(poutine party) It’s finally happened: Quebec’s signature dish of fries, cheese curds and gravy has been turned into a festival (of sorts). Montreal Poutine Week, February 1-7, sees the late-night meal of choice elevated to imaginative heights as 30 restaurants whip up a special poutines at special prices – with proceeds going towards the Montreal Canadiens Children’s Foundation. Tour the town from Old Montreal to Mile End in search of your favourite, from variations on the classic to gourmet interpretations.

(outdoor fun & games) More comfort food is on the agenda at First Saturdays at the Olympic Park on February 2, 1-7 p.m. – bring the kids to skate, slide and play at the Olympic Park’s Winter Village  and warm up with hot dishes from fabulous Montreal food trucks Grumman 78, Pastaga, Lucky’s, Pas d’cochon dans mon salon and Gaufrabec. For those yearning for a game of pick-up hockey, head out to one of Montreal’s bustling outdoor rinks. Meanwhile, out at the Ecomuseum Zoo, the Zoolympics are underway February 2 and 3: to mark its 25th anniversary, the Ecomuseum challenges families to a contest (with prizes!) involving animal trivia, physical feats and fun.

(fashion forward) Get a leg up on what’s haute for next fall/winter at Montreal Fashion Week, February 4-7 at Arsenal. The runway is rife with established and new Montreal designers showcasing their gorgeous concepts, and fashion is on everyone’s mind at conferences, exhibits and more, such as a series of fashion film screenings that includes a tribute to Montreal-born designer Rad Hourani.

(theatre & dance) A huge original Dali painting is both backdrop and inspiration for La Verità, a colourful, theatrical circus show created by Daniele Finzi Pasca, at Place des Arts to February 3. Catch the final night of the Opéra de Montreal production of Johann Strauss II’s lively Die Fledermaus, featuring tenor Marc Hervieux, on February 2. Montreal’s Beautiful City Theatre lets out all the stops in Godspell, The Musical, with final nights February 1-2, at Centaur Theatre. The revolution of an African price turned slave unfolds in Oroonoko, written by Aphra Behn and directed by Paul Van Dyck, at the MAI, February 6-17, part of Montreal Black History Month. And in contemporary dance, choreographer Karine Denault’s Pleasure Dome sees dancers and musicians shaking it up together, February 6-9 at Agora de la Danse.

(art & the world) The diverse land, history and culture of Peru at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts immersive Peru : Kingdoms of the Sun and Moon exhibition, opening February 2 – see pre-Columbian masterpieces along with modern art from the country’s creative forces. Six artists create sculpture, photography, painting and multidisciplinary works of art inspired by Martin Luther King’s famous speech in the I Have a Dream: The Exhibit, part of the Montreal Black History Month activities, at Espace Georges Emile Lapalme. And new photography and multidisciplinary exhibitions by artists Laurent Grasso, Lynne Cohen and Jonathas de Andrade open at the Musee d’art Contemporain, beginning February 7.

(music makers) Outdoor electronic music festival Igloofest keeps dancers and good-time-lovers warm out there with its third weekend of fun, featuring UK producer Ewan Pearson, US DJ Magda, France’s Agoria, housey-experimental Audiofly and more. Music is on the Black History Month program on February 2 with Ladysmith Black Mambazo at L’astral and Kalmunity remixing Blaxploitation era funk at the Phi Centre. Julie Doiron rocks, croons and keeps it real at Casa del Popolo on Sunday, February 3. On Monday, indie-rock duo Buke and Gase delight at Casa del Popolo. Eclectic rock singer-songwriting Ty Segall plays Cabaret Mile End on February 5. And on February 7, pop star Shawn Desman plays Le National, while it’s all Gershwin, Bernstein, Daugherty and Copland tunes for the Orchestre Métropolitain‘s Made in the USA show, at the Maison symphonique de Montréal.

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(winter warmth) Montreal has many ways to warm up the great outdoors. Igloofest, winter’s answer to Piknic Electronik, continues its first weekend at the Old Port on Friday night in collaboration with Mutek, featuring Stephen Beaupré, Germany’s Mathias Kaden and Bulgaria’s KiNK, while on Saturday, dance to DJ Josh Wink and Canadian faves Paolo Rocco and DJ Sneak. Come back on Thursday, January 24 for Alicia Hush, Miss Kittin and Ellen Allien. Across the river from Igloofest, settle in at Montreal’s one-of-a-kind Snow Village, with restaurants, a hotel, activities and more. And outdoors right outside Place des Arts, get interactive with music-and-light installation Iceberg, part of the Luminothérapie exhibition in downtown’s Quartier des Spectacles.

