Arts, City
Nuit Blanche: Balls, Bags and Bagged
Around 4 pm yesterday, when the wind was blustery, and the sky was drizzly, and the cold was cold, I thought, "Oh boy, Nuit Blanche is gonna be bust." Torontonians will brave a lot of bad weather for say sports, but art? I had my doubts. Well, Toronto you certainly impressed. Not only did you counter my worst expectations you exceeded my best by far. I think Nuit Blanche has proven that Toronto loves Art.
Now, I had planned to start at Zone B, make my way over to Zone A and finish the evening trekking through Zone C. This was a futile and ambitious plan as I barely got out the first Zone before calling it a night when my soakers reached to my knees and I started to see more puking party-goers than performance artists.
I kicked off the night at the Textile Museum with a giant bag of clothes in hand for the Swap Till You Drop party with Allyson Mitchell. That was a hoot. As we ladies tried clothes on, we also would exchange the histories of the garments, and I came out with a bundle almost as large as I came in with.
I have to say by far my favourite event was Ballroom Dancing facilitated by Darren O'Donnell. I mean who can resist pissy ten-year old DJ's who stop the music and growl at the crowd to "Behave and stop throwing the balls around!" We had to leave when my hat became the target of choice.
Other hits for me included A Glow In the Dark's The Day Room by Geoffrey Pugen, and How To Respond in an Emergency by Diane Borsato (the dancing cops); Position Yourself in a Network of Possibilities by Samuel Roy-Bois (the makeshift outdoor dance-floor); In Pursuit of Happiness, 2006 by Tanya Mars (cake-eating, dining-table gluttony performance); Unearthed by Micheline Roi ( SOUNDplay fest audio tour); Strung Up performance by Mike Sharpe in 401 Richmond; and looking at paintings in the dark with flashlights at YYZ Artists' Outlet).
All in all, I am extremely disappointed that I have to wait a whole year before doing this again.
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Nuit Blanche was a night to remember, I took a lot of photos and had a great time! We need more of these kind of events in the city!
It's too bad you missed the other zones. I walked through all 3 from 9pm until 5:30am. There was so much goodness to see everywhere and I still missed tonnes of exhibits.
Nuit Blanche was incredible! I'm stunned at the thousands of people that lined the streets early on and more stunned by the hundreds that were still wandering the streets at 5:00am.
I can't wait for this to happen again!
The BALLROOM was my favourite as well - by far. I spent a good 45mins in there, letting out my inner child with friends and strangers and what looked like thousands of balls. I arrived at about 3am, and things were still very much alive and bouncing.
At 7am (yes, I managed to keep my eyes open and my feet moving all night), I was coming down from the Skypod of the CN Tower and saw that one of the balls from the Ballroom somehow made the migration. One of the security guards was standing there, big, shiny red ball in hand and I felt like my Nuit Blanche had come full circle, and to an end.
I love Toronto!
Sounds incredibly awesome ... I missed out this year due to the lack of companionship. Definitely attending next year.
Toronto, you impressed me beyond the realms of my imagination. I was actually amoung those great numbers who came out to volunteer to make this happen... and even with the rain, I just couldn't believe so much of Toronto was out there. And there is no way, that 12 straight hours is enough to see it all. But that's the beauty of it, even if you braved the 12 hours you probably didn't get it ALL! Really looking forward to 2007.
Peace.
rock on!! glad you loved Ballroom Dancing. And it's true, the kids got pissed at all the violence, but i hold them responsible since the insanity exploded when they played We Will Rock You.