High Performance Rodeo (HPR) is celebrating 40 years, and this year’s run blends past classics and new artistic performances for Calgary audiences to enjoy.
One Yellow Rabbit is presenting the 40th annual High Performance Rodeo, which runs for three weeks, from Jan. 13 to 31, and there will be dozens of music, dance and acting performances along with other creative works from local and national performers.
Festival producer Oliver Armstrong said that this year they had the opportunity to bring back such classics as Dream Machine and Miss Rita’s Lucha Vavoom, and merge it with emerging artistic work.
“It’s a combination of crowd favorites, hits from the past, but still raw, fresh, new work and everything in between,” Armstrong told LWC.
He said that by nature, the HPR is designed to be flexible in programming choices, never really assigning themes for the annual production.
“I think that flexibility allows that variety and that freshness to stay real and to stay connected to what audiences expect today,” Armstrong said.
“We try to reflect our audience. That’s an important part of it. We have a, I like to use the phrase, a diversity of diversities.”
Denise Clarke, associate artist at One Yellow Rabbit, who has been a part of the HPR since its inception back in 1985, is performing in the reboot of Dream Machine. She called it a “mesmerizing oratorio,” a song cycle surrounding ideas of a religious nature.
“In this case, the religious nature is that of the beat generation in the 50s, the wild men and women of that time in America who were creating incredible poetry and liberating themselves from the norm that was kind of happening as the socio-political way to live your life after the Second World War,” she said.
“There’s a lot of emotional content. There’s a lot of – it’s tender, it’s beautiful, it’s funny, and it’s very moving, and I think it’s very thoughtful. It gives you some meat on the bone, and allows you to do a little bit of personal meditation as you’re listening. We go from humour to very personal ideas of the soul and the heart and the mind connecting.”
Celebratory year, said Clarke
Clarke said it was difficult to believe that it’s her 40th rodeo.
“This is the 40th anniversary, and I’ve been around since the get-go, and we’re kind of thrilled that this is more of a celebratory year, and that it’s giving our beautiful Calgarian pals and public a chance to come celebrate with us,” she said.
She said there have been many highlights over the years, including musician Alejandro Escovedo at four in the morning doing an unplugged set with his band at the bar. She said that having Canadians like solo artist Danny MacIvor, puppeteer Ronnie Burkett and actor Karen Hines at HPR has provided treasured memories.
“All kinds of really tremendous Canadian luminescent artists have graced this stage, and it means a lot to us. We always feel like their performances are painting the walls,” she said.
What makes the festival memorable is the commitment to the vision that founder Michael Green had of trying to build a presenting hub for artists.
“We are proud of what we deliver, and we think it’s pretty unique. I don’t think 90 per cent of these shows could be presented anywhere else in Calgary, because the festival format and our mission to aspire to just present virtuosic, joyful, wild and wonderful live performance is at our core,” he said.
The HPR home base is the Big Secret Theatre at the Werklund Centre (formerly Arts Commons). For more information, visit the One Yellow Rabbit website.
