Entertainment

Top dance artistes to be honoured at international festival

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Rachael McLaren

By RON FANFAIR

The late Len Gibson was a pioneer in Canadian dance. The Alberta-born and Vancouver-raised self-taught tap dancer trained with Katherine Dunham, formed his own dance company - the Negro Workshop Dance Group - and was a major attraction on the London entertainment scene before returning to Canada in the mid-1960s to set up his base in Toronto.

He started the Len Gibson Dance Ensemble, was a choreographer for film and television and taught young people before moving back to Vancouver in 1995 where he died 12 years later.

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Soca artist challenges musical convention

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Ms. Paige

By TIANA REID

Toronto-based soca artist Ms. Paige's past, present and future is firmly rooted in music. Born Ashley Natasha Paige Johnson to six-time Juno Award nominee Debbie Johnson, she also counts crooners Ed and Angela Johnson as her grandparents. (Ed. Note: Trinidadians and Tobagonians of an older era will remember this pair fondly.)

While some Millennials disdain the success and career path of their forebears, Ms. Paige is strongly attached to her heritage. Music is in her DNA, as she told Share in a recent interview.

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Montreal theatre group to honour Tonya Lee Williams

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Tonya Lee Williams

By RON FANFAIR

Award-winning actress and film festival founder Tonya Lee Williams will be recognized for her artistic accomplishments with a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award at the Black Theatre Workshop's (BTW) annual Vision Celebration gala on January 28 in Montreal.

Canada's longest standing professional Black theatre which emerged from the Trinidad & Tobago Drama Group, BTW presents an annual gala to celebrate King's contributions to non-violent change.

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Divine Brown’s New Year’s wish? To work with kids

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Divine Brown

BY RON FANFAIR

Singer and actor, Divine Brown, has already compiled her New Year's wish list. And, working with kids and putting smiles on their faces is right at the top.

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Opening of Black Art Gallery a Time to Celebrate

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Nation Cheong and Asha Davis

By ANGELA WALCOTT

There was cause for celebration at 823A Bloor Street West last week as the BAND (Black Artists' Networks in Dialog) opened its very own art gallery. Even now, long after the festivities have ended, the reason to celebrate is still fresh. For the members of the BAND collective, as well as the vast number of Black artists in the community, this is a milestone.

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Four new radio shows hit Toronto’s airwaves

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

Denise Jones

One of the largest multicultural broadcasters in Canada, CHIN 100.7 FM, welcomes The Swing to its Saturday night programming. Beginning in December, four 60-minute shows - Talk to Me, What the Women Want, Reggaemania and Soak in the Soca - will air from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Toronto and to the world at large.

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Toronto treated to a ‘distinguished’ show

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Pluto Shervington, Boris Gardiner, Ja. C-G, George Ramocan and Dobby Dobson

By RON FANFAIR

Boris Gardiner has toured with Dobby Dobson and collaborated with Leighton "Pluto" Shervington on a few occasions. But never before last Saturday night in Toronto did the trio of outstanding Jamaican musicians share a concert stage.

Their historic meeting - dubbed the Men of Distinction in Concert - attracted hundreds of adoring fans to a local hotel's ballroom.

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Jamaica’s Men of Distinction for T.O. concert

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Dobby Dobson

Jamaica's singing legends, the Honorable Highland Ralph 'Dobby' Dobson, OD, Boris Gardiner, OD, and Leighton 'Pluto' Shervington will perform in a historic concert in Toronto next weekend. Patrons at this concert will enjoy, for the first time, two legendary and prestigiously honoured performing artistes from Jamaica on the same stage in Canada.

This highly anticipated concert, a welcomed event as the winter season

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‘I Need To Know My Father’ this weekend at the JCA

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Cast of I Need to Know My Father

Fresh from their successful performance of "I Need To Know My Father" on the 15th Annual 4 Season's Party Cruise aboard the Carnival Imagination Cruise Line last week, the cast of this phenomenal play is gearing up for another performance this Sunday, November 13, 6:30 p.m. at the Jamaican Canadian Centre.

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