Cards By Suzanne

At Cards By Suzanne we have taken the art of Quilling and Paper Tole and turned them into handmade greeting cards and gifts with a difference. Even if you didn’t make it yourself, giving someone a handmade item just seems so much more personal. Handmade items look more special, feel more special and give the moment a sense of occasion. We are a home based Canberra business and we pride ourselves in creating quality Australian Made products and we use Australian suppliers.

What happens next boys and girls?

“A spellbinding dramatic experience that will thrill the senses.” – The West Australian, Perth

Magical special effects including fire and rain; lavish sets depicting Siberian snowscapes and gypsy carnivals and glorious costumes, coupled with breathtaking high speed throws, acrobatic feats and incredible lifts create an exciting performance that will sweep you to your feet. This is the story of Cinderella like you’ve never seen it before!

The Imperial Ice Stars, who won international critical acclaim and five-star reviews with their previous tours of The Sleeping Beauty on Ice and Swan Lake on Ice are renowned for their daring on the ice and unique style of story-telling.

The 23-strong cast of Olympic, World, National and European Championship skaters comprise the cream of Russian skating talent. The majority of the skaters have been trained by Russia’s leading coaches, some from as early as four years of age, and between them they have won countless competition medals.

Producer James Cundall, Chief Executive of Lunchbox Theatrical Productions, explains “By giving these exceptionally talented skaters the freedom to experiment outside competitive skating, while working alongside some of the top figure skating coaches in the world, we are able to take ice choreography to new limits.”

Cinderella on Ice has been conceived and choreographed by Tony Mercer, widely regarded as the world’s leading creator of theatre on ice, together with two of the world’s most respected ice coaches – Evgeny Platov, dual Olympic gold medallist and four time World Champion, and Alexander Zhulin, Olympic silver and bronze medallist and World Champion.

In this new interpretation of a classic tale, The Imperial Ice Stars tell the story of Cinderella, a humble chorus dancer who is thrust into the spotlight as a prima ballerina and captivates the handsome Lord Mayor’s son, the most eligible bachelor in town, with her graceful performance. Despite rival attempts by her stepsisters to steal his heart, the kindly Watchmakers and Gypsy Fortune Teller ensure that true love triumphs.

Artistic Director Tony Mercer, says “The ‘Cinderella’ story has been told in many different cultures over many centuries. I wanted to give our version a new setting while retaining the ingredients and emotions of this timeless story.”

WHAT: Cinderella On Ice
WHEN: 18-28 September
WHERE: Canberra Theatre, Civic
TICKETS: Adults from $59, Child/Conc from $49
BOOK: Canberra Ticketing 6275 2700 www.canberratheatrecentre.com.au
 

By Shanna Provost

“I am walking for every man, woman and child—for their future. I don’t know how else to shock people out of their inertia about where we are headed if we don’t make drastic changes to urban development.” Stina Kerans

You may feel you’re doing your bit by recycling and taking shorter showers–you may even have a worm farm for your scraps, but that’s simply not enough action to ensure our future.

The signs that drastic change is needed NOW are all there, and still we let developers create urban wastelands that only perpetuate our environmental problems.

One Canberra woman is so frustrated with the lack of real action by communities, councils and government that she is willing to walk as far and as long as it takes to shock our complacent society into action to do things NOW to ensure sustainability.

In the past weeks she has walked around 60 kilometres–from Yass to Murrumbateman to Hall and around Canberra suburbs.

She will continue to walk until she gets the attention of the public and genuine investors, planners and developers who are willing to implement new ways of urban development.

“There is an urgent imperative to move our cities and suburbs towards a new configuration of sustainable, human-scale, energy-conscious colonies of connected business/farming enterprises and consumers”, says Ms Kerans.

Recognised internationally for their work in sustainability, Stina and Garry Kerans see the creation of sustainable urban development locally as an opportunity for the region to showcase the viability of sustainable development.

“Our design for living can help alleviate such social issues as depression, suicide, housing affordability, financial pressures and provide a support system for single parents and the elderly. If we care for each other the environment wins as well, because we care about the environment in which we live.”

Ms Kerans walks alone along the highway with a large sign strapped to her chest and back. She says that at first she feels embarrassed, but is willing to experience the humility to get her urgent message out.

People who want to learn more about sustainable development can fill in an Eco-Survey at www.eco-survey.com.au or attend a presentation by emailing [email protected].
 

A very excited twenty-six year old Brisbane artist, Carly Anita Scoufos, was announced as the winner of the 2008 Siganto Travel Scholarship at an award ceremony held in Brisbane, QLD on Thursday 21 August 2008.

