Celebrating Artistic Cross-Pollination at Pinch Cabaret: An Interview with Ben Gorodetsky
Initiated in 2021, Pinch Cabaret is a contemporary take on the cabaret nightclub scene, bringing together the performers of today in a fun-packed variety show located in Kitchener, Waterloo. We spoke with the founder, host, and curator of Pinch Cabaret, Ben Gorodetsky, to find out what Pinch Cabaret is all about!
Photo by Marc J Chalifoux
So before we dive into the ins and outs of Pinch Cabaret, tell us about your background and experience as an artist. What is it that you do?
I'm a first-generation, Ukrainian-Canadian performance maker. I act, dance, improvise, write, produce, film and direct. Category-wise, my work walks the line between theatre, dance, comedy, and video art. I love making art that uses documents and grounds itself in some sort of truth or artifact as a starting point. I made a play called "Charred" based on a research trip up to the heart of oil country in Fort McMurray, AB to talk to survivors of a devastating climate change fuelled wildfire. I made "Miseducated: An Oral History of Sexual (Mis)Education" about people's experiences with the American Sex Ed system. I created a video series called "Landscape Displacement Memory", where I juxtaposed interviews with family about immigration from Ukraine with aerial drone videos of site-specific dances and grief rituals in nature. I've lived and worked in Vancouver, Edmonton, NYC, and now Kitchener (in that order). I used to serve as an Associate Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre, one of Canada's largest and oldest theatres devoted to improvisation.
Where did the idea for creating Pinch Cabaret come from? What inspired you to develop this show?
The idea for Pinch came from a show I used to co-produce with Mile Zero Dance in Edmonton, AB, called Dirt Buffet Cabaret. The Artistic Director there, Gerry Morita, gave me the extraordinary gift of tasking me with curating and hosting a monthly show that would bring together the experimental and performing arts communities in a monthly series. I had seen her curatorial approach in producing interdisciplinary salon performances, and I understood that surprise and brevity had to be the guiding principles for the series. So, I applied my jokey improv comedy energy to hosting a show that often featured extremely challenging and provocative work. It positioned me as an ally to the audience, who could and would name the truth of the experience, while also maintaining total artistic freedom for the artists. And over the course of three years, it became a celebrated performance laboratory that launched 10+ full-length theatre, dance, and music shows that were seeded as short little sketches/collaborations at the cabaret.
How would you define what your show entails? What sort of disciplines are involved?
Variety is the name of the game! Six acts per show, 10 mins each, and as diverse a swathe of performing arts as possible. This month I've got a classical cellist from the symphony, a horror-drag queen, a poet, a musical-comedian, an experimental dancer, and a queer activist/storyteller. Each show is different and the only uniting principle is that we are aiming to cross-pollinate across disciplines, both for artists and for audiences. I've had historians, burlesque performers, swing dancers, playwrights, stand-ups, improvisers, and a string trio playing Madonna and Ariana Grande covers.
Kickstarting a new arts initiative such as Pinch Cabaret takes diligence. How long did it take for this project to come to fruition, and were there any major challenges in this process?
COVID has been a bit of a vibe, y'know. My family and I decided we were going to be more permanently staying in KW in spring/summer of 2021, and by fall I had launched Pinch as an outdoor show on the back deck of The Branches yoga studio. But as the weather turned nasty and the Omicron wave descended, I had to put the show on pause. We returned in March 2022 and have been going strong since then. Our audiences have to be masked and vaccinated, and the space at Button Factory is large and ventilated. So that's how we're working to mitigate infection risk. We also don't serve drinks, so folks actually keep their masks on. But yeah, it's an ongoing conversation on how to keep people safe amid a pandemic while also allowing a community to come together to help revive the dormant performing arts scene.
Aside from being just a variety show, I see that Pinch also has improv classes. How do those operate, and who can join? It seems like such a fun way to connect creatives! Would any possible collaborations and performances develop from these classes?
Yeah, I love teaching improv, and I find it's a strong foundation for a whole whack of different disciplines. The classes are usually a 4-week cycle, though I sometimes run a one-off drop-in type thing. We explore impulse, play, storytelling, movement, and collaborative creation in a fun environment! And there is for sure the potential for a class to perform at the Cabaret. Hasn't happened yet, but I'm looking at launching a more advanced "Performance Ensemble" which would be a perfect fit and energy for Pinch Cabaret.
Photo by Earnest Augustus at Studio-E
Pinch Cabaret is a recent initiative, but has it evolved at all since its inception? How would you like it to continue to grow? Where do you hope this show will lead to in the future?
I applied for and got some grants, so I was able to start paying the artists way better! It also means that we now have accessible ticket prices at $5, $10, and $20. You choose what works for you! This means we are attracting a more diverse crowd and opening the door to folks who might not have been able to afford it otherwise. The show is also building its own constellation system/gravitational pull, where people who have come to see it are now coming back as performers, which I love! Diversity of experience is just as valuable as diversity of disciplines, so it feels fabulous to be able to offer a paid opportunity to an emerging artist alongside a seasoned pro. Finally, I also now have 6 acts instead of just 4. I'd like for it to continue to grow in the direction of a performance lab, where 10 minute pieces that were started for Pinch go on to grow into full-length productions that celebrate the amazing talent we have here in KW.
Were there any memorable performances you would love to have back on Pinch? Are there other unconventional types of acts/disciplines you are eager to showcase in the future?
I've had playwright and poet Ciarán Meyers on a few times, cuz I think he's an absolute genius! I'm also bringing back performance and movement artist Meredith Blackmore after she SLAYED with a stunning clown/physical performance piece involving a wall built out of table fragments, at one of the first cabarets last fall. I'd also love to have Alysha Pantherophis back after her devastatingly beautiful LED hoops/poetry piece about recovering from a traumatic brain injury. And my next discipline that I'm dreaming of showcasing is a chef! I want to find someone to do a 10 min cooking or spices or butchery demo, maybe combined with a talk about flavour. Is that performance? I think so!
Finally, what are your upcoming events our readers should look out for?
Pinch Cabaret #6 is May 28th. Buy tickets here.
PWYC Drop-in Improv Workshop on May 25th. Buy tickets here.