—

—

The Great Harvest of Hope project being created for Young IDEAs dramatic presentation and can confidently say that the collaborative piece will be most moving and intriguing.

The adolescent writings that we are currently processing and editing are by turns , funny, sad, enlightening and heart warming so the end production will be rooted in very inspiring words and ideas.

In true World Congress spirit the Sherbrooke experience is awesome! You would be intrigued by the energy in the room.

There are four languages being spoken all the time in the room, English, French, Spanish and Mandarin!

So far, in only a day and half, we have processed the first reading and edit of nearly 600 works from the Philippines, China, Cuba, Peru, Belgium, Croatia, South Africa, and Iceland.

And are currently immersed in writings from Zimbabwe, Appleby College//Canada, Columbia, London//Canada, Mentor College//Canada, Quebec, and Taiwan, US, India.

We are all working very hard and are excited about where this will all lead for the presentation in Belem//Brazil.

Here’s another great contribution:

FROM NOW ON I WILL (by Christopher//12)
From now on I will bring peace and love,
Please and love as beautiful as a dove,
From now on I will bring love and care,
For everyone, everywhere.
From now on I will respect and treat,
with kindness, everyone that I meet.
From now on I will bring together,
Everyone and peace forever.
Peace with you.

This is no plea for money, but instead, for creativity!
DEADLINE: This SUNDAY January 23rd

“The Great Harvest of Hope” project speaks to my heart and soul, by bringing together the ideas, words and music of young people from more than thirty countries around the world, in the aim to inspire hope, spread peace, and change lives for the better.

I know that the seeds of your imagination - and the creative young people you know - will make an essential contribution.

Here’s how the BIG project works:
* Young people (8 - 19 years) from around the world contribute their creativity
in English, French, Spanish, and Portugese.
* Starting January 24th EVERY submission is translated
into each of the other 3 languages
* Over the next few months, a script is fashioned by a multi-lingual
team in Quebec — I will be assisting in this facillitation, in person, in Sherbrooke
* In SPRING: an international team of young performers, drawn from each of
the 30 participating countries, will create a multi-language show
* The resulting performance becomes the centrepiece in the
International Drama and Dance Educators Association congress
in Brazil - Summer 2010

My responsibility is the brisk coordination of CANADIAN Contribution - and I will also be documenting as much of the process as possible for viewing on the Internet, and other new media channels.

There will be hundreds of participants speaking English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. LET’s Get the CANADIAN VOICE HEARD TOO!

I need your help…
A] …in choosing a one or a few young participants who have something special to contribute

AND/OR

B] …assembling a small group tweens and teens to talk about, and then contribute

AND/OR

C] …If you fit the age range, by CONTRIBUTING YOUR OWN CREATIVITY

HERE’s WHAT STARTS OFF THE WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS.
Respond in words, images and/or song to the following starting points:
[ONE]
taking time …to do, to think, to feel
Starting points:
a) Each day…
b) From now on, I will…

[TWO]
my place …in my community, in the world, in my life
Starting points:
a) There is always… and it…
b) I feel like trying…

[THREE]
my fears …how they stand now, how I might overpower them
Starting points:
a) I feel as if…
b) All it would take…

[FOUR]
the same or different …in terms of culture, gender, age
Starting points:
a) I see that…
b) I decided…

[FIVE]
water …as shared, hoarded, polluted or wasted by us all
Starting points:
a) In my daily life…
b) Perhaps…

DEADLINE: This Sunday January 24th

EMAIL Submissions to: longstaff.n@gmail.com

In all cases, once the basic responses have been recorded, all participants are invited to take a little more time to express
through Words, ideas, poetry, song, impressions, and images…

If you see a possibility to use Video or Audio - GREAT - we’ll need to talk about HOW though — these forms are much more difficult and time consuming to translate.