Managed by cultural development agency Artworkers Alliance, the $10 000 Siganto Travel Scholarship is a biennial bursary providing professional development opportunities through travel, open to emerging Australian visual artists, craft practitioners and designers.

“Made possible through the generous support of the Siganto Family, this important arts scholarship offers emerging Australian artists the opportunity to develop new skills, engage with artists and arts contacts overseas, and expand networking opportunities – a priceless opportunity!” Artworkers Program Director Kevin Wilson said of the Scholarship.

With her $10 000 Siganto Travel Scholarship, Carly will undertake a two month residency at Youkobo Art Space located in central Tokyo, Japan.

Building incredible hand woven and embroidered sculptural works, Carly will explore Japanese sculpture and traditional calligraphy through 3D design during her residency in Japan.

A First Class Honours Fine Arts graduate from Griffith University, Carly has been involved in a number of exhibitions around Brisbane, and in 2007 was awarded a Griffith University Medal for outstanding academic excellence.

Carly said of winning the Scholarship: “This is an extraordinary opportunity for me to participate in an overseas residency program.”

“Through the generous support of the Siganto Family, I’m presented with an exciting and completely fresh direction for my art practice, and the chance to immerse myself in a country and culture that I have long admired and dreamt of visiting.”

“I plan to gain experience, broaden my knowledge and grow tremendously both professionally and personally at this early stage of my career.”

Carly’s artwork is viewable online via www.carlyscoufos.com

The most inspiring people are not the ones that are out the front, but they are the ones who lead naturally from behind, with the group. These are the leaders that live humbly for a cause and don’t feel the need to martyr themselves for a cause. I once was fortunate to have the opportunity to spend an inspiring time with one such person Norvan Vogt, called Olie by his friends. He was an Australian group leader from Canberra with the Youth Challenge International program in Costa Rica in 2003. He is the most inspiring individual I have ever met.

It was the first week into a 13 week long community development project to build a school in the remote Chiripo Mountains. There had been torrential downpour for two days. At about seven o’clock in the evening after everyone had finished their dinner; most of the team was going about their nightly tasks, when there came a knock at the door. The local doctor was standing there with a rain poncho on, soaking wet. He was quite anxious and explained to Norvan that we, the team of 15 volunteers, had to get evacuated because the town was soon to be inundated by a flash flood. The doctor explained that he would be back in the next five minutes with a truck and we were to be evacuated.

I don’t know if it was Norvan’s military training or scouting background but he swung into action immediately and told you exactly what to do. Gathering the team in the kitchen he explained exactly what was going to happen, he tasked everybody with a particular role, even though we had little time this really took the panic out of the group. Sending the female volunteers, the majority of the group, to go get their equipment first, he then divided up the other group tasks amongst the male volunteers. One of them was sent to the boy’s room to get all of the boys equipment packed. The other males were tasked with getting shelter and food and other equipment. Once the truck turned up he sent the other group leader Laura, onto the truck first so that she could coordinate things at the truck.

The girls were sent off to get onto the truck first followed by the boys. It was pitch black and water was rising fast but there was no sense of panic only a sense of urgency, this was because there was nobody yelling, and Norvan was telling people exactly what to do. Once the entire team was on the truck Norvan did a quick sweep of the building making sure nobody was left behind, he picked up the medical kit launched himself into the waist deep water had struggled his way out to the truck. As he got one hand onto the back tailgate of the truck, the truck sped off as the wheel arches were already under water. This caused Norvan to fall from the back of the truck, Eric, one of the volunteers, grabbed Norvan by his backpack strap and pulled Norvan onto the back of the truck.

The truck sped off at a great speed, when it came to crossing the bridge in the middle of town, the water was so high that you could barely make out where the edge of the bridge was. Once we had got through the middle of town we sped up the other side of town up a hill to safety. That was where we disembarked, getting out the shelter we stood around in the rain under plastic sheets. Just take the edge off the situation, Norvan began the lead us all in song, I guess that is where the Boy Scout training came in handy. It seems to be a little bit silly now but it was quite reassuring at the time. Eventually we found shelter in a chicken coop and that’s where we spent the rest of the night.

Unfortunately two nights later after we had been evacuated to another location we went through a second dramatic incident of the project. After we had spent the day helping out with an indigenous Christmas party for the children of the local indigenous reserve, we came home to find we have been robbed. Norvan, Laura and the boys went the missionary, whose house we were evacuated too, to go see if they could find who did it and get our stuff back. Norvan didn’t return until the next morning, he had taken watch by himself for the whole night until he was relieved by police from the neighboring city. Even though he looked incredibly tired, he also seemed to be something deeper that was wrong. That morning an investigation team showed up and took fingerprints in an effort to track down who it was. They never did catch the person or get any of our stuff back.

