But, this is my first year performing with the circus.”  

“We are not nervous during the shows since we practice a lot, but we are nervous around young journalists!” the Mad Hatter said with a laugh. It seemed to me that they enjoy what they do a lot. 

Adults and kids enjoyed all the fun at the circus! Trained performers worked hard to entertain visitors and provide opportunities to showcase many different forms of art. It’s an honour to join the fun at the Toronto International Circus Festival - it’s a wonderful and entertaining place to go!

By William Yang & Sunni Zhou

• Skating/skating performances/Le Patin Libre at 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm.
• Snow castle building at 11:00 am-5:00 pm.
• Street Dance Canada Competitions at 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm.
• Vibrating toothbrush painting at 11:00 am-5:00 pm.
• Gelatin art engraving (they called it magical painting) at 11:00 am-5:00 pm.
• Lego playing and building at 11:00 am-5:00 pm. There is also a feature LEGO® building class by the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto’s Master Model Builder!
• Museums: A showcase of work created by some of the youngest – and most talented artists around.

There were many more free activities available all day long. The one that I paid most attention to was the street dancing.

The Canadian Street Dance Championships (CSDC) is an annual competition that qualifies dancers to compete at the world street dance championships. It features categories for kids, youth and adults in solo, duo, crew, as well as battle competitions in hip hop, popping, locking, break-in’, crump and house. There were many professional dancers that practiced before the competition, but there were also many audience members who volunteered to show their wacky and cool moves. During the performance, there was a DJ, who was playing awesome tunes and pop music to match the style of dance the dancers were doing. In the middle of the dance, the MC asked, “Are there any children in the audience who want to show their break dancing moves?” After that little speech, everyone started calling each other’s names, but only two little kids went up. One of them was a girl that looked about 7-9 years old and the other one looked like he was around 3-5 years old. After that, the MC called all the adults to come up. The winner got one free ticket to the national street dance competition.

At around 4:00 p.m. we went to watch a show called RhymeTimez. At the show there was a really crazy man
who kept on dancing with flashing lights everywhere in the background. The show was about random characters having rap battles. The first round was a cat vs. a dog. In the end the dog won the match because the cat barely ever rhymed. The second round was Sunny Sunshine against Old Man Winter. This battle was the weirdest because Old Man Winter looks like a huge hairball and he thinks he is a little kid. Old Man Winter totally owned Sunny Sunshine. The last fight was the turtle vs. the hare.This round was really close but the turtle won.

“My favourite battle at RhymeTimez was the turtle vs. the hare. I voted for the turtle because I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle,” said a young boy named Josh, who claimed to have gone to every single event at the Harbourfront Centre.

By Wendy Wang (Age 13)  & Vivian Wang (Age 9)

Through May 19 to 21, 2012, the International Toronto Circus Festival brought families together for a fun-filled weekend at the Harbourfront Centre. Co-produced by Zero Gravity Circus, the International Toronto Circus Festival is the only free circus festival in Canada. There are crazy clowns and stilt walkers wandering around, and other amazing circus performances. One collection of routines that stood out was the performance by Zacada’s Circus School, a group of talented acrobats, some as young as seven years old!

Zacada, from Hamilton, came to the International Circus Festival to showcase an excerpt from their year-end show, “Summer Please.” The opening act astounded many people as two young ladies did an acrobatics
routine on the dual trapeze, which is a type of swing. The ladies were very flexible, and they did flips and arches that most people can’t do without training.

In the audience, Fyon and her five year-old daughter, Carina, came for their love of the circus. The trapeze act was their favourite. “It is a very well-organized show. It’s our first time here, but we’ll come back again next year for sure!” Fyon exclaimed.

Zacada’s second act was truly a test of strength and flexibility. Relying on just their body strength, two boys named Gauss and Kaleb climbed the aerial silk (which resembles a curtain hanging from the ceiling) while
performing multiple tricks. Among the following acts, there was a skilled juggler, and a funny act with a “family of acrobats” who told the story of a beach vacation through acrobatics.

After the performance, Voice K spoke to one of the teen performers named Annachie Borsellino-Luchsinger. Annachie was introduced to Zacada’s circus school at a young age because his parents said he was a “bit too
energetic.” Since then, Annachie has been performing for four years and really enjoys it.

In this year’s performance, he took part in the beach act and a skipping act. He really likes spending time with his circus crew and learning new tricks. Annachie and his crew have been practicing for almost half a year for the show they performed at the Harbourfront Centre.

“Everyone at Zacada is very nice and the program offers lots of variety. I like how I can train according to my level so I don’t feel pressured,” Annachie says, “Zacada isn’t very big, but we have lots of fun!”

The International Toronto Circus Festival is a place for family gatherings, and to watch the wonders of a circus. However, it wasn’t easy to fit everything together. Chico, an organiser of the event, was happy to share his thoughts.

“Well, there are challenges for everything. The hardest thing was creating the show schedule. Many performers participated in multiple routines, so we had to make sure the right people were at the right places at the right time. It’s thanks to the crew that the timing works out,” says Chico. As for why people should come back next year, Chico points out that “there are new acts each year, and new activities - plus it’s all free.”



Read our update 2013 report on Toronto International Circus Festival 2013