The Christmas Revels travels to the beautiful province of Québec in a magical, mischievous French Canadian tale embellished with traditional music, dance, storytelling and tomfoolery, December 15-18 at Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hanover NH.
Dec 15 • 6 pm
Dec 16 • 7 pm
Dec 17 • 1 pm & 5 pm
Dec 18 • 1 pm & 5 pm
$7.50-46.00
A little taste: https://youtu.be/8Zo-2-ArRn0
In the story of The Flying Canoe (la chasse-galerie), a group of lonely voyageurs in the northern timberland go to extraordinary (one might say devilish) lengths to meet up with their faraway sweethearts on New Year’s Eve. This traditional tale gets the full Revels treatment with colorful, high-energy songs, dance and pageantry, a multi-generational local cast and chorus, and guest artists steeped in the traditions: Québécois musical trio Genticorum and step dancer and choreographer extraordinaire Pierre Chartrand.
Now in its 42nd season, The Christmas Revels is a show of music, dance, storytelling and pageantry that each year focuses on a different one of the world’s cultures and its winter holiday traditions. A talented local chorus of children, teens and adults are joined by guest performers expert in the traditions represented in that year’s show.
This year’s guest musical group Genticorum has become, over the past 15 years, a fixture on the international world, trad, folk and Celtic music circuit. Infusing traditional music with the dynamism of modern performance, they weave precise and intricate fiddle and flute work, gorgeous vocal harmonies, energetic foot percussion and guitar and bass accompaniment, enhancing their distinctive sound with abundant humor and stage presence. The trio’s five albums have met with critical acclaim in Canada, the United States and Europe, and the group has given more than 800 concerts in more than 15 countries. Writes the music journal Sing Out!, “For a three-piece, Genticorum makes a very full and glorious noise, both instrumentally and vocally…This is a band that’s going to go places.”
Guest dancer Pierre Chartrand is recognized, both at home in Québec and abroad, as a master dancer, choreographer, dance caller and teacher. A professional since 1971, he has performed solo or in groups at festivals across the US and Canada. He was the co-winner of a 1997 traditional dance medal at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Madagascar. In 2005, he won the Best Choreography Award by the Independent Reviewers of New England for his choreography and solo dancing in the Québécois Christmas Revels that he co-created with the Cambridge, MA, Revels—which subsequently was performed by the Revels companies in Houston, San Francisco, Washington and, in 2010, in Hanover. In 2008, he received a grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec to collect folk dances in rural Québec and Acadia. Upper Valley audiences known him as a frequent headliner at the annual New World Festival in Randolph, VT. He and his wife Anne-Marie Gardette are the founders of Danse Cadence, an organization dedicated to traditional dance.

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