You never know who you may see. Appearing at the Harbourfront today is a myriad of local and international talent from the Toronto International Circus Festival, brought to you by Zero Gravity Circus and Harbourfront Center. Acts ranging from new vaudeville to contortionists to acrobats are complemented by hands-on activities for kids. (And it's all free—but today's the last day to take it all in.)......

The circuses of today feature less slapstick and more spectacle (think: Cirque), taking audiences from peanut-strewn mall parking lots to cushy Vegas theatres. But this weekend’s Toronto International Circus Festival, which kicks off Harbourfront Centre’s annual roster of awesome summer fun, is the best of both worlds: accessible (it’s free) and theatrical. Fire eaters, aerial artists, hybrid Parkour/martial art/hip hop stunt men, and a couple of those dudes who ride around on tiny motorcycles......

Once a proud Torontoist staffer, now a published YA novelist: Jill Murray is celebrating the release of her first book this week. Break On Through is the story of Nadine, aka Lady Six Sky, a badass b-girl who dreams of winning the Hogtown Showdown with her breakdancing crew. But when her parents announce that they're moving from Parkdale to the fictional suburb of Rivercrest, Nadine's world is turned upside down. Now she's lost her crew,......

For some magically ridiculous reason, CBC Radio 3's weekly countdown, the R3-30, is broadcasting from a skating rink this week in a move that's heavily dividing the hipster set after the announcement of another free—and markedly less active—event that same night: Tokyo Police Club at Nathan Phillips Square. But host Craig Norris offers this pitch in their favour: "If you've ever listened to The R3-30 in the comfort of your warm, cozy home and......

According to Environment Canada, this winter will be the coldest in fifteen years. That news should send us all running for the comforts of indoors, but once again Harbourfront Centre provides the perfect reason to play outside. DJ Skating Nights return for a third year, providing those who brave the cold to skate under the glittering skyline with a soundtrack from local DJs. The five Friday nights of the series will feature five different......

Photo by EIFF. Next week on October 17th, the International Festival of Authors will kick off its 28th year since its inception in 1980 at the Premiere Dance Theatre (207 Queens Quay West). Incorporating some of the best contemporary world literature, the festival is comprised of eleven days and nights of readings, interviews, round-table discussions, lectures, and book signings—not to mention special event readings by Scotiabank Giller Prize and Governor General’s Literary Awards finalists.......

"March of the Penguins" by BrynJ. This week's LitTO is chock full of reading events, mainly from the Factory Theatre's national-made-local reading series. In collaboration with several play development centres situated throughout the country, the Factory Theatre's Trans-Canada Edition presents new playwrights and their plays from British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Quebec, Manitoba, and the Maritimes. All reading events are free and will take place from October 3–6, with varying times. On Wednesday, Penguin Group......

Last night, the seats of Harbourfront Centre's studio theatre were packed with a mix of middle-aged art aficionados and well-coiffed hip, young homos all dying to see Francesco Vezzoli give a lecture and screen his notorious Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's Caligula. Vezzoli is an Italian artist known for his work in video and embroidery (yes, embroidery) who set the art world ablaze a couple of years ago with his re-imagining of the......

All summer long, Toronto has been jam-packed with countless cultural festivities, and as the last weekend of the summer begins to dawn on us—with students gearing up for school and vacations coming to an unfortunate end—why not end the summer with some Ukrainian style? This year, what was formerly known as the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival is being renamed the Toronto Ukrainian Festival and will take place at Harbourfront Centre. From August 31......

Last week, because we were completely distracted by Dock in a Box, we didn’t mention our sadness at the loss of both Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. We also couldn’t think of a Director bad enough to lament the continued existence of in the same breath. Thanks to a viewing of Brett Ratner’s Rush Hour 3, we have that man! We really think that Lars von Trier missed a trick in his recent satire......

If you’re feeling hungry and are looking for something a little less bland than your average, it might be worth dropping by the Tenth Annual World Spicy Food Festival at Harbourfront. The Festival promises three solid days of spicy goodness, with heat levels ranging from slightly piquant to eye-popping, face-melting, sinus-clearing insanity. Highlights of the festival include candied insects courtesy of Sugar Mountain and a series of tastings by a group of women (somewhat misleadingly)......

If today’s column title gets Rachel Sweet’s Hairspray stuck in your head for the rest of the day, good! Because then we’ll have made our point that the version of Hairspray hitting this weekend isn’t as good as the John Waters original. Though the music not being as good is only part of it. There’s also the inherent irony about making a musical in which one of the central themes is integration through a......

Photo by Carrie Musgrave. After a brief hiatus due to NxNE and Bonnaroo, Live Baby Live is back! You're excited, aren't you? Don't deny it. As always, lots of recently announced shows. Interestingly, you'll notice that all of the horse bands will be through town over the next few months. We wonder what animal trend will be next? Not only that, but The Black Lips and Bloc Party must really love Toronto, since both......

When most people think of herbs, they think of cooking. When some people think of herbs, they think of healing. If you have ever had a warm, soothing cup of chamomile tea before bedtime to improve your sleep, you were healing yourself with herbs. Those pesky dandelion plants that are taking over your yard? Guess what—their leaves are packed with vitamin C and iron, and they are bitter, which helps improve digestion. Want an alternative......

Each weekday morning, we pick a recent image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve! Luminato is officially upon us as of today, and eager members of our Flickr pool have already captured and uploaded some spectacular images, such as this one by Uwajedi. The interactive light show is already up and running, and......