As the Coordinator for the Canadian Contribution to the project, I hope you’ll let me know:
First: how you think you can help
Second: what questions you have for me, for clarification
Third: what help you need from me, for you to contribute

I think this is the start of the kind of work that can reshape young people’s connection to the world they will soon inherit from us - It’s about collaboration, creativity and hope, and I hope you will be part of it!

yours sincerely,

Nicholas

Showcasing some of North America’s finest emerging art
and independent rock talent in a nationally recognized festival in
downtown London Ontario

FIRST TIME EVER…
ShadowD will be installed OUTDOORS
in the heart of Beautiful Victoria Park

see: www.lolafest.com
for details

Contact Nicholas: (647) 289-7083  +  Longstaff.n@gmail.com

ShadowD
HarbourKIDS Festival Weekend
ENWAVE THEATRE - HARBOURFRONT - TORONTO
____________________________________________________________
Saturday to Monday:
May 16, 17 + 18
11:00 to 5:00
(Facilitations at 12:00, 2:00 and 4:00)FREE ADMISSION
to this and all the other events
(including the CIRCUS!) all weekend
for the whole family!

ShadowD dazzled Nuit Blanche 2008 in its prototype form.  Now it’s remixed, reprogrammed and realized BIG at the HarbourKIDS Festival FREE in the ENWAVE THEATRE - HARBOURFRONT CENTRE- TORONTO
Saturday to Monday: May 16, 17 + 18, from 11:00am to 5:00pm

It’s PLAYFUL:
ShadowD plays with time, space and colour; a little like a game and a little like a show …in which kids AND grownups are in lights!

Looks BEAUTIFUL:
Watching these larger-than-life shadows dance before you, it is hard not to smile.  The colours reflect back onto the faces of the participants and the onlookers; the whole room is alive with light and dark shapes.

Feels ACTIVE:
People of all abilities can trigger entertaining responses from ShadowD.  It is impossible simply to stand and watch – in fact, if you leave your shadow ‘still’ for too long, it gets bored and simply fades away …until you shake around to bring it back to life.

Sounds SUPERNATURAL:
You’ve never heard a shadow speak before?  Well ShadowD sings, giggles, gulps and responds to the shapes you make on its giant screen, all with the voice talents of renowned sound poets a.rawlings, Lillian Allen and Rob Read.

Ever ELLUSIVE:
ShadowD grew out of extensive research into the ancient folkloric character of the Trickster.  There are rules governing its behaviour, but they seem to change the longer you play with it, making the whole experience get richer as you spend more time getting ShadowD.

SHADOWS have danced through my artworks and plays for years.  From my early workings-out of how silhouettes could be painted to express character, to my experiments with shadow theatre, to the darker issues on which I like to shed light through my music and storytelling, shadows have become just as important to me as the sun.

HarbourKIDS: MAY 2009

MORE ABOUT ShadowD

ShadowD puts YOU in the spotlight, and plays in ways a normal shadow could never imagine.  This delightfully devious digital shadow can do everything that you can – and MORE!

Whether young or old, short or tall, professional dancer, novice or wheelchair rider, you will love the way ShadowD make you move… for every move you make in this magical light-and-shade environment gets mimicked by your digital shadow-twin.  Soon though, your twin decides to take the lead and you discover that you can grow and shrink, twist and melt, change colour and even disappear!

You’ve never heard a shadow speak before?  Well ShadowD can, by borrowing the voice talents of renowned sound poets a.rawlings, Lillian Allen and Rob Read it sings, giggles, gulps and responds to the shapes you make on its giant screen.  You’ll be laughing along too, as kids convince parents to wiggle and shake, and to play out little scenes in light and dark for friends to watch and enjoy.

Play solo, in pairs, groups or gangs; this one-of-a-kind installation will change the way you move, expand the way you think about the dark, and light up your imagination for years to come!

_______________________________________

BIO:     N I C H O L A S   L O N G S T A F F

Nicholas Longstaff creates music, theatre, video and art installations that grow from collaboration and play.  His work as a director, performer, and film composer brought him awards including both the Bravest and Most Daring productions, and Best Original Music. His Kastner Award-winning work “I’s and You’s” mixed video with live performance, and he is thrilled to bring the Harbourfront Centre ShadowD: a new digital video installation in which you – the participant – are the live performer.

