Five under-the-radar picks at the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

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      As you hibernate this weekend and plot out your PuSh-fest-going, keep these lesser-known shows in mind. Each are as inventive at playing with form as they are at moving you.

      By Heart (At Performance Works from January 19 to 21) Portuguese artist Tiago Rodrigues's piece will only begin when audience members fill the 10 chairs he's set up on-stage. From there, he teaches then a poem, while sharing stories about his family and about writing. Le Figaro called the piece, about how words can be censored when they are written but never erased once we memorize them, "profoundly moving".
       
      Town Choir (At the  SFU Woodward's Atrium on January 22 , the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre on January 29, and the Vancouver Public Library central branch, always at noon)  Singer-songwriters from across the country type out their observations from wherever they are sitting and the Vancouver Youth Choir somehow instantly turns those words into music. The events, presented by Theatre Replacement, are free.
       
      Portraits in Motion (At the York from January 24 to 26)  Photographer Volker Gerling takes the simple flipbook and projects it, creating fleeting moments of fine art. Small revelations in his luminescent black-and-white portraits take on almost magical scale.
       
      Concord Floral (At the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre from January 25 to 29) Find out what happens when a group of teens discovers a dead body in the abandoned greenhouse where they party. The terrifying result is written by stellar playwright Jordan Tannahill and features a cast drawn from teens from across the Lower Mainland.
       
      Every Brilliant Thing (At Performance works from January 26 to 29) A simple but near-perfect answer to depression: sheer, unabashed whimsey. Faced with his mother's suicide attempt, a boy starts compiling a list of brilliant things--from spaghetti Bolognese to kung fu movies to Danger Mouse. Writer Duncan Macmillan and solo actor Jonny Donahoe will get you to help add to the list.

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