The Art of Time Ensemble played their final shows of the 2006/2007 season this past Thursday and Friday at the Harbourfront Centre. The group's aim is to bring chamber music to new ears by blending it with other genres and new ideas, while retaining its elegance and intelligence. Andrew Burashko created The Art of Time as a way to "test my assumption that we could present chamber music in an accessible way." Judging by......

Sarah Slean is one of Toronto’s most enchanting musicians, winning over audiences with her whimsical songs and charismatic shows—to see her play live is to almost assuredly fall in love with her. This week at the Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre, Slean will put aside her own lovely songs to tackle some covers, at which she’s equally adept (this Torontoist once witnessed her cast a spell over a cozy audience with her moving version of......

Hold on to your horrors, scary story-lovers: Stephen King is scheduled to make his first official Canadian appearance to receive a life-time achievement award from the Canadian Booksellers Association. The event, to be held at the John Bassett Theatre at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Friday, June 8, will include an on-stage interview. The organizers say that tickets go on sale today (but as of 9 a.m. this morning, the website isn’t online). You......

There is only one opportunity left to see Particularly in the Heartland, a fantastic show from a New York-based company Torontoist mentioned the other day. After its matinee tomorrow at 3:00pm, the show closes and the New World Stage will start gearing up for its next show. Collective creation theatre is so popular in this city this week you'd think it was the 1970s. But if these created-by-the-ensemble plays are going to keep being......

From our good friends at Dufferin Grove comes word of a very slippery Sunday: We're planning a little public party at Wallace outdoor ice rink (1260 Dufferin St., south of Dupont) for Sunday March 4 (closing day for that rink, for the season), 2-4 pm. The party is promised to include ice painting and hot food, m-mm! But wait, there's more:On that same day there's also a DJ-on-ice and campfire at Dufferin Rink (and......

Last night's star-studded 17th Annual Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Awards brought prestigious wins for local play 'Da Kink In My Hair and playwright trey anthony. The play started as a one-woman Fringe Festival production and enjoyed multiple sold-out runs in Toronto until expanded by the Mirvishes at the Princess of Wales Theatre last year. Set in a West Indian hair salon on Eglinton Avenue, the production involves the stories of multiple women who pass through......

It's a fascinating choice during the extended commercial ramp-up to Valentines day: while dollar stores overstock cinnamon hearts, the six o' clock news compares deals on roses and even Torontoists toil at sourcing the best Valentines day activities for your romantic entertainment, Harbourfront Centre's New World Stage brings us a grim, gutteral, fluid, hilarious and unflinchingly human exploration of the myth of a man whose desire gets him devoured by a pack of his own......

Photo of Owen Pallett by chichibebelolo on Flickr. Photo of Steve Kado by Shakeer on Flickr. The Harbourfront Centre presented the first edition of “Inside the Musician’s Studio” as part of its View Points series on Thursday evening. Modeled after “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” the event was hosted by Carl Wilson (The Globe and Mail, Zoilus). Guests were Blocks Recording Club founder Steve Kado and Polaris Prize winner (and Blocks artist) Owen Pallett, aka......

In order to more accurately reflect the values of German youth, MTV Germany altered the hit TV show Pimp My Car to Pimp My Bike. Toronto's own Corwyn Lund has pimped a bike so hard, he's gonna head up bike pimping operations for MTV World. Well, maybe one day he will. But for now, he is delivering missives and enunciations to the citizens of Toronto with this luminous bike – but only on Mondays.......

The International Readings at Harbourfront Centre unveiled the line-up for their 2007 winter season yesterday. A horde of authors, journalists and poets – some established and some intriguing young talent – will be coming to Toronto over the next few weeks. Book nerds, grab your pens and mark these dates down on your calendars. On February 5, The Globe and Mail’s Ian Brown will be interviewing New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin about his new book,......

Artists have to be resourceful. So when Toronto-based photographer Jamie Campbell ended up with a bunch of mascot heads from a failed photo shoot, he put them to good use. The result is his photo exhibit, entitled Beasts of Burden, and it's having its opening reception this weekend at the Harbourfront Centre. "It all came together out of a failed attempt to use mascot costumes in a series on motivation. So I scrapped the......

For those who have enjoyed a Sunday at Cherry Beach, dancing to chill beats or relaxing in the shade of the grove, the question among your friends all week has simply been, "Skating?" Tonight from 8 - 11 PM, Promise, known to many as simply "David and Irving", will be hosting this week's installation of DJ Skating Nights at the Harbourfront Centre. Skate to an eclectic mix of reggae, disco, house and techno by......

The slow move from Torontoist to FinalFantasyist is nearly complete. Owen Pallett is pretty great and all, but to date we've talked about his song "This Lamb Sells Condos"; the video for that song; the inspiration for that song; the prize that Pallett won for the album that the song appears on; the love that Canadian bloggers have for him; the love that we, specifically, have for him; previewed and reviewed his library show......

It seems to be the week of Alexisonfire, who are playing just about every venue in the city over the next 7 days, starting on Thursday. We predict a few bruised ribs and black eyes just in time for Christmas...so kids, if you're going to the show(s), be a little gentler to each other knowing that your parents will be pissed if you're posing for the holiday photos with a shiner. This public service......

Award-winning Toronto author (and emergency physician) Vincent Lam will give his first public reading since winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize this Wednesday as Diaspora Dialogues teams up with the Harbourfront Centre’s International Reading series. Diaspora Dialogues, which is about to enter its third year, is joining forces with Harbourfront's International Readings series to host a slew of events in 2007, including a mini-festival in June right before Book Expo. While the chance to hear Vincent......