The power of women & art – Wonder Women V @ Celebration Square Amphitheatre

Back at the lovely Celebration Square in Mississauga last night, this time at the Amphitheatre, located near a really cool – and gorgeous – fountain/wading pool. When I was there about two weeks ago, I trekked with my pal Kat Leonard and her aunts picked us up at Kipling Station. This time, I travelled with pals Lizzie Violet and Janis Tipping – and we made the trip on MiWay transit from Islington Station. It was quite the bus trip – a bit of a schlep – and we had a really nice, and funny, driver helping us out with which stop to get off. Downtown Mississauga loops and mazes around, and you gotta watch where you’re going if you’re a newbie like us gals. And thanks to Janis’s friend Paolo for the drive to the subway at the end of the night.

This evening’s festivities was the concert portion of Wonder Women V, which this year included two days of workshops – the biggest Wonder Women event to date. Creator/organizer, and Exec Producer of Lene, Mean, & Green Productions, Arlene Paculan – also a fabulous singer/songwriter – cooked up an amazing program of female artists, with proceeds from this event going to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Check out this roster of talent we had the pleasure of witnessing last night:

Dancers abecadarians (Noreena Viloria, Denise Ferrada and Teresa Trinh), students of Loyola high school, who wowed us with their moves.

Singer/songwriter/Wonder Women creator and event host Arlene Paculan, who wrapped the evening’s festivities with one of her own soulful R&B tunes. http://www.arlenepaculan.com/ @Arlene_Paculan

Visual artist Dorothy Weiss, who brought four canvasses that served as a gorgeous set decoration. http://www.dorothyweiss.com @dorothy_weiss

Spoken word by Ellie Anderson (also a singer/songwriter), who treated us to a personal anthem that I like to call “A Song of Ellie.” http://www.ellieandersonmusic.com/ @YouKnowEllie

Singer/songwriter Heather Hill, who performed her song (co-written with Meghan Morrison) “Wading Through Normal” – a beautiful, melodic tribute to single moms – from her Leuty Station CD. http://www.heatherhill.ca/news.cfm @HeatherPiriHill

Dancer Heather Schiller, who performed a stunning solo piece. http://www.facebook.com/heathercschiller

Singer/songwriter Iman Wain treated us to one of her jazzy pop-infused tunes, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar. http://www.myspace.com/imanwain @imanwain

Singer/songwriter Joanna Chapman-Smith http://www.joannacs.com/home.html @joannacsmusic

Actor/singer/songwriter Kat Leonard (aka Kat & the MP3), who also lended a hand with organizing this event, made us laugh hard with “Jockstrap,” a song from her one-woman Johnny Depp fan opus A Depper Kind of Love. http://www.katleonard.com/home.cfm @katbandoo

Stand-up comic Keesha Brownie brought her deliciously fun comedy stylings with her comedy set. http://www.facebook.com/keesha.brownie.9 @BrownieLicious

Singer/songwriter Lily C grooved us with her soulful pop sounds. http://www.lilycheng.ca/lilyc.com/Home.html @LilyCheng

Writer/editor/poet/literary reviewer and PR gal for Wonder Women Lizzie Violet performed her beautiful tribute spoken word piece “Woman of Strength.” http://lizzieviolet.wordpress.com/ @lizzieviolet13

Singer/songwriter Meghan Morrison brought her haunting and edgy Alanis in Wonderland song stylings with “Hush” from her We Are All Born Naked CD. http://www.meghanmorrisonmusic.com/fr_home.cfm @megsmorrison

Singer Roveena treated us to a soulful piano and acoustic guitar-backed tune, a perfect accompaniment to the mellowing evening sky. http://www.roveenamusic.com/ @RoveenaMusic

Jazz singer Shannon Butcher brought her new ukulele out to give us a fun, jazz-inspired version of an 80s Brit pop tune. http://www.shannonbutcher.com/ @shannonbutcher

Blues singer/songwriter Sophia Radisch, who hails from Ottawa, wailed out one of her own tunes “Don’t Mess with a Redhead” – a big vocal talent that belies a very young age. Another artist to watch out for. http://www.facebook.com/sophia.radisch