From Breakaway to Canada's Walk of Fame

Samita Nandy 
Celebrity Cultural Critic 
for StarBuzz

Celebrity Cultural Critic Samita Nandy on the fame of Russell Peters in Canada
StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-Russell Peters is not only funny but also famous!

The Canadian comedian made his silver screen debut in the romantic comedy Breakaway.  Premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Breakaway is a film that portrays an all-Sikh hockey team and the Canadian dream of achieving hockey stardom.  Produced by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, Breakaway releases on September 30, 2011 and launches Russell Peters as a film actor in Canada.

Coincidentally, Russell Peters has also been inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame (CWOF).  He has been permanently cemented into Toronto's Entertainment District and awarded a star.  The star, however, does not necessarily celebrate Russell Peter's existing stardom.  Although based on the star-studded Hollywood Walk of Fame, CWOF does not aim to celebrate ‘celebrities’ or ‘fame’ as much as it celebrates Canadian excellence and achievements.  Marissa Soumalias, Manager of Inductee Relations, claims, “we no longer wanted to celebrate the fame and celebrity of people.”  In fact, CWOF aims to “get rid” of the Hollywood notion of fame in America.  In order to shift from the Hollywood notion of fame, CWOF renames its Canadian stars to ‘inductees’ and ‘honourees.’  In doing so, CWOF demonstrates:

[...] true essence of Canadian identity.  In every person that we acknowledge, they must be peace-loving, diverse, and harmonious; they must be social responsible, morally responsible, creative, competent, successful and innovate – if they don’t meet these criteria, they won’t make our list.

Soumalias further contends that Canadians are “humble” and “humanitarian,” and these “get back to our roots.”  She adds, “That’s what Canada is all about – we are a very humble, kind nation. We need to project that to the world."  In the past, Peters performed a number of stand-up comedies where he pointed out what it means to be a Canadian and have Canadian accents.  Now, he is being inducted into a Canadian commemorative site where all programming and content are 100% Canadian.  In light of these practices, Russell Peters is not simply awarded for his stand-up comedies and film but also for his performance of Canadianness.

Initially, CWOF used to be organized during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).  Media representations of TIFF largely celebrate American stars in Hollywood North that CWOF aims to resist.  For Marissa Soumalias and Julianne Taskey, former Manager of Special Events,  there were legitimate reasons for the initial organization.  For them, it was a matter of sheer timing, venue availability, and meeting demands of broadcasters and PR representatives.  As a result of this, Soumalias and Taskey assert, some CWOF inductees were able to attend a film premiere at TIFF.  Alternatively, a star at TIFF was able to attend the annual gala event of CWOF.  In both cases, these stars would receive front page and / or exclusive coverage in media.  Soumalias and Taskey contend that the overall international coverage around and within TIFF helped to establish the identity of CWOF.  However, Soumalias states that CWOF is now able to be a “stand-alone [Canadian] event” and does not need to be organized in the same way as TIFF.   

Recently, Russell Peters attended the premiere of his film Breakaway at TIFF and is expected to attend the CWOF award ceremony in October.  For more information on Russell Peters' upcoming performances, check his official website http://www.russellpeters.com/  

Pics: Ben Girn

Sampradaya after TAJ

Artistic Director Lata Pada in Conversation with Celebrity Cultural Critic Samita Nandy for StarBuzz

StarBuzz Weekly, Toronto-

The word ‘Sampradaya,’ for Artistic Director Lata Pada, represents the transmission of tradition.  Commissioned by Luminato for 2011 festival TAJ showcased Sampradaya Dance Creations’ distinct voice in Canada’s performing arts.

Lata Pada contends that the four sold out performances highlight the potential of this production to tour beyond its world premiere in Toronto in June 2011 at the Fleck Theatre of the Harbourfront Centre. A premiere is an opportunity to get the work ‘ on its feet’; preparing it for a remount is a wonderful chance to revisit the production, find deeper meaning, look at what worked and what did not, and how effectively all the elements came together. Sampradaya is now preparing to take the work across Canada and hopefully to India as well.

Currently, her company Sampradaya Dance Creations is doubling studio space.  It is acquiring the studio next to the existing one and is in full swing of reconstruction and enhancement of its facilities.  The new studio is a 7400 square foot facility.  Pada reveals that this will be a “performance hub of music, dance, and theatre for young South Asian performers – musicians, dancer, and actors – to find an opportunity for their art to be seen.”  Sampradaya Dance Creations will “mentor and guide emerging talent in their art.”

Lata Pada draws on rasa theory in Indian aesthetic studies and sheds light on the success of her performances.  For her, “the rasa [essence of aesthetic experience] is one that performer and audience member must participate in equally. It is that process of mutual and synergistic sharing that creates the magic of the moment. For any artist, that can translate into something quite transformative and ultimately needs to be the goal of any artistic communication.

The interplay of Lata Pada’s stagecraft and performances exemplifies this in her latest production TAJ.  Pada contends that “training, experience, maturity, personal connection to spoken words, scenes, sensitivity and vulnerability on stage” plays an emotional role in performance arts.  The tactile experience that you face then and experience on the stage is communicated to the audience.  The audience is brought into the space, the world of the play. During the world premiere of TAJ, the theatre and its stage were not large and, hence, created conditions for immediacy and proximity with actors Kabir Bedi and Lisa Ray.  Pada states that if the theatre was “bigger and larger, that would have distanced” the actors.  Instead, TAJ brought “proximity and synergistic relation between actors and audience.” At that time, Pada reveals, “you are not thinking star / celebrity on the stage.  Theatre is live, palpable, and ephemeral.  Every performance is different.  There can be flaws and no opportunities for retakes.  All actors recognize this.  If they have acted in films, they know the difference.”

Samita Nandy

To find out more about the upcoming performances of Sampradaya Dance Creations, please visit: http://www.sampradaya.ca/