Hillside is an impressively conscious indie-music festival. There are no wasted beer cups, water bottles, or food-stuffs. From compost bins to volunteers-who-wash-your-plates-and-cutlery to mandated-purchase-of-beer-steins to empty-milk-trucks-filled-with-free-water, it is a limited footprint situation. Weekend-long music and workshops (drumming, dancing, sex education, crafting), Tibetan monks, and a Sunday Gospel hour...something for everyone!
I was a workshop presenter at Hillside. I did 2 Nia workshops there.
But that's not the best part.
My friend Alex Hickey provided the inspiration for the Nia workshops at Hillside. You see, Alex recently released her first album, Love Bites, which was the diving-off point for the Nia routine at Hillside.
We danced to 3 songs from her album:
2 tvs
Run Away
A Single Thing
Alex, who wrote her first song, (apparently about social disenfranchisement), at age 5, has been a creative inspiration for me. Her album, Love Bites, is everything a break-up album should be: heartfelt, bittersweet, funny, chock full of feelings about bad endings, new beginnings, grudges, longing and loss.
To top it off, her album mirrors what Nia is all about ~ "Dancing Through Life", "Life as Art" and the feeling that "Through Movement We Find Health".
Thank you Alex, for providing me with the inspiration to make my workshops at Hillside speak to the world!
Oh yeah, I bought this *awesome* bamboo rock-band tshirt from Alex with her rockin' logo on it. It's pretty snazzy, washes well, and makes me feel all warm, fuzzy and sustainable-like!
By the way, if you're considering Hillside in 2009, I highly recommend it - this was the musical line-up for 2008 (Alex Hickey is more than likely to rock the scene in 2009 or 2010 and we'll have a HUGE on-stage larger-than-life Nia celebration going!)
The Abrams Brothers (Friday)
The Acorn
Akron/Family
The Arrogant Worms (Friday)
Joseph Arthur
Bell Orchestre (Sunday)
Black Cabbage
Born Ruffians
The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir (Saturday Evening)
Broken Social Scene (Sunday evening)
Brothers Creeggan
The Burning Hell
David Celia
Chris Brown & Kate Fenner
Jason Collett
Cowboy Junkies (Friday)
Culture Reject
Dubblestandart
Elliott Brood
The Foggy Hogtown Boys
Sue Foley
Jaymay
The Good Brothers
James Gordon & Sons
Jenn Grant
Haale
Harri Palm & the Solo Pilots
Hayden (Sunday Evening)
Rebekah Higgs (Friday)
Islands (Saturday Evening)
The Kramdens
Land of Talk
Lights (Friday)
The Magic (Saturday)
Mandibles
Harry Manx
Danny Michel (Friday)
Molly Kurvink with 6lb. Head
The Monster Show
Moshav
Mr. Something Something
The Most Serene Republic (Friday)
Nabi
Old Man Luedecke
Evalyn Parry
Kelly Joe Phelps
Plants & Animals
Po'Girl
POP Montreal Presents: The Luyas, Miracle Fortress and Think About Life
Roxanne Potvin
Justin Rutledge
The Sadies
Hayley Sales
Sarah Slean (Saturday evening)
Meaghan Smith
Sue Smith
The Speakeasies
Spiral Beach
Rae Spoon
Taxi Chain
Thunderheist
The Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean (early Sunday evening)
David Woodhead
Hawksley Workman (Friday)
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