(game on) NHL hockey comes back to Montreal this week! To smooth the ice and get fans back into the groove, the Bell Centre is inviting everyone to check out morning skates for the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, January 19 – it’s free, doors open at 9 a.m., seating is on a first-come-first-served basis, and fans will be treated to a hot dog, chips and a soft drink as well as 50 percent off Canadiens merchandise. Later that day, the Habs play the Maple Leafs, and on January 22, they face off against the Panthers.

(circus, song & dance) The art, antics and dreamworld of Salvador Dali are the inspiration for the acrobatic, song and dance of circus show La Verità, created by Daniele Finzi Pasca and featuring a gorgeous original Dali backdrop painting, on at Place des Arts to February 3. More music is in the picture in Beautiful City Theatre’s rock-musical rendition of Godspell, The Musical, January 24-26 and 31 at Centaur Theatre in Old Montreal. La Otra Orilla shows us new and traditional forms of flamenco dance, with dancer/choreographer Myriam Allard and singer Hedi Graja, at Cinquième Salle to January 26. Marie Béland’s Bleu-Vert-Rouge offers a taste of Montreal’s contemporary dance scene at L’Agora, January 23-26, as does the Bouge d’ici Festival, with shows from emerging dancers and choreographers at Mainline Theatre to January 19. And amazing puppetry wows as The Old Trout Puppet Workshop comes to Montreal with their “happiness” show Ignorance, January 18-19.

(screen time) See recent and acclaimed Canadian films for free at the PHI Centre this week: director Nisha Pahuja’s The World Before Her on January 18, Kim Nguyen’s Rebelle on January 21, David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis and Michael Dowse’s Goon on January 23, and Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children and Sean Garrity’s My Awkward Sexual Adventure on January 24. The PHI Centre also presents a series of films selected by filmmaker Denis Côté, including Sergei Loznitsa’s My Joy, Bill Ross’ Tchoupitoulas and Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Abendland. Over on the 360-degree domed Satosphere screen at the SAT see Chaos and Order, a panoramic work by media artist Rocco Helmchen and composer Johannes Kraas, playing to February 22 – and as a bonus at the SAT’s Foodlab on January 20, eat well and talk gluten-free gourmet with guest chef Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille.

(art world) Innovative Old-Montreal-based DHC/ART impresses yet again with their mind-expanding new show Thomas Demand: Animations, opening January 19, featuring the German artist’s films and videos, interlacing photography, architecture, sculpture and media images. The must-see, 1960s-to-present-day installation work of Canadian art legend Michael Snow is explored in Solo Snow: Works of Michael Snow at Galerie de l’UQAM. And Parisian Laundry, located not far from downtown in the neighbourhood of St-Henri, shows new brightly coloured new work by Jennifer Lefort and Samuel Roy-Bois’ installation J’ai Moonwalké Sans Cesse, Jusqu’à L’épuisement, which includes a drum kit ready for visitors to play.

(music time) On Saturday night, listen to the inventive sounds and inspired lyrics of Christopher Owens and Gentlemen Reg, at Cabaret Mile End. Hear and see something different on January 21, as saxophonist Adam Kinner collaborates with pianist Andy Costello for a theatrical performance at Sala Rossa. On January 22, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra welcomes the Budapest Festival Orchestra to the new Maison symphonique de Montréal to play a program of 20th-century works, from Shostakovich to Rachmaninov, while Californian electro-folk (and much more) singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe  captivates at Il Motore, and L.A.’s Hollywood Undead play Theatre Corona. And on January 24, Brooklyn indie-rock band Wakey Wakey gets toes tapping to love songs at Cabaret du Mile End, and The Whammies, an all-star jazz group of players from Chicago, Boston and the Netherlands make a night of it at Sala.