Nicholas brings a wealth of his work experience with young people to HarbourKIDS; he ran the ArtsCore Theatre School in London, Ontario, coordinated entertainment for the Storybook Gardens, taught for Learning Through The Arts, and has developed collaboratively more than 15 popular plays for family audiences.

Installations, radio artworks, music and plays by Nicholas travel far – from communities like Petawawa, Ontario, to Chicago, USA …but the last time he exhibited in Toronto he was just across the Harbour on Toronto Island for New Adventures in Sound Art’s festival: Deep Wireless. Now he facilitates, educates and produces across all media.  He is an Associate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, an alumnus of the Canadian Film Centre Media Lab.

Well, I climbed the CN Tower on the 18th of April, in support of the World Wildlife Fund whose mission is:

—————————————-
To stop the degradation of the planet’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans
live in harmony with nature, by:

conserving the world’s biological diversity,

ensuring that the use of renewable
natural resources is sustainable,

promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.
—————————————-

…made it up in 20:40 - held no handrail - 144 stories, 30 flights @ 3 steps at a time (ouch) 62 flights 2 at a time (no picnic either) and raised over 300 dollars for the WWF! Thank you Donors!!!!

The day - and the whole event (for me anyway) wouldn’t have happened were it not for my brother, Michael, who encouraged me to sign up and made the day plenty of fun.

Though I couldn’t get permission to record or photograph the climb itself, I did create a record of the pre-climb, and post-climb period…

Listen HERE:

 

 CNTower Climb Podcast [21:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

………………..excerpted from the article written by Cristina Howorun

What the Dancers are looking at (a few seconds later!)

Toronto nightclub to showcase Shh Ahh Ohh
Shh Ahh Ohh, created by Rea McNamara and Nicholas Longstaff, is a shadow installation that refuses to be constrained by frames. At the media lab exhibit, the display encompassed an entire room, filling two large walls. Arguably one of the most popular exhibits, the interactive installation encourages participants to set into the crossroads of light and shadow.

Participants’ movements are mirrored and digitally projected as shadows on a large screen. Different movements trigger different colours, shapes and noises, including the seemingly random appearance of an animated crow.
Armed with only a budget of approximately $700, a $20 web cam, projector, screens and vvvv software [4] - open source software developed for real time video synthesis - the interactive exhibit is already enjoying some success. Next month Shh Ahh Ohh will be installed in Circa Nightclub, a 53,000 square foot, four-storey mega club, located in the heart of downtown Toronto’s nightclub district.

“We’re still working on the design specifics for the showing,” explains Longstaff, “but I’m excited about the possibilities, and to see how dancers interact with the screen, their shadows, the colours. I’d love to see floor-to-ceiling screens, where dancers from different floors could be projected and interact with the shadows from dancers in different areas of the club.”
Longstaff, like other graduates of the program, are hoping to bring investors on board. “I think this project can go beyond entertainment venues and has real potential as a learning tool.”

Drawing from his experiences as an educator, he cites colour theory and dance as potential educational venues for the project. “There really is quite a bit of possibilities,” he says, echoing the hopes of his fellow graduates.

………………..excerpted from the article written by Cristina Howorun

“shh aah ohh” by Nicholas Longstaff and Rea McNamara, in photos by friends!  contribute more?  PLEASE! longstaff.n@gmail.com

these two were in the installation forever.

this six year old figured out how to change his shadow

about 2:00AM things just kept on stayin alive

What the Dancers are looking at (a few seconds later!)

goes well with wine AND beer

acrobatic moves get acrobatic results

in this split second, the child figures out that he is being watched by a camera

the gallery description

shadowplay

the hand creating the shadowplay

the faces watching the shadowplay

the Shadows Invert

the Shadows Invert, 02

the Shadows Invert, 03the Shadows Invert, 04