ARTS

Day of the Dead haunts train

4

International Arts Initiatives and Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
in association with LIVE Biennial of Performance Art

IfoChan

> BY D E E N A COX

T

hanks to a generation of
health- and safety-conscious
parents, kids just aren't trickor-treating like they used to.
For most households, long gone are
the days of doorbells ringing nonstop
from early until late on October 31;
heading out dressed as ghouls, ghosts,
and princesses to collect pillowcases
full of sugary treats is not on the Halloween agenda for many children.
For families craving an alternative experience, the Stanley Park
Hallowe en Ghost Train (which chugs
along from tomorrow [October 7]
through to November 2) blends the
twisted creative vision of the Mortal
Coil Performance Society with wellresearched, historically and culturally
based artistic and performance installations along the park's train route.
This year, the minds at Mortal
Coil, the team responsible for the
past five installments, are drawn
to the Central American homage
to the dearly departed, the Day of
the Dead. More upbeat and festive
than the morbid traditions associated with Halloween, the Day of the
Dead is a celebration of spirits that
goes back at least 3,000 years to the
region's indigenous peoples.
"We try to work with a few different levels, so that it's entertaining for
children as well as adults," explains
Carrie Nimmo, Mortal Coil's artistic
director, calling from a Ghost Train
rehearsal. "There are scarier elements, there's humour, there's what
we recognize as Halloween—which
might be the skulls and the devils,
but there's also a rich cultural tradition that we've been inspired by too,
so it's a lot brighter than what we'd
usually see at Halloween."
Inspired by her and fellow creativeteam member Marina Szijarto's earlier
involvement with the Public Dreams
Society's similarly themed Parade

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The Mortal Coil Performance Society drew on Mexico's Day of the Dead,
and pulled a few skeletons out of the closet, for its latest park installation.

of the lost Souls in the Commercial
Drive neighbourhood—which has
been cancelled this year while its artists rework the event for 2006—Nimmo and crew have been drawn to the
colourful, celebratory rituals of the
Day of the Dead for years. For Mortal
Coil, the devil is in the details.
With turquoise-, pink-, red-, and
gold-clad mischievous sprites, skeletal dogs and swans, a corpse bride
flying through the dense Stanley
Park forest on a zip line, fire-wielding
iguanas, and stilt-walking Frida Kahlo skeletons, this year's Ghost Train
(which runs from 6 to 9 p.m. nightly)
is a 14-minute journey through the
Day of the Dead. The train plaza will
be transformed into a festive openair market with a cantina for refreshments, and face-painting, farmyard
animals, and mask-making workshops led by artists from Mortal

Coil will add to the Mexican-themed
event. For the more adventurous,
starting at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, the Stanley Park Ecology Society will lead candle-lit tours
of the surrounding woods in search
of bugs, bats, and other creatures of
the night. The success of Ghost Train
is rooted in its unique location, its
variety of activities, and its universal
appeal, regardless of age.
"It's visual, it moves, you're going
on a journey," says Nimmo. "You get
the dark woods, which can be scary,
and then you come across these surprises, which might frighten you a
little bit at first, but then you find the
story in the scene and the humour
and it becomes a very rich event that
an adult will love. You'll feel like a kid
riding again on the miniature train."
For more information, visit www
.vancouverparks.cal. 4^

8pm
ticketmasterxa
604.1803311
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direct from Mexico City
/

Cijum Ticket Office
(in person only)

" Outrageously

funny...
like a

Frida Kahlo
painting
come to life
SFGate

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