Led by Robert Battle in his inaugural season as Artistic Director, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will return to the Sony Centre For The Performing Arts stage, February 2-4, 2012 for four performances that will showcase the brilliant artistry and passionate spirit of Ailey’s extraordinary dancers in a series of new works and new productions that extend the vital legacy of Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) in exciting new directions.

Two different programs will be presented, with each performance culminating in Alvin Ailey’s beloved masterpiece REVELATIONS, an American classic acclaimed as a must-see for all, and recognized by a U.S. Senate resolution. Alvin Ailey said that one of America’s richest treasures was the cultural heritage of the African-American —”sometimes sorrowful, sometimes jubilant, but always hopeful.” This enduring classic is a tribute to that heritage and to Ailey’s genius. Using African-American religious music– spirituals, song-sermons, gospel songs and holy blues–this suite fervently explores the places of deepest grief and holiest joy in the soul.

www.sonycentre.ca

Book your discounted tickets today Call THE Group Tix Company 647-438-5559 or Outside the GTA 1-866-447-7849

Save 20% off a Full Price Ticket

A $6.50 per ticket service charge applies to all orders

www.thegrouptixcompany.com

COBA, Collective Of Black Artists returns to the Fleck Dance Theatre from February 3 to 5 with their exhilarating and dramatic dance production, Les Rythmes de la Forêt, as part of Harbourfront’s NextSteps dance series.

LES RYTHMES DE LA FORÊT is a suite of dances and rhythms from the Sub-Saharan region accompanied by traditional drums and chants. These dances and rhythms represent social and ritual events including rites of passage, initiations, harvest, and moments of pure joy and celebration.

Les Rythmes de la Forêt | February 3 to 5, 2012

Opening: Friday, February 3 at 8PM

Choreographed by Charmaine Headley, BaKari I. Lindsay, Linda Faye Johnson and Sister Robin Hibbert

Performances: Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4 at 8PM | Sunday, February 5 at 3PM

Tickets: $22 to $30 | Students & Seniors $18 to $25

Information: 416 973 4000 or

www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whatson/today.cfm?id=3275

www.cobainc.com

The 16^th annual Kuumba festival presented by TD returns to the Harbourfront Centre with an entertaining and educational weekend celebrating Black History Month.

“Kuumba” is the Swahili word for creativity and has become synonymous with showcasing the best local and international artists from the African and Caribbean diaspora thanks to Toronto’s longest-running and largest Black History Month (BHM).

The festival will include a celebration of Jamaica’s 50^th anniversary of independence with legendary reggae dub DJ and producer Clive Chin as well as a Honey Jam Then & Now showcase, a hilarious Canada vs. USA Comedy Clash, a film series celebrating Black filmmakers, an intimate and interactive indie music showcase with Rochelle Jordan, 88 Days of Fortune and Shi Wisdom, a fashion workshop with Canadian supermodel Stacey McKenzie and a variety of family activities, including a Soca on Ice event with Dr. Jay de Soca Prince.

FREE (with the exception of Honey Jam Then &Now, $15) 416-973-4000 or visit harbourfrontcentre.com

Visit Mackenzie House and learn more about the early Black community in Toronto. Print a souvenir copy of Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s newspaper, The Provincial Freeman, in the re-created 1850’s printshop!

Saturdays and Sundays in February, 12 to 5 p.m. Saturdays: Regular admission Sundays: pay-what-you-can

Mackenzie House 416-392-6915

www.toronto.ca/culture/museums/mackenzie.htm

AfriCan Theatre Ensemble proudly presents internationally-acclaimed playwright (and screenwriter) Jeff Stetson’s award-winning one-act drama about the power of human compassion in this artistic tour de force that captures some of the lasting legacies of the trans-atlantic slave trade.

Reading to be followed by cocktails and an after-party with DJ Spinner featuring music from the era and much more!

When: February 4, 2012, 7 pm

Where:  918 Bathurst @ 918 Bathurst Street, Toronto, ON M5R 3G5 (one block north of Bloor; closest TTC: Bathurst).

Single tickets:  $15.00 (reading and after-party);  After-Party only: $10.00 ( Doors open at 10 pm).

To RSVP/for more information/to buy tickets, please email info@africantheatre.org or call 416-364-7313

For further information, please contact Muoi Nene at 416-364-7313 or email muoi@africantheatre.org / pallavi@africantheatre.org

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)

COBA, Collective Of Black Artists returns to the Fleck Dance Theatre from February 3 to 5 with their exhilarating and dramatic dance production, Les Rythmes de la Forêt, as part of Harbourfront’s NextSteps dance series.

