International Children's Festival of the Arts welcomes the world

Oh, to be young again where imagination ruled and you could strap a makeshift rocket on your back, slip a pair of goggles across your eyes and propel yourself through the universe – or your back yard.

The International Children’s Festival of the Arts has an uncanny knack for transporting us to those fearless days. This year the St. Albert-based festival celebrates its 36th edition May 30 to June 4 with a fresh and dynamic passport to adventure.

The main site, easily recognizable with its cluster of carnival-like tents, wraps itself as a horseshoe shaped entity around St. Albert Place from the banks of the Sturgeon River along St. Anne Street and down St. Albert Promenade.

Once again the festival offers nine feature shows that highlight puppetry, comedy, circus, music, theatre and dance. Each show has a different vibe, but viewers are guaranteed to laugh, giggle, stomp their feet, trigger a few oohs and ahs, and perhaps shed an emotional tear or two.

Additional site activities planned to power children’s creativity range from a Greek adventure with Jason and the Argonauts and routing out Vikings’ magical symbols to creating mosaics and dancing to the beat.

On the opposite flank of the Sturgeon River accessed through the Children’s Bridge is Toddler Town. Nestled in its own serene world, a massive tent is portioned into a craft area, a performance stage, a games zone and crash mats as well as a private room for nursing and diapering infants.

Entertainers lined up for the munchkin crowd include multi-genre acoustic duo Rattle and Strum, storytellers Nature’s Ride and story-time escapades provided by St. Albert Public Library.

“There is one entry-exit point. It gives parents with little children the opportunity to let them roam through the tent in a safe secure area,” said festival programming presenter Neil LeGrandeur.

This is his first crack at programming the children’s festival, and with a strong background in theatre, he is fully aware of the potential and benefits the arts deliver.

“There’s a great power in creativity and it helps shape where kids end up in life.”

With this kernel of wisdom in mind, LeGrandeur has pursued some of the more dominant players on the children’s theatre circuit.

“I’m excited about it all, but I’m really looking forward to the dynamic performance of Jonathan Burns. He’s a whack-load of fun,” LeGrandeur said.

The class goofball – you know, the one with armpit farts – the diminutive Burns adapted his silly jokes and contortionist’s flexibility to create a highly energetic comedy show that sees him twist his body into a pretzel.

“Jonathan grew up learning to perform magic. That’s how he got his start. Once he learned one trick, he decided it was something he wanted to pursue. In college he experimented with physical comedy and contortion and came up with this show.”

On a more reflective note, Sangja, a creation between Vancouver’s Pangaea Arts and South Korea’s Artstage San, shines a light on identity, race, culture, conformity and non-traditional families.

Sangja, an adopted boy, lives in Canada while his birth family is in Korea. The play follows his adventures as he tries to find his niche in the world.

Through much soul-searching he comes to terms with the loss of his birth family, language and culture while steering through obstacles that occur when people don’t fit into certain cultural expectations.

“He experiences loss and it’s all about fitting into a new culture and it’s about us making room for new cultures. It’s about being OK not fitting into a box.”

Scotland’s Puppet State Theatre Company’s highly anticipated The Man Who Planted Trees comes back after a seven-year absence. In this modern day parable of a man who changed the world, a French shepherd and his dog plant a forest over a 40-year period and transform an empty wilderness acorn by acorn.

“It has a great environmental message. It’s done very well through the use of puppetry, and by transforming a barren wasteland into a forest, it has a great impact.”

For the seven and under crowd, CBC television star Will Stroet swings into high gear with his blend of high-energy rock, pop and blues.

“He’s a great musical performer with a lot of catchy tunes and he’s bilingual. It’s a great musical act for young audiences.”

Loud and crazy. That’s one way to describe the electrifying performance of BAM Percussion.

