June 2025 - Helen Polishuk Blog

I want to start a project of sunny, joyful, interesting posts for the summer of 2025. This is how I perceive everything that makes summer in Toronto bright and unforgettable. This is LUMINATO.

RAINBOW DREAM

The whole city has been filled with rainbow installations since June. In parks, squares and public places in Toronto you can see these multi-colored installations or banners inviting you to visit them.
And this has colored the business center of Toronto, its busiest places, business centers, parks near the largest and most important business centers. This has created a feeling of joy and a play of love.
But no one thought about what it means.
Well, installations, beautiful unimaginable flowers, near which a child can play or adults can take selfies, you can eat lunch during a work break or take a leisurely walk.
But this is much more than just decoration and I will begin to tell from a rainbow dream.

This is a collected idea, which consists of many colorful decorations. In the center of which there is a wheel, which is located in 181 Bay St W.

This circle reminds us, children who grew up in Eastern Europe, of a “squirrel in a wheel” or a drum that you spin to win a prize.
There is something of this, but on the first day of the opening, a psychologist, the founder of this installation and its organizer, told us about this installation.

I was lucky enough to see it.

She said that the idea of the wheel is that a person gets inside the wheel, takes the handrail with his hands, starts walking with his feet and the wheel starts spinning. You can adjust the speed from low to high enough to make the person feel comfortable and happy. It may happen that your head starts spinning and at that moment – a request, the most important thing here, is to look 15 degrees to the right of the wheel at the opposite wall of the hall, where an imitation of fire is created from glass and colored beads in the wall from the ceiling to the floor. This fire distracts a person and the person forgets about his illness and he feels normal, he comes to normal.
This is how a psychologist helps to cope with difficulties.

In stress – to get out of stress, you need to quickly switch over so that the body does not get sick and gets out of discomfort.
Around this rainbow circle, bright pillows are scattered, where children and adults can take a nap, play. There is a place for relaxation and peace.

In this days, the famous dancer HIROMI TANGO took part in RAINBOW DREAM.

This is the one you see in the advertisement for this event.

And I was pleased to see the happy faces of the people who came up to look. After all, the working day of these people is very busy and this is downtown, the busiest business place with thousands of company employees. The working side of Toronto and Ontario is created here and here in June these rainbow islands blossomed LUMINATO FESTIVAL.

DREAM ORIGAMI GARDEN

Do you like origami? Have you ever made origami yourself? And what if you are taught by ALEX YUE the most famous origami creator in Canada?

Now imagine a working day. Lunch break. A huge building filled with different businesses and companies.
And people come down, knowing that they have limited time for rest. They come, sit down next to them and start creating origami flowers. I have never created flowers before.
That is, not like that. I have created flowers, but origami flowers that I created under Alex’s guidance, this is the first time.

It was joyful to take an absolutely clean colored piece of paper, turn it one way, turn it over, bend it and turn it the other way and in your hands a beautiful flower.

And so a garden of origami flowers was created, in which there is also a part of me.

And on the street in the park near our building, incredibly beautiful flowers bloomed.

And how nice it is to come to these flowers during lunch break. Many young people take selfies, children play.
Bright colorful giant flowers between business places in Toronto
A great idea.

And in the window of our glass business center there are origami garden decorations made by everyone who loves and is keen on origami.

I left, the weather changed to rain. But in the summer rain these instillations become even brighter

Taking part in the creation of beauty is a gift. And decorating the city, giving joy, warmth and love is wealth.

Origami workshops are free and run until June 22nd in Bay-Adelaide Centre,333 Bay St.

More:https://www.luminatofestival.com/

It took a few days to make posts and get ready for an active summer life. Today I will tell you about a very interesting event that took place on June 5.
This event is called Dawn Chorus.

It was a mysterious, divine, extraordinary, tear-jerking, majestic event.

It took place in the morning, very early, already at 7 am and lasted until 9 am. This time was chosen specifically. At this time during the week, on Wednesday,people are rushing to work. The place of action was also chosen specifically – the busiest subway station Toronto-Union Station. The exit is the busiest – into the premises of an old high-rise building Bay-Adelaide Place,55 Front St.W.

The lively crowd in the building that day in the morning was filled with the magical singing of 6 choirs, which were located on two floors of the house.

Choirs were selected for this event not only from Canada. I had the opportunity to work with a choir from Bulgaria.
So, in the morning, a large crowd rushes to work. And then the music begins to sound. Acapella singing of choirs. The singing of choirs was heard from several sides of the building at once. It was so fantastic that it seemed that some kind of magic was happening.
The thing is that the places where the choirs were located were chosen so as not to interfere with people passing by, but in an acoustic place where the sound was most audible.

Six points of two floors sounded in polyphony.

I can show a rehearsal before the performance of the Bulgarian choir. From the video you will understand how correctly the place for the choir was chosen.

The repertoire of the choirs was composed of songs about the morning, about spring. about Easter, connected with the sun, the arrival of spring. The songs excited and gave energy.

People stopped….
Listened…..
Standed still for a moment…….
Pull out their cell phones, took pictures. Then ran off to do their business…..

The polyphony flowed non-stop. One choir fell silent, while the sounds of singing came from another choir from the upper floor. Then it was heard somewhere to the left.
And it flowed from floor to floor, enveloping the walls and the room.

The most crowded place in Toronto, in the middle of the week, in the morning, sang in many languages, exciting, giving such an energetic flavor that no one was indifferent.

And even though it’s been a week, I can’t forget it.
It intertwines with the morning birdsong when I wake up in the rays of the sun.
It adds enchantment and some magic.

Then these choirs dissolved into the crowd and, without haste, one by one went to gather in a heap under the main dome of the building. Each of the choristers walked, playing a clay pipe.
It was interesting to see this.
They gathered in the central hall and sang their main song.

A fantastic idea. An unsurpassed performance.
How one must love people and enjoy music to give such a wonderful morning song to the residents of Toronto.
This is LUMINATO.

#luminatofestivale

Month: June 2025

Rainbow Story

Dawn Chorus