The end is near, so is the beginning
This beginning comes anon, so we start
The memory we leave behind is glistening

With beauty, pride, and sadness, we now part.

Together we made magic and saw light
In mind we keep: the moon in all its might
With all its glory, shall not shine alone
We will now let those without speech be known

Through movements, songs, shadows and light we’ve grown.

The flower wilts, dies, but its spirit lives
Through all of us, happiness its life gives
If you understand not, do not now fret
The coming stories be not written yet.

Closing night cast and company photo, by Katherine FleitasThanks to All!

Like An Old Tale completed its 2-week run on December 18th, with one public preview, 11 performances and  a national symposium on Community arts, a cast of over 100 and a total audience of over 1000, celebrating four years of art-making in East Scarborough and 10 years of Jumblies Theatre’s existence, with enthusiastic feedback from many sources. I would like to pour boundless thanks and appreciation onto each and every person who took part – as cast, crew, partner, funder, donor, audience member – and often several of these things at once.

Stay tuned for what will be happening in the new year: photo sharing, video screening, reflections on the process, professional development workshops, new activities and projects in Scarborough and elsewhere in Toronto with Jumblies and our Offshoots.

Ruth
(Ruth Howard, Artistic Director, Jumblies Theatre)

Some Links of interest:

Shakespeare in Scarborough, Clarke Mackey
 Review of Like An Old Tale, Mooney on Theatre

photo by Katherine Fleitas

PAY WHAT YOU CAN for Like an Old Tale TONIGHT. 
One of our last shows – see it at a discounted price.
Friday December 16th at 7:30 suggested donation 10-20$
First come first serve! Email info@jumbliestheatre.org to reserve your seat!

Read about the TWELVE REALMS OF SCARBOROUGH here

By Dominic Mann-Bertrand

Originally from the coastal community of Fort Albany First Nation, off the coast of James Bay, Rosary Spence was raised by her Cree grandparents in what she considers a very traditional manner. Though today she is a well-recognized indigenous singer, steeped in time-honored aboriginal styles, her first singing experiences were actually in church. From the tender age of four, she became used to performing in public and was greatly inspired by gospel music to develop her vocal and instrumental talents further. Eventually she began playing the piano, later joining band in high school, where she also learned alto sax and guitar.

Rosary leading workshops at Eastview School

“I like to say that I’ve been singing my whole life, thanks to my grandmother. But it’s been quite an evolving process. I didn’t know how to speak English until I was about 6 or 7 and, honestly, my worldview was very small back then. And with the developing years, a lot of which were spent growing up in North Bay, it was still a major culture shock coming to Toronto. Even though it’s not too far from home, geographically, culturally it’s completely different; but coming here still feels natural to me in that progression. My journey, to where I am today as an educator, has always rested on my life experience through the arts. From as far back as I can remember I’ve wanted to take part in improv, drama and music, that’s why so much of what I do now is try and help others find that same sort of passion within themselves.”

As an aboriginal cultural educator, Rosary travels to schools and raises awareness about her people’s thriving traditions, imparting significant aspects of this culture into the everyday lives of Native and non-Native children. She shares music with the kids, tells stories, works through theatre ideas and exercises, and teaches about the different values her community holds dear. Beyond the classroom, Rosary is also very active in the aboriginal arts community in Toronto through organizations like Native Earth, ANDPVA (the Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts) and ImagiNative. These places act as creative hubs that nurture the work of Canadian aboriginal artists, as well as indigenous artists from all over the world, integrating their voices into the increasing chorus of multiplicity in the GTA:

“In this day and age, the multicultural aspect presents great opportunities for sharing—things like storytelling, visual arts and performing arts, music—that’s all meant to be shared. That’s why there’s very little difference between art education and working creatively on a theatre show like this with Jumblies, the procedures are very much the same. It’s all about identifying with an idea, something that inspires you, which crosses all cultural borders. When my mother-in-law, who’s in the same line of work as I am, sent a message asking me about doing song creation for this project, I immediately said ‘Yes.’ I love that there are so many cultures involved in one body of project, it’s so organic, and natural to me.”

So far, Rosary has done a good deal of work with children from Eastview School, teaching them one of her songs written for the Like an Old Taleproduction. As many people know, Scarborough has the largest aboriginal population in Toronto, and the student population of Eastview reflects that important presence. “What’s great about the school is that it’s an absolute mixture of cultures, like so many places in Toronto, which adds another layer to the effect you can have on people. For aboriginal kids, I think, what we’re doing helps them get in touch with a part of their own culture; but with the other kids it gives them a window into a different culture, and that helps bring them all a little closer together from such an early age.”

