Celebrating Asian Heritage Month, Festival Accès Asie presents Infusion, in collaboration with Barclay school, a multi-ethnic primary school. This colorful performance combines cultural heritage with a modern twist of poetry, on-site video mixing, live music, audio mixing and hip-hop dance.
A traditional monochord instrument, dan bau played by Pham Duc Thanh, will accompany the turntabling of DJ Crack Fingaz, creating a musical fusion inspired by a poem written by Angelica Le Minh. With these urban rhythmic sounds, will emerge different cultures and generations, that will inspire the movements by renowned hip-hop choreographers Alexandra “Spicey” Landé and Michel Lim. Michel Lim will dance with Troy Clarke, Yan Fradette, and Saxon Fraser.
The mural painted by the students of Barclay school under the direction of artist Maya Kuroki will be the décor for the show. There will be a short documentary directed by Meena Murugesan about the process of the mural with the children and VJ Pink Rubber Lady will mix on-site visual images throughout the evening.
Writer, poet and journalist, Angelica LeMinh is passionate about the emergent culture and urban life. She is one of the most prolific English-language journalists in Montreal’s bilingual magazine Nightlife. Angelica LeMinh is currently working on a script of her film project. She speaks English, French, Vietnamese, Spanish, Japanese and Tagalog.
Musician, actor, theater director, and visual artist, Maya Kuroki studied theatre arts in Japan and traveled all over the world to finally settle down in Montreal in 2001. A surrealist and fanciful artist, Maya Kuroki started an experimental rock band, Dynamo Coléoptera where she sings in French, English, and Japanese.
Florence So, a.k.a VJ Pink Rubber Lady, an artist of Chinese origin, mixes video on-site at different gallery art installations, festivals and corporative events in Montreal. She has participated three times in the art video artist in-residence program at the S.A.T. (Society of Technological Arts). Recently, VJ Pink Rubber Lady performed in Warsaw and Madrid. As a filmmaker since 2002, Florence So has directed numerous short films and videos. Her film, Split End (2003) opened doors where she was awarded the Filmmaker Assistance Program with the NFB (National Film Board) of Canada. Her film, Consultants (2007) was broadcast on national television.
Multi-disciplinary artist Meena Murugesan’s hybrid practice is fuelled by her passion for the South Indian classical dance form Bharata Natyam, African dance, and training in eastern energetic bodywork therapy. Meena has parallel careers as a documentary filmmaker and as a community arts educator. With eight years of collaborating with under-represented groups such as youth, people of colour and incarcerated women, Murugesan has intergrated the use of video and movement in Montreal, Toronto, Niger and Brazil. In 2007, Meena founded her own company meenakshi productions: movement, media, metamorphosis.
Alexandra ‘Spicey’ Landé has been a hip-hop choreographer, dancer, and teacher for the last 10 years. She has a major influence on Montreal’s dance street scene and is recognized as a specialist in her field. She discovered her passion for street dance as a child when she saw Janet Jackson and Jody Watley. She maintains a close relationship with hip-hop culture through her frequently presented choreographic creations. In 2005, ‘Spicey’ founded Unkut Productions, a cultural production company, that specializes in shows and events of Montreal’s dance community, that is a dance school and that organizes workshops.
Her main pre-occupation is to give a greater visibility to urban dance in Montreal, and to introduce to the international scene, original choreographic works such as: Retrospek, a performance co-produced with the M.A.I. (Montréal, arts interculturels), and Bust a Move, an annual event on the Montreal scene.
Montreal break-dancer, Michel “Boombeast” Lim has worked in particular, with hip-hop choreographers, Steve Bolton and Alexandra “Spicey” Landé. Most recently, Lim collaborated with Blueprint Dance Cie, Unkut Productions and Just For Laughs as well as dancing for MC Hammer.
Born in Northern Vietnam, Pham Duc Thanh has played dan bau, a monochord instrument since he was ten. He joined the group, Hat Cheo as a musician while attending the Center of Musical Research in Saigon in order to expand his traditional and contemporary repertoire. Established now in Canada since 1996, Pham Duc Thanh is presently an internationally renowned, leading expert in traditional Vietnamese music.
Jonathan Scholtus, a.k.a. DJ Crak Fingaz, now has 10 years of experience on the Montreal urban cultural scene. His talents as a disc jockey, has brought him victory in the prestigious competition Hip Hop 4ever in 2004. The following year, he was nominated to Gala of ADISQ for his participation in Arrivé ici with hip-hop artist, Clermont with whom he is presently working with, on his second album. DJ Crak Fingaz opened his own recording studio, Phase Studio in 2000.
Angelica LeMinh – Poet
Maya Kuroki – Poet
Florence So – VJ Pink Rubber Lady
Meena Murugesan – Videographer
Alexandra «Spicey» Landé – Co-choreographer
Michel «Boombeast» Lim – Co-choreographer and dancer
Pham Duc Thanh – Musician and composer
DJ Crak Fingaz – Musician and composer