From "fuhorns" to lanterns, sustainability is at the heart of Vancouver's Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival
Still Moon Arts Society’s 20th annual fest pays tribute to lost streams while celebrating the harvest, the full moon, and cultural diversity
Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival’s Consciousness of Streams.
Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival’s Streamside Lantern Installation.
Still Moon Arts Society presents the 20th annual Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival at various venues from September 10 to 22
LIVE MUSIC, DANCE, ECO-ARTS, shadow puppets, lantern processions, instruments made of tree branches, and more: for two decades, Still Moon Arts Society has been celebrating the full moon, harvest abundance, and diverse cultural traditions through its flagship Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival.
An intercultural event co-produced with Renfrew Park Community Association, the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival focuses on community art and sustainability while paying tribute to the lost stream systems of Still Creek.
“What made me start the moon festival was a feeling that this neighbourhood needed a way to gather together across cultures and celebrate art, nature, harvest abundance, and our shared creativity,” Still Moon Arts Society artistic director Carmen Rosen tells Stir. “What has kept me going for 20 years is the joy and dedication of the community. The community really owns the festival now.”
Carmen Rosen.
Rosen—a visual artist, singer, and interdisciplinary performer who’s also the founder Mortal Coil Performance Society and was its co-artistic director for 10 years—has performed with Elektra Women’s Choir, among other groups, and now performs with Zlatna Mountain. She is a recipient of the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award and the Queen’s Jubilee Award for her art with the community.
The theme for the Moon Festival’s 20th anniversary is Resurfacing. With more than 80 artists, the fest will unearth traditions, stories, and memories that go back to its very beginnings while adopting new ways of thinking and doing things.
“We are so excited about the artists and special presentations we have to celebrate our 20th festival,” Rosen says. “We have artists returning from the very first festival…side-by-side with new and emerging artists.”
There are multiple signature events to the Moon Festival, including Harvest Fair (September 10), Lost Streams Parade (September 10), and Streamside Lantern Installation (September 17). (For a detailed schedule, see Still Moon Arts Society.)
Plus, for Still Moon’s special 20th edition, the team is introducing two new, immersive, interdisciplinary performances: Consciousness of Streams (on September 10 from 6 to 8:30 pm at Slocan Park) and Still Suite by Treesong Performance (September 17 from 7:30 to 8:30 pm at Renfrew Community Park).
Consciousness of Streams weaves together Still Moon’s stories through movement and textiles, with a procession of dancers and stilt walkers that comes complete with lanterns made of materials that have been dyed using locally grown plants. With choreography by Isabelle Kirouac and original music by Isaac Rosen-Purcell with Zhongxi Wu, the dance and circus-skills performance by community and professional artists meanders along the pathway of lost streams that are buried under the streets of the Renfrew-Collingwood neighbourhood, with site-specific “scenes” along the way.
The first scene unfolds at Renfrew Ravine Labyrinth, where community movement artists interact with naturally dyed streamers. Then musicians will lead people to Slocan Park’s Harvest Fair for a performance featuring aerial dance. Consciousness of Streams then joins the Lost Streams Parade, culminating in an interdisciplinary performance at Collingwood Park. To develop the multidisciplinary work inspired by the land, Still Moon Arts Society offered a series of skill-building workshops including stilt walking and movement. The artist-community collaboration incorporates several of Still Moon’s projects, such as Colour Me Local Dye Garden, Dyers’ Guild, and Weaving with Invasives to create sustainable textile art and costumes.
Treesong.
Still Suite, meanwhile, was devised specifically for the festival’s 20th anniversary Streamside Lantern Installation, a project coproduced by local trombonist-composer Brad Muirhead and Still Moon Arts Society. Treesong is an ensemble that Muirhead formed with instrument-maker David Gowman. The latter hand-crafts musical sculptures called “fuhorns”. The instruments are artworks in their own right, made from branches of several types of trees, primarily empress. Each one is unique and makes its own range of notes, producing what’s described as an earthy tone; consider a fuhorn to be a cross between a didgeridoo and an alpenhorn.
Muirhead’s compositions for Treesong range from “groove-based world music to neo-classical rhythmic adventures, beautiful mournful ballads and textural soundscapes”. Joining Treesong instrumentalists (Muirhead, Gowan, Brian Harding, Adrian Smith, and Greg Farrugia on fuhorns and Nick Apivor and Gary Wildeman on percussion), Still Suite features Rosen on vocals. The piece is choreographed by dance artist Carolina Bergonzoni for six community dancers.
The immersive experience gives people the chance to walk through light, sound, lyrics, and movement. Illuminated by lanterns, musicians and dancers positioned throughout Renfrew Ravine will commence Still Suite, each artist performing individually but also all connected by a call-and-response song. They ultimately come together for a shared performance, all to celebrate “the holistic ‘one-ness’ of life-energy and environment”.
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