The situation further deteriorated as the following day Laura, Norvan’s only support, left the project, close to a nervous breakdown, under a lot of stress and fatigue she had decided to go home and rest. At the time we did know if she would be back on project. to make matters worse, later that night one of the other volunteers got really sick and after caring for her all night, in the morning Norvan had her evacuated by ambulance. He sent her sister and the only Costa Rican participant with her, just to make sure that they would be okay.

I can’t imagine how Norvan felt at the time, I know I would have been in pieces. There he was in a foreign country, where it only just begun to speak the language, with a project that had run off the rails due to there being no materials, all alone with his partner gone and his team split between two geographic locations, not knowing what would happen next. It must have been heartbreaking! Fortunately for our team, Norvan was not like many other people, he has a strong inner strength and strong character.

This is where the true inspiration comes from, Norvan just got on with the job. He got another group leader to come up from head office. He held a meeting with the entire team to see what we wanted to do, if we wanted to stay or go. When we unanimously decided to stay he went about organizing other activities, such as accompanying the local priest on an expedition into the jungle. We organized Christmas with the whole team. And when Laura came back, they organized with the community to build two extra classrooms for the local high school. This would allow the children of the town to finish high school and increase their chances of being able to go on to university.

You would expect someone who shows such strong personality and direct leadership to then dominate the team by being the central person steering the group. This is where Norvan is different. He slowly pulled himself back, while he supported Laura in becoming more of a leader. It was beautiful thing to see because in Latin America it is rare that women get the opportunity to be so supported and encouraged by their male colleagues. The relationship that developed between Norvan and Laura was unique, it was like they where brother and sister while on project.

Norvan helped the group make decisions for ourselves by being inclusive not exclusive. We organized a local market for the indigenous people of the reserve to trade their wares. The really inspiring stuff is the Norvan made us feel that we owned the project, I never really seen someone do it like he did, to create something from nothing.

Towards the end of the project Norvan became incredibly ill. The severity of how sick he was is something that we did not find out until after the project. In a conversation I had with him after project I asked him why he stayed on project, he simply said that even though he was sick he wanted to finish what he started and he had nowhere else to go, and he would rather be with family, the team.
 

Western Australia’s representative in the Green Faces comedy competition final at the Irish Club on September 4 will be 23-year-old actor and comedian John Robertson, announced the state winner out of over 40 entrants in five WA heats of the competition.

With his deep booming voice and mutton chops ("I grew them so I could look more like Mr Darcy… if his mum had been *****d by Wolverine"), Robertson has been entertaining audiences for the past year with his dark take on pop culture, presented with the ocassional help of his ‘pet’ ukelele.

Incidentally, Robertson tells The Word that "’ukelele’ is a Polynesian word meaning ‘underachiever’". The opposite is true of Robertson himself.

Fast establishing a reputation performing stand-up and character comedy at clubs, pubs, theatres and private functions in and around Perth, online comedy review site The Groggy Squirrel described Robertson in his 2007 Melbourne Fringe show as "commanding to watch", and he hopes to have the same impression on Canberra audiences.

"I’m looking forward to the trip to Canberra," he said, "a city I’ve been laughing at for years! …no really, some of the best science fiction conventions I’ve been to were in Canberra. They were good times. Funny times."

A national phenomenon to rival the Raw Comedy competition, in which Robertson was a 2007 finalist, Green Faces will see Canberra’s own Jay Sullivan compete alongside Robertson and other national finalists for over $3500 in prizes, in addition to gigs at comedy venues in Sydney and Brisbane.

Armed with the knowledge that previous competition entrants have included Tom Gleeson, Ahn Do, Charlie Pickering and Chris Franklin, competitors will not only be representing their states of origin, but trying to kick-start their own careers.

Robertson warns the rest of Australia not to underestimate how funny Perthlings can be. "We’ve got a fantastic comedy scene (in Perth)," he said. "Not everybody knows that."

Having already written and performed his own one-man show in Perth and Melbourne, Robertson comes to Canberra in the midst of preparation for the new show he plans to take to next year’s Melbourne Comedy Festival and Edinburgh Fringe.

"Who knows," Robertson said, "The Capital may inspire me with some comedy nuggets of her own."

Catch John Robertson’s Canberra debut at the Green Faces National Final on Thursday 4 September at the Irish Club in Weston.