The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards

The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Gala, which took place at the National Arts Centre last Saturday, May 9, produced an odd, sometimes tension-producing, mixture of attendees. There were the laureates - eight artists (and one businessman-philanthropist) notable for their creativity in numerous fields, but not necessarily their fame - and their friends, families, and fans; and then there were the party leaders, the cabinet ministers, and other representatives of the political establishment, there to see and be seen, "supporting our arts community."

Two figures bridged the gap in immaculate fashion. The first was Christopher Plummer, the now 79-year-old actor whose roles at Stratford and in film - particularly as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music (a film which he apparently "despises") - have raised him to the level of acting royalty. His easy charm and humour (in both official languages) - not to mention his fantastic deep purple velvet blazer and healthy tan - made everyone from boho to politico feel at ease, in the hands of such an accomplished entertainer.

And the Governor General herself, Michaelle Jean, knocked the audience dead with her accompaniment of a Haitian a cappella group on-stage, and her subsequent impassioned and eloquent speech about the importance of artists to a community and to a nation. It was her singing, though, that will linger in the memory: imagine, our head of state, singing in front of an audience of thousands of people! (One of my friends, a heterosexual female, once commented after hearing Jean speak, "Is it just me, or does the Governor-General have an amazingly sexy voice?")

But the event was not just a matter of marquee names - Gordon Pinsent, Karen Kain, and Measha Brueggergosman were among the stars who spoke and performed on stage, and Paul Gross and Robert Lepage were among the honorees - and standing ovations for the laureates: it was also an occasion for learning about some of the less well-known figures in Canadian art. I left that night eager to learn more about the personalities and the works of the laureates who, while approaching the status of institutions in their own particular fields, have not (yet) become household names across the country.

One such individual was George Walker, the playwright, director, and a screenwriter. He exemplified the figure of the artist committed to his craft but shy of the limelight and the glitz of public occasions. As he walked up the red carpet, flanked by a red-coated military detail in bearskin hats, I overheard a couple behind me, obviously friends or acquaintances of Walker, saying, "Is he wearing jeans and a t-shirt? He hates this sort of thing." Walker did wear a suit, and I heard later that he had been convinced by his family that he should fight his usual reticence and attend the gala.

Walker started writing plays in the early '70s, answering a public ad from the newly founded Factory Theatre, while he was working in Toronto as a taxi driver. 26 critically-acclaimed plays, translated and performed around the world, several TV and film screenwriting credits, and numerous awards have followed. His works, whether they are set in the east end of Toronto where Walker was born and grew up, or in Africa and other exotic locales, generally deal with the darker features of human nature: violence, greed, revenge, corruption, and ignorance. One of his best-known works, Zastrozzi: Master of Discipline, is described as "a gothic tale told in a film noir style...[A] mystery, a murder drama, a morality tale, and a swashbuckler, full of sex, violence, and lots of smoke and dim lighting."

Walker's work generally, in the words of Coral Andrews of suite101, consists of a "quirky cacophony of characters - often on the edge of beautiful chaos - [who] speak in orgasmic dialogue overlapping each other to create a messy universal 'verbal jazz.'" Such a statement is certainly enough to encourage me to seek out future productions of Walker's work.

The other laureate who particularly caught my attention was the dancer and choreographer Peggy Baker. Again, never having attended a dance performance before, I was completely unaware of her before I read her name on the NAC's website.

Baker was born in Edmonton in 1952, and, as she stated upon receiving her Governor General's Award at Rideau Hall, has been dancing since she was in the womb. Since beginning her professional career, she has lived mainly in Toronto and New York, but has traveled around the world to teach and perform. She currently spends much of her time teaching at the National Ballet School of Canada, and also operates the Choreographer's Trust, which is an organization devoted to passing on the experience and techniques from one generation of dancers to the next. She has also said, "I seek to penetrate the polished surface of dance technique to reveal an authentic expression of humanity." And I found, during the performance at the gala of her Brahms Waltzes, that the dancer's movements were so simple and fluid, so seemingly natural, yet elegant, that it was like watching the very discovery of movement itself.

And the final performance of the evening, highlighting the Awards' Mentorship Program, was a pairing of 2005 laureate Oliver Jones, the renowned jazz pianist, and his selected protegee, the dynamic young jazz singer Dione Taylor. Together, they played a rousing rendition of the old jazz standard "He's Funny That Way," first made famous by Billie Holliday. Taylor's voice is thrillingly deep and full - she was trained as a classical and opera singer - and tinged with blues, soul, and gospel influences. The energy of her performance, matched with Jones's bluesy but refined piano-playing, sent the audience out into the evening on a high.

In conversation afterwards, Taylor remarked what an "absolutely wonderful" experience it was to have the benefit of Jones's mentorship, and how inspiring it was to perform for a group of such accomplished artists. She and Jones first performed together in Toronto at a Songwriter's Hall of Fame gala tribute to Oscar Peterson, and she said Jones has been amazingly generous with both his musical and his professional advice.  Taylor is as enthusiastic and warm in conversation as her voice is in performance, and it was reassuring to find out that there are up-and-coming artists who are as talented, as enthusiastic about their craft, and as personally engaging as those who were being recognized as laureates that night.

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