The Bentway has officially opened for the Spring / Summer season with plenty of programming ranging from the provocative art exhibition New Monuments for New Cities; to the site-specific performance of Dérives; to leisure and recreational activities for all ages and abilities; to the family-friendly Block Party.
Nama-stay in the city this summer for free outdoor yoga and Tai Chi at The Bentway! Free for everybody and every body!
Twice a week, Tai Chi instructor Eti Greenberg will lead an intimate practice of the ancient Chinese exercise for physical health and mindfulness. Reduce tension, improve circulation, and increase flexibility with each empowering session of slow and graceful movement. Monday at 5:30pm and Thursday at 11am, from June 13 – August 29. thebentway.ca/tai-chi
The Bentway teams up with TRIBE Fitness, outdoor workout specialists, for fun and challenging yoga classes that strengthen body and mind. Lunge into TRIBE’s weekly, one-hour class with highly-trained and inclusive instructors running Sunday at 7pm, from June 16 – August 25. thebentway.ca/yoga-2019
Come share a meal: weekly communal dining
This Summer, The Bentway will host weekly communal dining opportunities curated by The Depanneur, a Toronto event space and innovative culinary talent showcase. Exploring Toronto’s diverse culinary traditions, the Communal Table is for friends and neighbours to come together, share a delicious meal, and make new friends!
Featuring a roster of local chefs with exciting culinary creations, each Communal Table experience offers a distinct menu, a friendly welcoming vibe, and live musical performances.
The Newcomer Kitchen, initially founded at The Depanneur in 2016 to provide a social and economic opportunity for Syrian refugee women, quickly became a hub for the women to meet, create a community, and make home-cooked meals together. The women of Newcomer Kitchen will host two dinners at the Communal Table, serving a selection of traditional Syrian home cooking. June 27 and July 25.
Both of the Paella Nights, with chef José Arato of Pimentón Spanish and Mediterranean Fine Food, will feature a giant paella prepared onsite, along with a selection of tapas, accompanied by a Flamenco performance. July 4 and August 1.
Filipino chef Erwin Joaquin of Big E Hawaiian Grinds, will host two Pinoy Kamayan Dinners at the Communal Table. A Filipino feast consisting of meat, seafood, garlic rice, and more is served on banana leaves and eaten by hand. July 11 and August 8.
Chef Tsewang Chodon of TC’s Tibetan Momo will prepare traditional Tibetan and Himalayan cuisine, including her own handmade Momos, a south Asian dumpling native to Tibet, made from local ingredients. July 18 and August 15.
The final Communal Table of the season is another Farm-to-Table meal, from rebel chef Greg Couillard who shook up Toronto dining in the 80s, with a menu full of Caribbean flavours including his famous Jump-Up soup inspired by the first Caribana parade in 1967. August 22.
The Bentway’s Communal Table—an inclusive, diverse and affordable family-style dinner series—is an opportunity to come together, to imagine and to share, and to celebrate food’s capacity to connect people with places, history, and a sense of belonging.
Every Thursday
June 13 – August 22, 2019
One seating at 6:30-8:30pm
Pre-registration is requested: thebentway.ca/communal-table
Help ensure there is no food waste by reserving a spot in advance for $12
(Walk-ups welcome if there is availability)
In the spirit of this program and The Bentway’s ‘Communitas’ Season, guests are asked to bring their own dishes and a non-perishable food item for donation to local shelters.
Want to explore New Monuments for New Cities, with Local Artists and Urbanists?
The Bentway presents an ongoing series of free onsite tours exploring selected works in the current public exhibition, New Monuments for New Cities. Each guided excursion and discussion will be led by a different Torontonian – artists, designers, planners, community members and active urbanists – who will reflect on the artworks, The Bentway’s layered histories and potential futures, as well as the city itself. The guide will lead participants throughout The Bentway and interpret the site and works based on their own expertise and interests. All tours are free, running on select Tuesdays from 6:30-7:30pm.
The July 9th tour will be conducted by New Monuments for New Cities artist Life of a Craphead, the collaboration of Amy Lam and Jon McCurley whose work spans performance art, film, and curation. Their new monument, Angry Edit of a Wikipedia Pageis a screen capture of their disruption to The Treaty of Huế (1884), signed after the French colonialists seized the Imperial City in Huế, Vietnam, marking the beginning of French colonial oppression in Vietnam for the next 70 years. For a single day, their fact checking shed light on the truth of the conflict. Amy is Chinese and Jon is Vietnamese-Irish and the duo lives and works in Toronto.
The July 23rd tour will be led by Maggie Groat, an interdisciplinary artist who utilizes a range of media including works on paper, sculpture, textiles, site-specific interventions and publications to interrogate methodologies of collage. The approaches and perspectives demonstrated within her practice are informed by her Haudenosaunee and Settler ancestry, and her roles as mother and environmental steward.
The August 6th tour will be led by New Monuments for New Cities artist Susan Blight, and a special guest. Susan is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker from Couchiching First Nation, Anishinaabe, Turtle Clan whose work has been screened and exhibited nationally and internationally. Susan is co-founder of The Ogimaa Miikana Project, an artist/activist collective working to reclaim and rename the roads, streets, and landmarks of Toronto with Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe language). Susan’s new monument, Untitled (Land and Life) honours the Anishinaabeg peoples of Canada and the United States by depicting Nanaboozhoo, the half-human, half-spirit teacher, in the traditional Anishinaabeg pictograph technique.
The August 20th tour will be led by Ellie Joseph, organizer of the Two Row on the Grand event in Six Nations, in conversation with Daniel Rotsztain, the Urban Geographer. Ellie will guide a site walk while discussing the principles of the Two Row wampum belt, and how they intersect with The Bentway’s art, histories, designs, and approaches to city building.
Meet at The Bentway washrooms to the west of the Skate Trail
by 6:25pm for the hour-long tour
Please sign up in advance at thebentway.ca/art-tours-2019
Photo credit of The Bentway: Nicola Betts
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