The DocuAsia Forum is an annual Metro Vancouver event for exploring Asia-Canada relations as they develop. By bringing together filmmakers, artists, academics, community representatives and the general public, DocuAsia provides a platform for informed dialogue concerning the current cultural and economic development in Asia, and global implications for the future.

Extremely timely in light of recent backlash against the China-Canada FIPPA agreement and the presence of Chinese miners in Northern BC, the upcoming 4th DocuAsia Forum attempts to highlight the human stories behind broader social, political and economic shifts and envision a different kind of globalization – one that would move away from a model of cultural fragmentation to one of mutual understanding through discourse grounded in life and death concerns shared by all of us.  This year’s program features Extraction, a bilingual (English and Mandarin) documentary-style play by Theatre Conspiracy. Extraction, winner of the Rio Tinto Alcan Performing Arts Award, delves deep into the heart of intertwined cultural phenomena: China’s rise as an economic power and oil extraction in Alberta by mining the biographies of non-actor performers.

This year’s DocuAsia program does not confront ecological challenges directly. Rather, it raises questions about the troubling broader context of inter-cultural and inter-national miscommunication and the kind of impatience and aggression this so often yields.

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Based in Taiwan, the Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company finds new and creative ways to enhance the traditional art of puppetry, and has performed around the world. This production, which features lessons about our interactions with the natural environment, tells the story of a boy, his tarot-root-doppelganger, a friendly shark and the community around them. Audiences will have a chance to interact with the puppets and puppeteers after each performance. Sponsored by Council for Cultural Affairs (Taiwan)

For more information, please visit LunarFest 2013 website, organized by the Asian Canadian Special Events Association.

The Magical Encounter is a Pan-Asian & inter-arts gala performance showcasing both local and visiting artists, and exploring the intersection between music, word, dance, multimedia and cultural traditions. Produced by VAHMS, co-presented by SFU Woodward’s.

This is the kick-off event of explorASIAN 2012, and will feature a special program to pay
tribute to the late Milton Wong. The latter music and dance piece is being organized by the
community-at-large with the Laurier Institution & VAHMS as co-chairs.
Acts:

• Colleen Lanki / Tetsu Taiko (traditional drumming performance & dance of Japan)
• Jan Walls (fun, audience engaging performance of Chinese clapper song)
• BCCMA (hulusi virtuosos hailed from Yunnan province, China)
• Uighur Belly Dancing (Adalat Omar & Yasmina Dance)
• Maitre Bac (contemporary performance combining the art of fencing & classical music)
• Rod Chow (Magician)
• PARS National Ballet (classical ballet, Persian Ballet, regional ethnic dances)
• Yvonne Ng (Contemporary dance “Tiger Princess Dance Projects” from Toronto)
• Shan E-Panjabi (youth group showcasing modern/classical dances)
• The Butterfly Dance (Lia Fallah)
• ZYRYAB sampler (fusion of Flamenco & Persian musical traditions)

7pm at the Fei & Milton Wong Experimental Theatre, Vancouver.

If you or your organization is conducting a Pan Asian Canadian related performance, exhibition, workshop, lecture, seminar, discussion, forum, etc. during the month of May 2010, we can list your event in our online festival calender to give your event additional exposure.

All we ask in return is that you place our “explorASIAN” web banner on your website with a link back to www.explorasian.org to help promote our community festival.

Please email the event details as follows:

1. Your contact information, e.g. name, mailing address, phone, fax, email, website
2. Name of the event, location, date and time, ticket info, admission fee
3. Indicate if the event is for “FAMILY” or “YOUTH (16+) or “ADULT (19+)” audiences
4. Artist biography and/or project description
5. Any supporting photo and/or graphic image in JPG file format

Due to space limitations, we reserve the right to edit your submission without additional notice to you.
As this is a free service, we reserve the right to refuse any listing which does not meet our festival programming guidelines.
A paid web advertisment option is available.

Download our logos and banners at http://www.explorasian.org/downloads.html

Email your event submission to: explorasian@gmail.com with the subject line: Festival Submission
DEADLINE: March 31, 2010 – 6:00pm PST

Please note effective Jan 11, 2010 our telephone number has changed to 604.569.2781

Our fax number (604.677.2147) and office address (110 Keefer Street, Vancouver) remains the same.