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(get outside) Picturesque Parc Jean-Drapeau is turned into a one-of-a-kind Snow Village this winter, complete with outdoor activities – giant snow slide!  – as well as restaurants, bars, a hotel, hot tubs, a gorgeous view of the city from across the frozen St-Lawrence River, and more. More winter activities are on hand over at the Olympic Park Winter Village, where ice skating and snow slides entertain kids for hours – and for free. And everyone’s favourite outdoor winter dance party, Igloofest starts up on  January 17 with a new opening-night headliners Misstress Barbara and Wolf + Lamb – for all the up-to-date info, see the Igloofest website.

(theatre dreams) Tony Award-winning family-friendly musical Billy Elliot, based on the film about a young boy and his dream of being a dancer, sings and dances up a storm at Place des Arts, to January 13. The life and art of Salvador Dali gets even more theatrical in La Verità, created by Daniele Finzi Pasca, playing at Place des Arts, January 17 to February 3. And Centaur Theatre hosts the Wildside Festival, an off-the-beaten track series of shows that runs the gamut from mini-musicals to family drama to Japanese clowns, ongoing to January 13. And a tale of treeplanters in Northern Ontario brings the laughs in Ogoki Nights III at Theatre Ste-Catherine.

(dance life) Flamenco dance gets a contemporary creative treatment in La Otra Orilla, a brilliant new show from dancer/choreographer Myriam Allard and singer Hedi Graja, at Cinquième Salle January 16-26, presented by Danse Danse. Montreal dance institution L’Agora de la danse celebrates the 10th anniversary of contemporary choreographer-dancer Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood’s Discovery bal January 11-12. And new and exciting contemporary dance is on the Bouge d’ici Festival program, with shows by up-and-comers and workshops for dancers and non-dancers alike – the festival opens January 11 at Mainline Theatre and runs until January 19.

(urban family time) Walk, run and just plain play around in art-and-music installation Iceberg, a series of metal structures that acts and sounds like an iceberg, an instrument and, in some cases, a kind of playground – part of the outdoor Luminothérapie exhibition in downtown’s Quartier des Spectacles. Make more music and learn about the science behind it at the Montreal Science Centre’s interactive Musik exhibition. And learn more about the history and architecture of Montreal at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology and History and at ABC: MTL, the newest exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture.

(film and art) Some of the best, most recent Canadian film offerings entertain and possibly even educate at the PHI Centre this week – for free! From January 14-27, head to the Old Montreal-based arts and cultural centre to see screenings of Xavier Dolan’s Lawrence Anyways (January 14), Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell (January 15), and more – admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Add more colour to the winter at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where an extensive Impressionism exhibition, featuring paintings by Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Toulouse-Lautrec and many more, continues until January 20, and Iranian-Canadian photographer Aydin Matlabi’s Landscape, Revolution, People explores cultural identity through arresting images of humanity, until March 17.

(live music) Californian rapper Hopsin lays it down at Club Soda on Friday night while on Saturday, Sweet Mother Logic causes a pleasant ruckus at Sala Rossa. On Tuesday, January 15, see The Walkmen and Father John Misty at the Corona Theatre, while Swedish electronic-pop duo Niki and the Dove get the crowd dancing at Le Belmont. On Wednesday, American pop-punk boy-band All Time Low rolls into town with Yellowcard, at Metropolis. Alternatively, ride the sound waves with Freelance Whales at La Sala Rossa, or drift along to the dreamy sounds of Sea Oleena at Casa del Popolo. On Thursday night, sample a slew of great Montreal bands at Un Peu de Lumière en Janvier, with Les Cowboys Fringants, Karkwa, The Barr Brothers, Plants and Animals and many more at La Tulipe, or see what Gentleman Reg has been up to lately as he plays Casa del Popolo. For something completely different and super entertaining: Hip Hop Karaoke is back at Le Belmont.

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Sure, Montreal in the summer is hot, sunny and jam-packed with festival fun. But the winter is when the city really takes on its unique flavour. Where else can people revel in the streets – nay, in a whole Snow Village! – in a minus 20 degree winter wonderland?

After the great success of last year’s inaugural edition, North America’s first and only Snow Village is doing things even bigger and better this year with a special homage to the Big Apple. In perfect accordance with the year’s other New York/Montreal project, Montreal-Brooklyn, the Snow Village architects and sculptors are using the Big Apple as inspiration for the setting, sculptures, décor and more.