LES RYTHMES DE LA FORÊT is a suite of dances and rhythms from the Sub-Saharan region accompanied by traditional drums and chants. These dances and rhythms represent social and ritual events including rites of passage, initiations, harvest, and moments of pure joy and celebration.

Les Rythmes de la Forêt | February 3 to 5, 2012

Opening: Friday, February 3 at 8PM

Choreographed by Charmaine Headley, BaKari I. Lindsay, Linda Faye Johnson and Sister Robin Hibbert

Performances: Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4 at 8PM | Sunday, February 5 at 3PM

Tickets: $22 to $30 | Students & Seniors $18 to $25

Information: 416 973 4000 or

www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whatson/today.cfm?id=3275

www.cobainc.com

The 16^th annual Kuumba festival presented by TD returns to the Harbourfront Centre with an entertaining and educational weekend celebrating Black History Month.

“Kuumba” is the Swahili word for creativity and has become synonymous with showcasing the best local and international artists from the African and Caribbean diaspora thanks to Toronto’s longest-running and largest Black History Month (BHM).

The festival will include a celebration of Jamaica’s 50^th anniversary of independence with legendary reggae dub DJ and producer Clive Chin as well as a Honey Jam Then & Now showcase, a hilarious Canada vs. USA Comedy Clash, a film series celebrating Black filmmakers, an intimate and interactive indie music showcase with Rochelle Jordan, 88 Days of Fortune and Shi Wisdom, a fashion workshop with Canadian supermodel Stacey McKenzie and a variety of family activities, including a Soca on Ice event with Dr. Jay de Soca Prince.

FREE (with the exception of Honey Jam Then &Now, $15) 416-973-4000 or visit harbourfrontcentre.com

Visit Mackenzie House and learn more about the early Black community in Toronto. Print a souvenir copy of Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s newspaper, The Provincial Freeman, in the re-created 1850’s printshop!

Saturdays and Sundays in February, 12 to 5 p.m. Saturdays: Regular admission Sundays: pay-what-you-can

Mackenzie House 416-392-6915

www.toronto.ca/culture/museums/mackenzie.htm

Archie Alleyne Scholarship Fund presents Syncopation: Life in the Key of Black

A dynamic suite of live jazz, dance and photography in celebration ofToronto’s unsung jazz heroes from the 1930s -’50s. Featuring Jackie Richardson, Shawn Byfield, Kellylee Evans, Shawne  and Jay Jackson.

Specially re-staged for Black History Month  Sponsored by  TD Bank Group.

Tickets $40 advance $50 at the door, available at the Box Office: 416 924 6211 Ext 0 or www.algreentheatre.com

Exhibit runs February 6-10 at the Africentric Alternative School (9:00 am – 3:40 pm daily) 1430 Sheppard Avenue West, North York

and March 12-18 at the BAND Gallery at 823A Bloor St. W. (www.blackartndialog.com)

Visit www.aasf.ca for more info.

CaribbeanTales and TIFF presents a Youth & Community Screening of Storm Saulter’s BETTER MUS’ COME, a coming of age drama set in Jamaica’s turbulent 1970s.

Please note that the screening of BETTER MUS’ COME scheduled for 2:00 PM on Saturday February 4th as part of Music, Magic, Clash: New Voices in the African Diaspora programme has sold out. There are still tickets available for the screening on Sunday February 5th at 3:45pm.

For more info,  visit tiff.net/filmsandschedules

call 416.598.1410 or email info@caribbeantales-worldwide.com.

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)

Go on a journey with inspirational women performers from different eras of black history. With influences from the early 1800s to the Harlem Renaissance and the civil rights movement, as part of her Black History exhibit, Ashley McKenzie-Barnes launches her new collection of paintings commemorating these trailblazing women. Opens Feb 7 at 7pm.

Show runs to Feb 29

nawlins.ca

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)

As seen on Anderson and Nightline, Ralph Banks author of the controversial book “Is Marriage for White People? How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone” comes to Toronto. Join us for a lively book-signing/discussion on why Black women should marry outside the race. Panel of Black celebrities to discuss marriage and relationships.

Website: www.thelegacyposter.com

Friday February 10, 2012 @ 7:30pm

Price: $15

North York Memorial Community Hall, Burgundy Room

Set in 1963 Louisiana against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, Kennedy’s assassination, and the Vietnam war, this Tony-nominated musical centres on Caroline Thibodeaux, a divorced African-American maid and Noah Gellman, the 8-year-old son of the Jewish family for whom she works.

See www.canadianstage.com/ for full schedule and showtimes.

($26- $32)