Talking Stick @ Club PuSh brings Indigenous beats, comedy, and burlesque to Performance Works February 3

Co-curators Rob Thomson and Nimkish Younging present DJ O Show, Sparkle Plenty, and more at the fest’s laid-back, licensed venue

Post Sponsored by Push International Performing Arts Festival

Mamarudegyal by Alistair Henning

An eclectic array of Indigenous artists will be on hand February 3 as the Talking Stick Festival takes over Club PuSh—the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival’s laid-back, party-friendly hub at Performance Works from Feb. 2 to 4 at 9pm.

The evening of genre-blending madness mashes the music of Indigenous ancestors with the breaks, cuts, and booming bass of contemporary dance grooves.

Full Circle Performance’s Rob Thomson and Nimkish Younging, co-curate an excitingly eclectic mix of styles, honouring traditional Indigenous idioms while presenting them in a thoroughly modern context—all in Club PuSh’s vibrant environment, with drinks and visuals to complement the propulsive rhythms. Vancouver’s Talking Stick is known as the premier multidisciplinary Indigenous arts festival in North America.

Amid the acts, Indigenous electronic artist Jacob Hoskins bends musical boundaries to fit the intensity of his expression, while DJ O Show, otherwise known as Orene Askew, spins a mix of hip-hop and R&B.

Also on the roster, Mamarudegyal is the stage name of Diana Hellman, a Calgary-born Vancouver-based Indigenous musician and performance artist, who works in hip-hop, theatre, and dance. And Sasha Mark is a Cree-Metís standup comedian all the way from Treaty 1 territory, but is now residing in so called “Vancouver”; you may have seen him at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival, Comedy Here Often?, APTN, or his monthly show at the Havana Theatre, The Sasha Ha Ha at The Ha Ha Havana.

Rounding out the program is Indigiqueer artist Sparkle Plenty, a “glamedian, weirdlesquer, and word-maker-upper” who has been delivering beautifully bizarre burlesque and drag acts throughout the beautiful lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territories for over 10 years. Of Cree with mixed heritage, she’s a proud sister and convening member of the Virago Nation Indigenous Arts Society, where she produces and performs in shows and workshops with the mission to reclaim Indigenous sexuality from the toxic effects of colonization. She also serves as 'Art Auntie' with the Diasporic Dynasty, an all BIPOC burlesque and drag collective based in “Vancouver”.

Find tickets and more information to Talking Stick @ ClubPuSh here, where you can also discover more about other offerings at this year’s ClubPuSh. On February 2 Frank Theatre and February 4 an evening of music, dance and circus including works in progress.

Post sponsored by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

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