“These three guys from Quebec are a lot of fun. They’re like three large children. They’ll perform with their signature blue percussion drums as props to tell stories. And they’re very zany. They speak gibberish and there’s a lot of goofing around, but at the same time they do sketch comedy and integrate percussion into it.”

St. Albert Children’s Theatre once again takes audiences on a popular musical trek with Madagascar – A Musical Adventure.

“It’s based off the movie DreamWorks put out and it’s very familiar to most kids and their families. It’s about a ragtag group of animals that try to leave the zoo and escape to Madagascar.”

Yet on another journey of self-discovery, New Orleans' Lightwire Theatre’s Moon Mouse: A Space Odyssey hits close to home for every kid who’s ever been labelled a “loser” or a “geek.”

“Marvin is a mouse who wants to be cool. But the rats who bully him don’t think he’s cool. He escapes into his imagination – into space and meets these misfit characters that show him differences are cool. The message is everyone has something special about them.”

Unlike other feature shows, Lightwire presents its fantasy in the dark using glow-in-the-dark wires outlining props and costumes.

From Winnipeg, the festival debuts Aboriginal School of Dance’s production Niniimi’iwe (She/He Gives a Dance). Created specifically for the festival, the show presents vibrant aboriginal regalia and showcases everything from an enormous butterfly to the re-enactment of a buffalo hunt.

Performers fuse a series of powerful traditional and contemporary movements integrated with samba, salsa and other sounds to create a fantastic multicultural experience.

Festival favourites Splash ’N Boots of Treehouse TV fame return for several Saturday and Sunday performances only.

“They got their start with us and we hold a special place in their heart. Now they’ve transformed into one of Canada’s biggest acts.”

While feature performances will take place indoors, half a dozen festival rovers are slated to roam the grounds grabbing audiences wherever and whenever they can.

Joe Goslin, an Edmonton-based ventriloquist and father of seven, can easily access and tap into children’s imagination for inspiration.

He’s planning on bringing about 10 characters with him that include Paco Parrot, Olive Ostrich, Peri Dinosaur, Quacker Jack Duck and Oreo Skunk to name a few.

What started as a hobby has grown into a full-blown career with gigs on national TV, the Hershey Centre in Toronto, Galaxyland and Syncrude in Fort McMurray.

“I enjoy interacting with kids. I speak Spanish and I love languages. Ventriloquism is like another language. You just speak without moving your lips. It’s a different art form. Anybody can do ventriloquism. It just takes practice to make it believable.”

Also from Edmonton, veteran clown Morgan Nadeau is dressing up as four characters. She’ll morph into Trixie, a sassy, girlish and playful clown who enjoys pushing boundaries.

And then there’s Pikils, a nine-year-old boy who wheels through life on a tricycle and is desperate to go on crazy adventures with pirates and spacemen.

However, Nadeau enjoys springing surprises on her audience and she’ll be introducing two more secret characters.

“Lots of time, people want you to do a specific thing they’ve seen before. The festival has been great in that they’re letting me experiment with a couple new characters. That helps me grow as an artist as opposed to doing the same old thing,” she said.

From Grande Prairie, Amanda Syryda is arriving as a plate-spinning Rainbow Ringleader, a circus ringleader dressed up in a tailcoat.

Syryda first dipped her toe in street performing by learning tricks on the hula-hoop through YouTube tutorials. Since there were no circus schools in Grande Prairie, the do-it-yourself artist hosted jams and eventually started teaching classes.

Self-taught plate spinning is a new addition to Syryda’s act and she’s excited about rubbing elbows with other festival performers.

“I also hope kids get inspired to realize they can do anything they want. Just follow your dreams and nothing is impossible. Look at me. I get dressed up in these silly outfits and get paid for having fun.”

A free downloadable app for festival information is available at childfest.com.

Public parking is limited and patrons are encouraged to use St. Albert Public Transit. Free park and ride is available through Village Transit Station with shuttles departing every 15 minutes. Tuesday to Saturday shuttle hours are 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.