The Sunshine Coast Ocean Festival will return for its sixth year next week, taking a deep dive into events that honour United Nations World Oceans Day.
Hosted by the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association and Rhizome Up! Media, the annual festival uses expert talks, film screenings and a community celebration to reveal ways to protect coasts and oceans.
"The whole point of the festival is to really educate and inspire and show people the miraculous world that lives under the surface of the ocean," said Suzanne Senger, executive director of the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association. "We're trying to get people involved in some of the really great initiatives that are trying to fix some of the problems [resulting from climate change]."
Online "NEMO Talks" (from June 2 to 6) offer Zoom-based inspirational presentations featuring partners of the association, local groups and other organizations. Five talks are scheduled, including a session on octopus nurseries by Cherisse Du Preez of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. "There are thermal vents in the ocean floor that make warm water," explained Senger. "There are octopus nurseries right in the Salish Sea."
In-person film screenings of the film Turtle Walker (on June 1) and Chasing Coral (on June 4) take place from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Sechelt Arts Centre.
On Sunday, June 8, Mission Point Park hosts the World Oceans Day Celebration featuring hands-on booths, shíshálh cedar weaving, representatives from ecological agencies, and local merchants. The event will include games, live music, a barbecue, and prize giveaways.
Halfmoon Sea Kayaks and BC Parks lead a beach cleanup at Thormanby Island on June 5 (the flotilla will launch at 11 a.m.).
Admission to all Ocean Festival events is by donation.
The nonprofit conservation association is currently involved in research projects like forage fish sampling and eelgrass mapping, which feed into official community planning. The group is also mounting legal opposition to the Woodfibre LNG project and conducting policy work on the impact of LNG tankers on the West Coast.
A full schedule of Ocean Festival live and online events is available online at sunshinecoastoceanfestival.ca.
Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Members of the Chatelech Secondary School music theatre ensemble, under the direction of Sara Douglas, proved it is possible to mount a full-scale song-and-dance production in only eight weeks. Two performances of The Wizard of Oz charmed audiences early this week as the group completed its third production in a packed school year.
"How is it you can talk if you don't have any brains?" asked Dorothy (played by Malina Leskie, pitch-perfect in her gingham dress and ruby slippers) of the scarecrow. "Well, I don't know," drawled the rosy-cheeked scarecrow (Gretchen Hergesheimer), "but I have noticed that it's the people without any brains that talk the most."
Leskie also earned the admiration of the crowd for improvisation while awaiting slow-to-arrive hurricane sound effects: "I'm not sure, Toto, but I think there's a storm on its way. I think it's coming very soon."
Speaking of improvisation
The debut public performance of the Coast Improv ensemble occurred last weekend, playing to a full house at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons. Under the direction of its founder, Alistair Cook, two teams competed in Theatresports-style games — and integrated audience suggestions from an all-ages crowd.
Cook has been running regular improv workshops since last year. Onstage artists Aaron Malkin, Asha Labreche, Chael MacArthur, Grace Carter, Krista Hilge, Lucy Falkner, Mark Bailey, Spencer Keys, and "celebrity judge" Ean Henninger included veteran performers and fledgling thespians.
Notable scenes included a pickleball match played with real pickles, and an opera with lines sung in alphabetical order. Listings of Cook's upcoming improv workshops appear online at coastimprov.com.
Generosity results in a real top-up
Under the direction of Janice Brunson, the A Cappella Strait choir and Choralations Children's Choir delivered a pair of heartwarming concerts one week ago. The Choralations choristers used the occasion to debut their new regalia: T-shirts emblazoned with the group's logo.
The shirts were a gift of former member Tanner Mitchell, who sang with Choralations for 15 years. Mitchell received a scholarship and used its proceeds to fund the singers' uniforms, even as he departed the group to focus wholly on dance studies at the Waldorf Ballet studio.
Mitchell and his family were in attendance at the Friday night concert, witnessing the choristers resplendent in their new livery.
Dancers step up at year-end
Year-end shows from local dance studios provide an opportunity to witness a vast array of specialties and an impressive degree of talent.
On June 7 and 8, the Coast Academy of Dance will present four renditions of its star-studded show, Dancing at the Oscars.
Meanwhile, the Gibsons Dance Centre offers three separate programs between June 6 and 8: its Junior Program recital, a Youth Program recital, and a high-octane adult program.
The Waldorf Ballet studio of Sechelt is gearing up for its annual year-end spectacular: Alice in Wonderland plays at the Raven's Cry Theatre on June 13, 14 and 15.
Tickets for the respective events are available directly from the studios: coastdance.com, gibsonsdance.com, and waldorfballet.com.
