The pomp and circumstance of the pageantry world takes to Toronto’s EnWave Theatre in Major Tom

When you see Major Tom (playing the EnWave Theatre as part of WorldStage), you don’t watch Victoria Melody perform nearly so much as run into her at a dog park: she smiles in recognition, and you start chatting.  She has the sort of personality which, with nothing more than a wink and a well-chosen anecdote, brings you into her world. Vicky’s going to talk, and you’re going to listen–and you’re going to enjoy every minute of it.

And this particular story is fascinating: she walks us through more-or-less a year in the life of a dog fancier who, feeling it unfair that her basset hound (the titular Major Tom) must be primped and trained and perfumed and tweezed into a perfect specimen in order to compete at dog shows, decides to begin entering beauty pageants herself–with all the attendant weight loss, relationship strain, pink-ribbon runs, spray-on tans, and charity calendar shoots.

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V-Day Toronto’s Emotional Creature explored the many issues concerning young women around the world

Making its triumphant Canadian debut at the Young People’s Theatre, Emotional Creature is a poignant look at the various struggles endured by young women all over the world. This V-Day Toronto production (presented in conjunction with Nightwood Theatre) employs song, dance and dialogue to explore a wide range of issues – from trying to fit in to escaping a horrible life of sexual slavery.

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Toronto Dance Theatre explores human movement and motion at the Winchester Theatre

Leaving the Winchester Street Theatre, it struck me that a converted church seemed fitting for what I had just seen. Working with all of the Toronto Dance Theatre company members, Ame Henderson’s Voyager was almost religious in its dedication to their theme.

The question posed in publicity about Voyager was “What would happen if you never stopped moving?” My initial gut response, albeit a pessimistic one was ‘nothing, we never stop moving’. Our hearts beat, our lungs pump, and our synapses fire we are constantly in motion. After seeing the show I realized what was missing from these press releases and e-blasts was the idea of constant motion at a single tempo.

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