From family outings to outdoor activities to romantic getaways and even adventure tourism, the Snow Village has something for everyone, including a giant ice and snow slide, heated outdoor spas and a supersize heated igloo that doubles as a one-of-a-kind site for private parties. Imagine a wedding in this kind of setting… hey, there’s even a chapel on site!

Apart from the hotel stay, where you sleep among furs and the warmth of a wood fire, the most popular draw to the village is the food. The Snow Village’s beloved Pommery Ice Restaurant is doubling its capacity to 100 seats this year, plus there’ll be a brand-new second outdoor Ice Restaurant in Laval! Thanks to a partnership with the Auberge Saint-Gabriel, the Amarula Ice Restaurant will be a 56-seat outdoor restaurant located at the Centropolis on Boulevard St. Martin Ouest. Make sure you explore this borough North of Montreal on a weekend morning, to take advantage of the most unforgettable weekend brunches north of the St. Lawrence.

“The Centropolis was the perfect choice for our first Ice Restaurant outside the Montreal Snow Village,” says Village co-manager Carl Fugère. “Now North Shore residents can easily enjoy this unique Nordic dining experience, prepared to perfection with the Auberge Saint-Gabriel’s internationally renowned chef Éric Gonzalez.”

The official opening date for the Snow Village in January 18, but there’s an ice breaker (pun fully intended) at Amarula Ice Restaurant that’s open to all on January 3, and a pre-opening of the Village as a whole on January 4. So dig out your mitts, your toques and your Sorels, and let’s get this party started!

THE DETAILS
Montreal Snow Village at Parc Jean-Drapeau, January 4 to March 24th, 2013, Reservations: (514) 788-2181

Photo credit: Village des Neiges/Snow Village Canada

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(illuminated learning) Hands-on learning about how music works on our minds is at the heart of Musik: From Sound to Emotion, a cool new exhibition at The Montreal Science Centre. Every step of the exhibition’s journey is interactive – each visitor carries an MP3 player to listen to music of all kinds (including by pop-punk band Simple Plan, who collaborated on the exhibition), answer questions and create a personal composition. Less high-tech, but delightfully educational nonetheless is a visit to the Insectarium and The Botanical Gardens, where the main greenhouse is decked out for Christmas with lights, new plant life, choir performances on some afternoons, and even a craft fair December 7-9.

(glorious showtime) Lumberjack acrobats tumble among pine trees in Cirque Alphonse’s Timber!, a comedic, musical circus for the whole family, December 18-31 at Montreal’s one-and-only circus centre, Tohu. Geordie Productions specializes in creating shows for children that their parents can also truly enjoy – this year they’ve put a new twist on Robin Hood, the classic tale of do-good outlaws and their merry ways, playing December 7-16 at the Centaur Theatre in Old Montreal (453 St-Francois-Xavier). For more traditional holiday theatre fair, see Les Grands Ballets unveils its colourful annual performance of The Nutcracker, December 13-30 at Place des Arts, while Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol becomes a musical, complete with 14 songs, at Theatre Rialto on December 14.

(holiday history) A question possibly on many a kid’s mind this season: Who is the real Santa Claus? Pointe-a-Calliere Museum of Archaeology and History answers with an theatrical tour of international holiday traditions, from St. Nicholas, Melchior and Babushka to Santa Claus, throughout December – see the museum’s website for tour times. For toys and nothing but toys, visit The McCord Museum’s Toys 3 – The Voyage exhibition, where children aged 3 to 9 can travel through the adventureland of Abracadabra, where 200 historical toys are on display in wild jungles and next to crackling campfires.

(joy of art) The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts gives the gift of free tours and art activities this season: wander through an indoor forest of 35 Christmas trees, decorated in different styles, see museum’s permanent collections, kids and parents can make their own tree decorations and wrapping paper in a Holiday Decoration Workshop (Saturdays and Sundays, drop in), paint a pastel and ink landscape (Saturdays and Sundays, 1 and 2:30 p.m.) and listen to stories (in English Saturdays and Sundays, 1 p.m.). The Musee d’art contemporain also has art workshops for the family every Sunday afternoon, with a different theme each week. And traditional and contemporary art as well as plenty of craft – including all kinds of hand-made toys – that you can not only look at but buy is in abundance at Montreal’s artisanal and craft fairs.

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