Port Moody resident Stephen Cheng and his acrylic paintings will be the focus of an upcoming arts demonstration in Port Coquitlam.

Cheng will be at The Outlet in Leigh Square on Wednesday, April 25 as part of an Art Focus Artists' Association event. The Port Moody native has been painting in acrylics for close to 40 years, and is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and Canadian Institute of Portrait Artists.

The free demonstration is slated to run from 7 to 9 p.m., and The Outlet is located at 2253 Leigh Sq.

BRINGING AMORE TO VISUAL ARTS

They call her the Renaissance woman over at Place des Arts.

Visual artist and musician Rebecca Blair's eclectic talents will be showcased on Tuesday, April 17, when she begins offering her Renaissance drawing class.

Blair will also be offering a one-day course called The Secret of Fresco on Saturday, May 5. Having studied fresco restoration in Altamura in Puglia, Italy, Blair also taught drawing courses at Whatcom Community College in Washington State for the better part of a decade. For more information on Blair's classes, call 604-664-1636.

TURMOIL AND TRIUMPH

Coquitlam's Evergreen Cultural Centre will play host to a five-day run of a musical adaptation recalling those who persevered through the Great Depression.

Presented by the Seacoast Theatre Centre, the musical drama is based on Barry Broadfoot's best-selling book Ten Lost Years 1929 - 1939: Memories of Canadians Who Survived the Depression.

A former reporter with the Vancouver Sun, Broadfoot took a leave from the paper in the early 1970s and travelled across the country asking people in bars, train stations, planes and buses one question: "What do you remember about the Depression?"

Seacoast Theatre Centre's adaptation of the book highlights the answers to those questions.

A handful of Tri-Cities actors will be featured in the show, including Coquitlam's Yvette Dudley-Neuman and Angela Gann, and PoCo natives Brooke Jewell and Grizz Salzl.

Ten Lost Years runs from April 17 to 21 in the Studio Theatre at Evergreen. Show times are 8 p.m. nightly, while a 4 p.m. matinée is slated for Saturday, April 21.

Tickets range in price between $15 and $35 and can be purchased online at www. evergreen cultural centre.ca or by calling 604927-6555.

DANCES DEFINE A NATION

Combing her flair for the written word with her love for dance, former Tri-Cities resident Lori Henry will fete the arrival of National Dance Week later this month with the release of her book Dancing Through History: In Search of the Stories that Define Canada.

A former resident of both Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam, Henry will be releasing her book online on April 24. An in-person book release is slated for April 29 at The Dance Centre in Vancouver, located at 677 Davie St.

Henry's book is a culmination of her travels across Canada, which are reflected in the various chapters of the book: Nunavut: Banging on the Drum of History; Nova Scotia: Stepping through Cape Breton Island; New Brunswick: Flinging through the Highland Games; Quebec: Contorting in the Cirque du Soleil; Ontario and Manitoba: Jingling through the Pow Wow Circuit; Saskatchewan: A Fiddle Fest the Métis Way; Saskatchewan and Alberta: Let's Dance Ukrainian Style and British Columbia: Visitors Who Never Left.

For more information on Henry's release, log on to www.LoriHenry.ca.

MAILLARDVILLE'S OWN GETS SINGING

Maillardville's signature francophone choir will light up Our Lady of Lourdes Church later this month.

The choir will stage a concert dubbed Chanson à Répandre, or Songs to Spread, starting at 7: 30 p.m. on Saturday, April 28.

Rounded out by conductor Luke Mayba and pianist Cindy Shih, the group will sing traditional francophone tunes while touching on more familiar songs from musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon.

Tickets cost $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Children under 12 get in for free. For more information about the choir, call 604-266-4699, e-mail lmayba@sd40.bc.ca, or log on to www.lesechosdupacifique.com.