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Learning to juggle with Flyin’ Bob

by on June 3, 2013 in Arts, Banff, Community connection, Festivals, General, Theatre

Flyin' Bob at Banff Elementary School. Photo: Meghan Krauss.

Flyin’ Bob at Banff Elementary School. Photo: Meghan Krauss.

I should start by saying I always wanted to know how to juggle, the key word  being know as opposed to learn or practice.

The week leading up to the first annual Banff Children’s Festival here at the Centre a number of workshops were held at the Banff Elementary School ranging from hula hooping, to storytelling, to Flyin’ Bob. Alongside Mr. Shields’ grade six class I wanted to see Flyin’ Bob work his magic and teach the children circus skills. The plan was just to watch, meet Flyin’ Bob, and talk to the kids about their experiences.

But walking into the gym and hearing the catchy music and seeing the tables of scarves, feathers, balls, and sticks, ranging in colours from pink, purple, yellow, red, green, and blue laid out in front of me, I felt like I was in grade six myself. My curiosity piqued and I suddenly wanted to touch everything on the table and play. “Instead of watching,” Flyin’ Bob tells me, “if you really want to understand the process you’ll have to join in.”

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Celebrity sightings on the World Tour

by on June 3, 2013 in Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Australia is one of the largest  and most popular on the circuit – 17 stops from Darwin to Wollongong to Adelaide. This year, film fans in Sydney got a bonus. Along with a surprise appearance by mountaineer Leo Houlding, the audience got an in-person introduction to Justin “Jonesy” Jones, one of the two stars of our 2012 Grand Prize-winning film, Crossing the Ice.

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Around Banff: seasonal art and culture

by on April 26, 2013 in Arts, Banff, Community connection, Events, Festivals

When I found myself between snowboarding and hiking seasons this month, I took in a few of the events for springstART, a three-week festival of art, culture, and local history that takes over Banff in April. I’ve always been fascinated with observing home interiors, so the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies heritage home tours was at the top of my list. I did three intimate tours, through rustic homes filled with relics of world travels and Banff paraphernalia: the home of philanthropists, world travellers, and visual artists Peter and Catharine Whyte, collectors and community leaders Philip and Pearl Moore, and the former home of Norman and Georgina Luxton.

I also visited the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum, where a tour guide explained the lives of the Stoney/Nakoda and other Treaty 7 First Nations people indigenous to the area. And fittingly, because ART is highlighted in the name of the festival, there were lots of galleries and art exhibitions to see, including at The Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery, the Whyte Museum, Canada House Gallery, Willock & Sax Gallery, and others, along with a public art installation launch took place in the alley behind Town Hall.

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Building up to BISQC: the jury is in

by on April 11, 2013 in Arts, Banff International String Quartet Competition, Music

Earlier this month I dropped into one of the studios in our Music building to meet with three people who had just made a very large decision. Or more like a series of very large decisions. Norman Fischer, Roger Tapping, and Jerzy Kaplanek are all preliminary jury members for the 11th Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC). Working with BISQC director Barry Shiffman, they spent most of Easter weekend narrowing down the field to ten quartets who will be coming to Banff in August to compete.

BISQC preliminary jury (from right) Jerzy Kaplanek, Roger Tapping, and Norman Fischer, with BISQC director Barry Shiffman. Photo: Don Lee.

Each quartet was asked to send an unedited DVD with close to an hour of music, chosen from a selection of Haydn, early Beethoven, 20th century compositions, and Romantic pieces. It’s the first year that quartets have been asked to send a video. “I was pleasantly surprised at the level of preparation (of the entries)”, Fischer says. “I was expecting it to be easier to eliminate people.” Kaplanek agreed: “With all the groups we had, we would have thought we’d come to a conclusion a little easier.”

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Munich to Banff and back

by on April 1, 2013 in Arts, Banff, Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, Festivals, Film & Media, General

Jarem Frye (left) and Craig DeMartino of the film The Gimp Monkeys, on stage at the Munich screening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour with screening host Caren Alt.

Jarem Frye (left) and Craig DeMartino of the film The Gimp Monkeys, on stage at the recent Munich screening of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour, with screening host Caren Alt.

As a freelance sports journalist, I attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour for many years in my hometown of Munich, Germany, and then last October I had the opportunity to experience the Festival live. From the 80 films shown there I’ve seen about 50, reporting on them for German newspapers and magazines. In the morning hours, before the public screenings, I made trips and walks in and around Banff, went to the Sulphur Mountain gondola, hiked up Tunnel Mountain, had a nice swim at the Hot Springs, a fabulous cake at the Fairmont Banff Springs, and worked on my blogs in the Maclab Bistro (they have great double espresso and breakfast there).

I particularly enjoyed the unique atmosphere at the Festival: discussions with enthusiastic visitors, the filmmakers, the journalists, the athletes themselves, and the jury. I interviewed mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner in Banff – though I knew her before from Germany – and we met like old friends on a fun holiday together. The interview I did with Gerlinde and her husband Ralf Dujmovits in Banff was really special, very intense and honest. I also met Swiss filmmaker Hans Urs Bachmann, who won a prize with his film 1st Afghan Ski Challenge and back in Germany, I was able to place a great article about his film in Suddeutsche Zeitung, one of the largest newspapers in Germany.

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Banff National Park Snow Days go beyond classic winter activities

by on February 27, 2013 in Arts, Banff, Community connection, Events, Festivals, General, Podcasts

Banff National Park’s Snow Days is a month-long festival exploring traditional winter activities such as roasting chestnuts and learning to skate, snowshoe, curl, cross-country ski, downhill ski, or snowboard.  The Ice Magic Festival at Lake Louise offered world-class ice carving competitions, skating on the lake, sleigh rides, and tours of The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise and area.  Avalanche safety demonstrations were held at Sunshine Village and The Lake Louise Ski area, while The Banff Centre presented our annual Avalanche Awareness Night, which aims to help make skiers and boarders more aware of the avalanche risks associated with backcountry and out-of-bounds travel.

Beyond the classic activities associated with a Canadian winter, there are always other activities to be enjoyed.  The Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery presented Drawn to Nature in the Banff Park National Historic Site, there were old time movies to be watched at the Banff Visitor Centre, and those who were interested could take part in photography workshops, or don a heritage bathing suit at Banff’s Upper Hot Springs.  The Banff Mountain Film & Book Festival also screened selections of some of the best short winter films from past festivals in the comfort of the Elk & Oarsman Restaurant & Pub.Topping off the festival, the Take it to the Street Tournament allowed onlookers and participants to celebrate in the quintessentially Canadian game of street hockey.

Below take a listen to podcast producer, Chris Wood’s recording of ice carving at Lake Louise’s annual international ice carving competition.

 

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