The Festival will host this year a video conference in which representants from the Canadian Asian Heritage Month will interact through their performances. Through this cyber-technology, three performances of music and dance by Festival Accès Asie will be broadcast live and programmed at Ex-Centris with other speakers, performances and public discussion with Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver.

Janet Lumb, co-founder and artistic director of Festival has designed this project to enable encounters between four Canadian cities. “Reaching Out” continues the Festival’s objectives to create and meet, despite the distances, allowing the public to discover the talents of Asian artists in Montreal and in Canada. Inspired to defy Canada’s geographic boundaries, she brings artists, audiences and communities together from across the country.

From Montreal, multidisciplinary performances combine colorful cultural heritage and modernity through music, traditional dance and also hip hop. The audience on site or via the videoconferencing will, indeed, have the pleasure of attending a performance of Indian Kathak dancer, with internationally renowned Sudeshna Maulik, accompanied by Shawn Mativetsky, Indian tabla virtuoso, a musical instrument percussion. This event will also feature a performance by the Montreal breakdancer Michel Lim, accompanied on stage with hip hop dancers Erich “Ddimplz Jack” and Sandy “Did” Béland. Finally, musicians from the Ensemble Constantinople, Kiya and Ziya Tabassian will perform. The Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto audiences will have the chance to witness these live Montreal performances as well as the pleasure of discovering speakers, publics and artists from the other cities.

Versatile tabla player, Shawn Mativetsky is just as comfortable in the traditional music of India, in world music and in contemporary music. He has also contributed music for dance and theater as a composer and performer. Giving lectures, workshops and performances across the world, he undertakes to inform the public about tabla and traditional music from India. Based in Montreal, he is teaching tabla and percussion at McGill University. During this performance, he will accompany the renowned Indian Kathak dancer Sudeshna Maulik.

Considered by the German press as representing “the very best in Eastern dance”, Sudeshna was introduced to Kathak dance from an early age following the teachings of great gurus like Pt Chitresh Das or Padmabhibhushan Birju Maharaj, a living legend of Kathak. She has since danced in numerous countries such as Russia, China, Taiwan, United States, in Europe and of course Canada, where she has lived since 2007 and is known for her teaching and performance of Kathak.

The breakdancer was born and raised in Montreal. He learned to street dance from the age of 14. By joining the group Area 51, he made his Hip-Hop debut in Montreal. He has participated in many known and recognized local and international events in the field of Hip-Hop, such as ‘War is War’, ‘Battle of the Year’ and ‘Battle JFL’. His experience on stage with his team has given him the desire to learn more about the performing arts. His interest has always focused on the styles of street dance but since 2004, Michel Lim has been more oriented towards more funky styles (popping, locking, roboting ,…). He has also collaborated with Hip-Hop choreographers such as Steve Bolton, Alexandra “Spicey” Landé and Natasha “Tash” Jean-Bart. In recent years he has worked more closely with dance companies such as Blueprint Dance Co., Unkut Productions and the Festival Just for Laughs. Be it on stage at the Planet Hollywood dancing alongside MC Hammer or doing breakdance in the street, Michel ‘Boombeast’ Lim has a deep pleasure to dance Hip-Hop, a passion for this art that you will definitely feel.

Since he was little, Erich “Ddimplz Jack” has been moving enormously. He was very young when he realized the importance and interest of being devoted to dance. Watching his dance style and repertoire, we notice that he has always wanted to diversify his knowledge while refining what he has learned. From Hip-Hop to House, through the waaking and contemporary dance, Erich finds that it is important to broaden one’s horizons to better create. He has worked for the DPJ’s in centers as dance teacher, has participated in the Just for Laughs Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival with the artist Fella Kuti, danced with singer Jodey Watley in 2007 and has appeared in several music videos. With this impressive background, the greatest ambition and desire for Erich “Ddimplz Jack” is to continue to dance, to teach dance as often as possible and to push the limits.

“Did” discovered her passion for dance at the age of three. In 2005, she was introduced to Urban dance and fell madly in love. Sandy has since been meeting with specialists in urban dance centers such as Urban-Element Dance in Montreal. Dancers such as Angelo Ameur, Alexandra “Spicey” Landé and Cindy “Goldylocks” McAullife have greatly influenced her. Driven by her passion and strong interest in street dance, “Did” joined “Pure Gold 24k”, a dance group choreographed by “Goldylocks”. In 2009, this group was the grand winner in Canadian Hip-Hop and will therefore represent Canada internationally. Sandy “Did” Béland does not stop there and she continues to work on several projects, teaching and is still involved in many competitions.

This concert will be orchestrated by Kiya Tabassian on the setar, a stringed instrument and Ziya Tabassian on tombak, an Iranian drum. Ziya Tabassian began to play the tombak (Iranian percussion) at the age of 11. As a percussionist Ziya Tabassian has been active both in the milieu of early music and contemporary music as well as in the universe of world music. He is a founding member with Kiya Tabassian of the Ensemble Constantinople and he has already presented several concerts in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. Kiya Tabassian, meanwhile, plays the setar, an Iranian musical instrument and a member of the lute family. Kiya, too, has produced in Canada, several countries in Europe, the Middle East and Mexico with Constantinople as well as with many other musicians. Since 1996, he has collaborated several times with Radio-Canada and since 2005 has been a member of the Arts Council in Montreal (Conseil des arts de Montréal).