Here’s some data for you to crunch.

One week of High Performing Rodeo, Six Guitars, and seven new shows. (Plus a free lunch hour concert from Pro Arts @ Noon, Wednesday featuring Frank Rackow and The Black Sea, at Catholic Church of the Redeemer).

Most months don’t have seven shows open in Calgary, but most months don’t have the High Performance Rodeo hitting high gear in the heart of a cold snap, either.

So pull on some longjohns, double up on your wool socks, succumb to the fashion catastrophe that is your down filled jacket, hat head, snowmobile boots, oversized mittens  – then venture out into the windchill to catch one, two, three or more of these! (And don’t forget everything is $15 a ticket Wednesday night).

Here’s the Week 2 lineup. (If you’re blogging about your Rodeo experience, send me a link and I’ll post it!)

Six Guitars:  One of the most popular fringe festival shows ever, Chase Padgett’s ode to the universal language that is music was impossible to get into when it was the most popular show of the 2013 Calgary Fringe Festival. At Lunchbox through January 28 (sixguitars.com)

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All the Little Animals I’ve Eaten: One of Canada’s – and Calgary’s – finest playwrights, Governor General Award shortlisted Karen Hines’s new play explores the idea that female characters can talk about more things than the men in their lives, in a dramedy set around a sustainable condo development that blends real estate porn with a Thomas Hardy novel. Or maybe Jane Austen. At the Big Secret Jan 10-21 at various times (oyr.org)

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Brotherhood: The Hip-Hopera: Toronto’s Sebastien Heins performs a solo show that uses original music and lyrics to tell the story of a pair of brothers living the hip hop life. Weaving a soundscape that blends hip hop, R&B, soul, funk and gospel, Heins explores a big what-if in his own life: what if he had a brother? At the West Village Theatre  Jan 11-14 (www.thehiphopera.com)

Brotherhood

As I Lay Dying:  Smith-Gilmour Theatre previously adapted Chekhov to their uniquely minimalist blend of bouffant clown comedy theatre, and it landed them a performance in Moscow. Now they’re taking on Faulkner’s stream-of-consciousness classic, in a show that tells the story of Mississippi’s Bundred family, who brave a ridiculous amount of obstacles in order to bury the family matriarch. Jan 12-14, 7:30 pm, at the Pumphouse Theatre (theatresmithgilmour.com)

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Countries Shaped Like Stars: Ottawa’s Mi Casa Theatre are the people behind this all-ages show, a lyrical, whimsically poetic piece that tells the story of Gwendolyn Magnificent and Bartholomew Spectacular, embarking on a journey that involves spoons, water glasses, whirly winds, and a mandolin  – all providing a wondrous soundscape to underscore their beautiful language. At Legion #1 January 13 & 14, 7pm (micasatheatre.com)

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Trace: A co-production between Unversity of Calgary professor Bruce Barton’s VerticalCity and Toronto’s Theatre Gargantula, Trace is an interactive collaboration that explores various themes, such as childhood, desire, joy and loss.  Named as NOW Magazine’s Audience Choice Award at the 2014 Summerworks Festival in Toronto, it’s at the Legion #1 from Jan 12-14 at various times. (brucewbarton.com/vertical-city or theatregargantula.ca)

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The Cris Derksen Trio: 2016 Juno nominee Derksen is an Aboriginal cellist/composer known for crisscrossing musical genres as effortlessly as her music transcends different cultures. It fuses electronic music with indigenous, to create a sound that’s uniquely Rodeoesque. Jan 14 at Legion #1, 10pm (crisderksen.virbcom/bio)

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