Top picks: PuSh International Performance Festival opens Tuesday

The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival kicks off Tuesday with 28 shows from 11 countries anddozens of interpretations of the human condition and the world around us.

The contemporary festival is always a "genre-bending and disciplined, promiscuous" event, according to Norman Armour, the festival's artistic and executive director.

With that in mind, here are Armour's own top picks from the 2018 lineup.

Some Hope for the Bastards

"We're particularly proud to open the festival," said Armour of Montreal choreographer Frdrick Gravel's returns to PuSh.

Some Hope for the Bastards features nine dancers on stage accompanied by a live score that pulls from rock, R&B and classical. Gravel's previous showing at PuSh, Usually Beauty Fails, sold out in 2014.

The festival opener is on stage for one night only on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

Inside/Out

Vancouver's own Patrick Keating tells his personal, harrowing story of life as a bank robber.

"He was a getaway driver, to be precise, and spent a good decade in B.C. prisons," said Armour.

Inside/Outexplores his time in prison andhis transition from the penal system, and goes on to challengenotions about criminality and the stereotyping of criminals.

Come for the show, but stay for the talk-back sessions hosted by Pivot Legal Society and West Coast Prison Justice Society.

There are five chances to catch Keating in Inside/Out at Performance Works on Granville Island from Jan. 17 to 21.

MDLSX

A critically acclaimed examination of gender and sexuality by Italian performer Silvia Calderoni, whoseown story is mixed withfiction and expressed through dance, text, video, music and live monologue.

"Calderoni and company throw haymakers at the patriarchy," according to the festival's summary of MDLSX.

"The work of gender theorist Judith Butler looms large, as do the twin legacies of rock 'n' roll and DJ music Calderoni shows our notions of gender and sexuality for what they are: barriers we can break down."

MDLSX plays for four nights from Jan. 18 to 21 at Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre.

The Eternal Tides

Taiwanese choreographer Lin Lee Chen brings elements of ritual, custom and culture to this "epic" and operatic examination of the environment, the ocean and nature.

"I would say it's a work of real scale," said Armour.

Colour, texture, song and dance are the mediums used to evoke awe and inspirationthrough bothperformance and set design.

Another one-nightopportunity, The Eternal Tides is Feb. 3 at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.