Posts Tagged blog

Cautionary Tales From Canada

By on December 8, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: , , ,
Cautionary Tales From Canada

A guest post by Patrick Swanson (Artistic Director, Revels, Inc.) and Stephen D. Winick, Ph.D.
Folktales have a predictable, familiar structure: beginnings and endings are ritualized in order to give a clear signal that we are entering and leaving another world, while middles often contain important lessons that are part of a perceived “common sense.” The lessons in French-Canadian culture come from a fascinating mixture of English, Scottish, Irish, and French tradition shaped by the dominant religion, Catholicism. Many folktales feature the village priest and his enemy, the Devil. A favorite cautionary tale about the Loup-Garou, or Werewolf, includes important information about the reason for the beast’s condition: neglecting to go to confession for seven years.

Read more →
Back to Top

Song and Music in Québec: A Brief Introduction

By on December 7, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: , , , ,
Song and Music in Québec: A Brief Introduction

A guest post by Stephen Winick, Ph.D.
This French-Canadian Revels includes a selection of ancienne musique and nouvelle musique Québécoise, blending old French tradition and New World ingenuity with a modern flair. On his first trip to the New World, in 1534, explorer Jacques Cartier found a rich land inhabited by Huron and Iroquois Indians. He promptly claimed it for France. After permanent settlement began in 1608, immigrants to Québec came from all over France, but especially from several provinces in the north and west: Normandy, Picardy, Anjou, Poitou, and Brittany. Not surprisingly, many of the traditional French songs we now find in Québec are common in those provinces as well. “Dans les prisons de Nantes,” for example, is set in Nantes, an important city that was historically the capital of Brittany. Located at the confluence of the Loire, the Sevre, and the Erdre, Nantes may be remembered fondly by many of our villagers as a model for their own Trois-Rivières.

Read more →
Back to Top

The Origin of the Gigue (Québécois Step Dancing)

By on December 5, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: , , ,
The Origin of the Gigue (Québécois Step Dancing)

A guest post by Pierre Chartrand
In Québec, step dancing is known as the gigue. The step dancing in this show is a style from the eastern part of Canada. It is one of a number of varieties of step dancing found throughout Canada. Step dancing originated in the British Isles. Its path to Canada began with the large Irish immigration between 1832 and 1847. As a port of entry, Québec City was first to feel the Irish influence. As French-speaking Canadians adopted the dance, colonists moving northward carried the gigue with them.

Read more →
Back to Top

Marking the Shortest Day of the Year

By on December 4, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: , , , , ,
Marking the Shortest Day of the Year

A reprint of “The Shortest Day” by Patrick Swanson (Artistic Director, Revels, Inc.)
In our own time the Winter Solstice is indissolubly linked with the festival of Christmas, though it was not always so. The myths of the festival are so deeply embedded within us that we no longer ask why we bring an evergreen into the house or decorate with candles or hang mistletoe. We take these things for granted as we plunge into the hectic preparations for Christmas and the New Year. Overall there is a heightened sense of something significant happening at a fixed point on the calendar. For some it is Christmas night, for others it is watching the ball drop in Times Square. The commercial frenzy of gift buying is fueled by references to holly and stars and carols and the streets are illuminated by strings of twinkling lights. Sometimes the blurring of images can distort the meaning of the event that is being celebrated.

Read more →
Back to Top
Back to Top

All are Welcome in Our Revels Community

By on December 1, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: , , , ,
All are Welcome in Our Revels Community

A guest post by Katrina Van Duyn
Although I usually join in Revels’ Christmas productions as a specialty performer, in Québécois I am happy to play a more hybrid role, not exactly a chorus member (I was not hired for my soprano chops), but definitely a member of the village community onstage. So I have come to the chorus rehearsals as much as possible, and have enjoyed and learned so much from them.

Read more →
Back to Top
Back to Top
Back to Top

Shaping Revels Kids

By on November 19, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: , , , ,
Shaping Revels Kids

A guest post by Kat Toton

The first Revels I ever saw was the 2004 production of The King and the Fool. I saw the following year’s Northlands show and somehow (although I don’t remember doing it) signed up for the mailing list. When the audition notice came out in 2006, I decided to try it and I’ve been with Revels ever since! You could say that I fell in love. I’ve been an adult Chorus member in 5 shows, did makeup for the 2008 Québécois show, and have been the kids’ Music Director since 2010.

Read more →
Back to Top

The Music that Weaves Through Our Life (Part 2)
Coming Full Circle: A Year, A Song and a Special Revels Teacher

By on November 16, 2017   /   Blog Posts  
Tags: ,
The Music that Weaves Through Our Life (Part 2)Coming Full Circle: A Year, A Song and a Special Revels Teacher

A guest post by Anna White
Timbered Lake opened with “Carry the Dream” …Carry the dream…carry the dream a little further…carry the dream a little further into the day…for those of us who’ve fallen on the way…and as the words and melody wafted through the air and patrons munching on popovers and sipping juice and their hot beverage of choice, I thought of the man who co-founded the soup kitchen and cafe, of Oran, of well known and lesser known people working to make this a better world, of relatives and ancestors, whose dreams, ideals and aspirations we carry on.

Read more →
Back to Top