British Rail Theatre Offers
Hello From Nova Scotia – Part 19 – Arrival in Halifax and a stunning musical performance – Drum!
Slowly but surely my Nova Scotia discoveries were coming to an end. I only had one evening and one full day left after the discovery of the south-west this province over the past four days, following my last stops along the South Shore in Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove. As I rolled city at the end of the afternoon, I noticed the landscape of many lakes and rivers, dotted with low hills. One of my first impression was that many areas had beautiful houses with well kept gardens and established trees. Halifax presented itself as a city very picturesque. I did not have a city map of Halifax on me, but I thought that if I headed east I had touched the edge of the sea early or later, what I have done near Point Pleasant, Halifax one of the largest public parks. A nice man showed me the local redirected to Halifax downtown Barrington Street, which is where my house for two nights, the Delta Barrington Hotel, was located.
With his direction, I could pick way downtown and had no problem finding my hotel. I breeze through the registration and got into my room to relax a bit and enjoy the connection in room broadband Internet. After refreshing myself I was ready for a night of discovery and I began to stroll along the water.
With its strategic location on the Atlantic Ocean, Halifax is the capital Nova Scotia and Eastern Canada's largest port. With an estimated population of approximately 385,000 residents throughout the Greater Halifax is the center of Atlantic Canada's largest population and an important economic center, on the east coast of Canada. The main employers are the Department of Defense National (Halifax had a military role for several centuries because of its strategic location), the port of Halifax, various government departments and businesses the private sector. Several universities are located here, including Dalhousie, Saint Mary's University and Mount Saint Vincent University.
Halifax goes back over two centuries and a half: It was founded in 1749, the County town of Halifax County and the provincial capital. It was created by the British to provide a counterweight to the French presence in Quebec and Acadia (now New Brunswick, Island Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and the Gaspe Peninsula). Today, Halifax Regional Municipality includes the neighboring towns of Dartmouth and Bedford since the merger in 1996.
The coastline of the Halifax Regional Municipality about 400 km and is dissected by numerous inputs project into depths campaign. The topography is varied and ranges from rich agricultural land in outlying areas of wooded hills. The climate is more moderate than in Canada Central and temperatures generally range from about -5 degrees Celsius in winter and 23 degrees Celsius in summer.
Halifax is well known for cultural offerings, which are reinforced by the high concentration of students in post-secondary education. His music scene in particular is very dynamic in recent years, Halifax has also become an important center of film production. The city itself is the largest growing area in the Maritimes and is connected to the rest of Canada and the world through a large airport. eastern end of Via Rail is located in Halifax.
I headed straight east of my hotel via Duke Street to the waterfront to a complex called "Historic Properties" – a collection of historic buildings has been restored and refurbished the early 1970s. Most buildings in this complex are old warehouses privateers, pirates who have been authorized by the British Crown raid enemy ships. They brought abundant generosity that was stored in warehouses. One of the most famous of these privateers was a boy name Enos Collins, who started the Halifax Banking Company, the first bank in Nova Scotia.
Right at the foot of Duke Street, next of the Metro Transit ferry terminal that takes you over Dartmouth, I discovered one of the precious icons Halifax: Theodore Too is a tug that draws of a popular Canadian children in a TV show called "Theodore Tugboat". Today, the Theodore is too available for tours of the harbor, private charters, birthday parties and school groups.
I headed south along the front sea along "Harbourwalk" famous waterfront trail in Halifax. The sun had set and the moon shone on the picturesque port of Halifax. My destination was Pier 20, the location of the famous show "DRUM!", A musical presentation of Nova Scotia four founding nations. I reached the spot half an hour of show time before and people were already in the queue the common areas outside the theater.
Right about 8 o'clock I took my place and, fortunately, I was located in the front row on the right side of the stage. Idea behind DRUM! is to shed light on the Nova Scotia four main crops: Black, Acadian, Aboriginal and Celtic. The evening began with a performance spectacular indigenous musicians playing their drums and singing a song from their introduction in Mi'kmaq language.
They were joined by an array of musicians, dancers and singers who came on stage to share their music and from that point before the evening was a magnificent carousel music and singing from four different cultures. The sophisticated lighting, video and poetry narrated emphasized content Symbolic of this performance that challenged the senses at all levels.
DRUM! was originally conceived as a piece of 45 minute tourism promotion the main show at Tall Ships 2000, a special racing event that featured yachts from around the world. In 2004, DRUM! was transformed in a feature film production and produced for ten nights in the theater specially designed at the Halifax Waterfront. The current track of DRUM! to Halifax will be followed by a tour across the United States from Florida and finishing in Utah. A tour of Ontario and Saskatchewan will follow in May, and production will return the waterfront of Halifax in September 2007.
The performance was a combination of heart Pumping music, dance, poetry, video, rhythm and song. At one point three female dancers took the stage and sang a capella harmonies in the best imaginable. My breath was taken away by their performance. washboards Acadian, Celtic and violins bagpipes, drums, and Aboriginal sensual black voices gathered to celebrate the cultures FOUR ….. Four patterns ….. one heart.
The packed has been seduced by these talented artists, the beauty of their music and their message. After prolonged standing ovation last, I left the theater happy, excited and inspired, ready for another day final findings in Halifax. DRUM! was breathtaking in its beauty and its performance musical theater, and his message still resonates with me. I ended up buying the CD of this production to take advantage of this beautiful music and his spirit home with me Toronto.
Here at Travel and Transitions, we celebrate the connections and inter-cultural understanding, and DRUM! was also a perfect musical representation of this spirit that I have ever seen. DRUM! communicates a message to the world: "We can take who we are and share a song, a scene, one country, one world. "
It does not do better than that ….
For the full story including photos please visit
http://www.travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/halifax_arrival.htm
About the Author
Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (
http://www.travelandtransitions.com
), a popular web portal for unconventional travel & cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel.
Werrason à Lyon rail theatre