The 11th edition of the Festival Orientalys is underway until August 22, and will feature a lively showcase of exciting and innovative shows by artists and artisans from Montreal and around the world. For this year, the festival will present a hybrid version, in which the live and in-person component will feature a line-up of performances and workshops by a number of artists from Quebec and across Canada; and the digital component will have a number of shows performed by international groups, which are presented in the framework of thematic capsules.
In the digital component, the festival – in conjunction with “Lands of the Orient” – features two pre-filmed digital series that celebrate Oriental arts and cultures. First of all, audiences will get the opportunity to discover a number of authentic and renewed dishes from that region that are made from recipes that were passed down from generation to generation. These capsules will showcase the cuisines from Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Iraq; as well, you will not only discover these unique recipes, but also the hidden history behind how these dishes were prepared through the years.
The other digital series being offered by the festival deals with how a number of Asian artists and performers – whether they be musicians or dancers — coped with the COVID pandemic, how it affected their respective career paths, and their reflections on returning back to a pre-pandemic normalcy.
As for the live and in-person component, which will take place on two stages, which are located at the Quai de l’Horloge of the Old Port. The TD Stage will feature shows performed by a line-up of artists representing such countries as Morocco, Algeria, Iran, Syria, Thailand, Korea and Canada. Some of the artists who are scheduled to perform at this stage include the Thai Dance Troupe of Ottawa, K-pop group 2ksquad, Syrian singer Abdelkarim Shaar, Kurdish and Persian dance/musical troupe Ensemble Mast and breakthrough musical artist Youba.
The Medina Stage will encourage members of the audience to take a more participatory role thanks to interactive performances and continuous live animation, as they can personally experience Kathak dancing from India, Persian and Afghan dancing, Moroccan folkloric and belly dancing, as well as flamenco dancing. There are also in person demonstrations of traditional Moroccan, Thai and Iranian wedding ceremonies, Chinese circus shows and a Japanese tea ceremony.
And the festival’s schedule of workshops will give visitors a fun way to discover a number of Oriental traditions and contemporary arts, such as cooking and pastry making, tai-chi, calligraphy, carpet-making, belly dancing, flamenco dancing and k-pop.
For more information about the programming line-up of the festival, go to www.festivalorientalys.com. To watch the festival’s series of virtual shows, go to www.festivalorientalys.live.
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