Rosary got involved with the Like an Old Tale project also as a means of collaborating with other talented musicians from backgrounds different than her own. She’s developed songs for the show in conjunction with composer Juliet Palmer and traditional Tamil singer Sharada K. Eswar. Together they’ve worked to blend ideas, languages and cultures, as well as to evoke particular universal themes or emotions. “For the Water Song, for example, which I’m currently helping teach to the kids, there’s a great sense of return, of going home, going from a frozen state back to life, and a huge travelling element. I worked with those concepts—water as a giver of life, as being fast moving, as constantly travelling—and the kids got it right away, through association, which is really amazing.”

For the Lullaby, however, Rosary’s method was slightly different because she developed her part of the song in a sort of response to the one that Sharada is singing. In that process, she tried to create a matching song, pairing it in a type of melodic fusion. “Sharada’s song, you see, is unique to her culture, as is her way of singing. My style, too, is unique to my culture and so the song I wrote was very much in that tradition; but the idea was to complement her song in a way that allows both to coexist naturally. They are made to be different, but they’re complementing twins.”

In this same sense, she believes, the community arts model successfully valoridates individuality by incorporating it into the larger whole. That kind of artistic approach reflects evolving human sensibilities and, therefore, is greatly relevant in our society today: “By embracing the differences, I think we can find real beauty there. Globally, I think, we’re seeing a lot of that happen in a sort of cultural shift—learning how to be accepting, or at least more accepting. As an artist, honestly, I can’t think of a better way of starting to heal our communities.”

 ABOUT THE SONGS IN THE SHOW

1. Women’s Room

“Iskwewuk Nikamun” – translated from Cree as the Women’s Song.
Created for the women of the world, to honour the life giver’s, the strength of our communities, and to offer blessings.

2. The Oracle

This song has no title, but when I sing it, I emote from a place of mystery and wonder. I imagine myself as a woman whom is approached for guidance.

3. The Lullaby

“Meh meh” – Meh meh is a comforting expression I heard growing up, and one I’ve used for my children. Eg. “Meh meh’s time now”. It is often sung in repetition in a lullaby “meh meh meh…” to a soft melody. “Meh meh” has no literal translation, but can be recieved as “sleep” or “sleep time”.

A slow, soft melody. I created this song custom to Sharada’s Lullaby, it’s not the same melody, but a compliment to the sounds in her song. The song also has a similar feeling to a traditional lullaby my late grandfather, Frederik Spence, would sing to us.

4. The Water Song

“Nipii” – translated from Cree as Water.

This song is in honour of Water. Water is sacred. Without water, life would cease to exist. Also, without water, a ship cannot travel. The sounds in this song mimic the movement of water, fast paced, always moving. Sounds I imagine the waters of the Ocean would make.

Wholenote
National Post
Tandem
Inside Toronto
NOW 

NEW PHOTOS ADDED
Photos of the December 6th run through, by Robin Archer

Session: 6:15pm – 10:00pm
Training 6:15 – 6:45pm
In position 6:45pm
Doors open 7:00pm
Show ends 9:30pm
Clear theatre 10:00pm
For matinees, ushers should arrive at 12:30
*We can help with transportation and TTC fare

Responsibilities:
* Greet audience members and hand out programs
* direct audience members to their seats
* Provide the primary level of guest assistance in the seating area.
* Provide guests with directions or other venue information.
* Keep access ways clear as instructed
* Follow instructions on emergency evacuation of the building.
*We can provide highschool community service hours

Qualifications:
* 16 years of age or older.
* Friendly and personable. Excellent customer service skills required!
* A team player. Must work well with others.

IF INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT INFO@JUMBLIESTHEATRE.ORG

Zoe working on Perdita's dress for Like An Old Tale

Jumblies welcomes Zoe Jenkins, a youth intern through Ontario Employment Program (formerly known as Job Connect), like Dillon Cox.

Zoe has been part of Jumblies productions since 2006, as a musician and performer. She is working on the costumes for Like An Old Tale, as well as assisting with workshops at Eastview school and with the Tamil Senior groups – sewing flowers and making sheep costumes.

Zoe Jenkins is a visual artist who paints, sews and draws. She attended Rosedale School for the Arts where she designed the costumes for a production of Hamlet. Her work was recently show in the 2011 Dundas West Art Crawl at the Lula Lounge. She is planning to continue her studies in visual arts next year.

Zoe sewing story bags at 4100 Lawrence

(Click for full size images)

Dillon Cox with the Leontes Puppet

Dillon Cox as Leontes and Sonja Rainey as Hermione

The Sheep, Sarah Miller, Kaitlyn and Brooklyn, finding baby Perdita

The Thunderbirds, made by Phil Cote, operated by Phil Cote and Sid Bobb