David Zancai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

David Zancai
David Zancai posing as Zanta
Born	May 7, 1968
Occupation	Busker

David Zancai (born May 7, 1968^[1][2][3]) is a street entertainer from Toronto, Ontario, in Canada. Zancai is known for his character Zanta: a modified Santa Claus who travels the streets of downtown Toronto doing pushups and shouting "yes yes yes" and "Merry Christmas".^[3] His costume consists of nothing but shorts, boots, and a red-and-white Santa hat, even during Toronto's harsh winters. He claims to perform this routine every day of the year except Christmas Day, and estimates he does 2,000 to 3,000 pushups per day.^[2] Zancai receives mixed responses to his Zanta character, and has been banned from several public areas around Toronto, including the Toronto Transit Commission.

Contents 1 Zanta 1.1 Background 1.2 Origins of Zanta 1.3 Future of Zanta 2 Media appearances 2.1 Citytv Toronto 2.2 Documentaries 2.3 Other appearances 3 Reception 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Zanta

[edit] Background

A high school drop-out, Zancai formerly worked as a contractor before suffering a work-related injury in 2000 in which he fell a distance of 25 feet before landing on his back.^[1][4][2][5] Zancai spent 23 days in a coma and 17 days on life support as a result of the injury, and he continues to receive a monthly disability cheque from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.^[1] Zancai initiated a strenuous self-rehabilitation program in response to his injuries.^[2] He developed a routine of doing pushups, working up to the point of performing thousands of pushups each day, attaining the physique of an amateur body builder.^[5][4] As a result of the injury, Zancai still suffers occasional loss of feeling in some parts of his body despite the fact that he has restored mobility in his limbs.^[4]

[edit] Origins of Zanta

There are conflicting accounts of the origins of Zanta. A father of four, Zancai has stated that "Zanta" originated when his daughter was taken out of his custody. When he appeared for a December 31, 2004, custody hearing he wore the Santa hat for her amusement, since he had missed her for Christmas.^[1][5] At the hearing the judge requested that the hat be removed and, when Zancai refused, suggested a mental-competancy test be undertaken.^[5] When Zancai lost the hearing, he told his daughter that he would wear the Santa hat until she was returned to him.^[1]

In other accounts of the origin, Zancai has stated that Zanta originated from a desire to be famous. He has cited the Jerry Springer Show as inspiration for the character, particularly as a means of gaining publicity.^[2] He has stated a desire to do pushups "anywhere where someone would look," in his quest for notoriety.^[1] To that end, Zancai has been successful, becoming Toronto's most recognizable street character by November 2005.^[5]

Zancai has stated that he is neither bi polar nor psychotic; he claims he is merely in character.

[edit] Future of Zanta

Zancai has stated he intends to run for election as Toronto Mayor in 2010. Zancai has reportedly started campaigning at high schools, universities and colleges across the city. His stated goal is to get young people voting for him and to help the "poor working-class people".^[1]

In July 2007 Zancai announced that he was retiring as Zanta and moving out of Toronto, following a period of 20 days in the Don Jail for failing to comply with a probation order and subsequent time in solitary confinement at the West Detention Centre.^[6] Stating that "I can't be me, I can't be free, and the City of Toronto is to blame ... I have to get out of here," Zancai reportedly replaced his characteristic santa hat with a plain baseball cap and resolved to move to nearby Brampton, Ontario, where he intends to spend some quiet time with his sons.^[6] Zancai acknowledged that he would "be miserable there until I can come back to [Toronto] and live as Zanta again." Zancai hoped that his absence from Toronto would "teach the cops a lesson" and give his fans a chance to rally to his defense.^{[6] [7]} In the months after his announced retirement, however, Zancai was spotted as Zanta at several Toronto events, most recently Taste of the Danforth^[7] and The Toronto International Film Festival. Zanta also made an appearance at the 2008 New Year's Celebrations in Nathan Phillips Square.

[edit] Media appearances

[edit] Citytv Toronto

For his first appearance as Zanta, Zancai showed up behind the street window of the CHUM-City Building and began performing.^[2][5] As a result of Citytv using streetscapes as backdrop to live news programming, Zancai was frequently seen in the background of the morning news and entertainment program Breakfast Television. Reportedly aggravated by Zancai's presence, CHUM filed a number of complaints which resulted in Zancai being banned from the area of the building.^[5] He violated this order, and as a result police banned him from the area south of College St. to King St., and from Yonge over to Spadina Ave.^[5]

Since that time, Zancai has made appearances on Breakfast Television and claims to have a verbal agreement allowing him to make regular appearances on the television series Speakers' Corner.^[2]

[edit] Documentaries

Zancai has been the subject of two amateur documentary films. In October 2005, graphic artists Muckney Tipping and Pietro Gagliano filmed Zancai describing his life events and motivation to become known world-wide.^[4]

[edit] Other appearances

• Zancai has attended several Christmas parades, pointing out that "Santa's at the back, while Zanta's at the front."^[5]
• "Zanta sightings" are often the subject of posts on Toronto-based Internet forums and weblogs.^[8][9]
• Zancai guest-starred in Episode 305 of Showcase Television's Kenny vs. Spenny as a replacement for Spencer Rice; Rice claimed he was suffering a nervous breakdown during the episode's production.
• Zanta has followed actress Penélope Cruz around Yorkville, trying to get in a photo during the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.^[10] He finally was photographed with Cruz and Michael Keaton.^[11]
• Numerous non-professional short video clips of Zanta also appear on YouTube.^[12]

[edit] Reception

In 2005, Zancai was banned from the downtown core of Toronto following a number of complaints filed by CHUM, owner of CityTV.^[5] Zancai's continued desire for fame and exposure resulted in at least one arrest on mischief charges.^[5] Zanta has claimed that on August 19, 2006, he was banned from the Exhibition Place grounds, in particular the Canadian National Exhibition, after performing in the Farm, Food and Fun building. His arrest on September 11, 2006 was captured by an amateur videographer.^[13] On November 17, 2006, 680 News radio reported Zancai had been banned by the Toronto Transit Commission from the city's buses, subways, and subway stations.^[3] Zancai is presently no longer allowed at the Toronto Street Festival, the Taste of the Danforth, the St. Patrick's Day Parade or the Santa Claus Parade.^[3] He has also been banned from Old York Lane between Cumberland Street and Yorkville Avenue in Yorkville, College Park and Yonge-Dundas Square.^[3]

In August 2006, Zancai received a provincial probation order stating that he is "not permitted on any TTC property or vehicle other than surface routes" for two years.^[1] Unofficially, Zancai's access to surface routes has also been suspended, with most bus drivers across the city refusing him access.^[1] Zancai is in the process of fighting the ban, with attorney Paul Druxerman handling his case pro-bono.^[1] TTC Chairman Adam Giambrone acknowledges there is no specific TTC bylaw against doing push-ups on TTC property, but has defended the ban by stating that such behaviour may pose a "serious safety hazard".^[1]

Zancai's act has received both support and condemnation from the people of Toronto. Zancai's supporters have attended his court hearings and created fan sites on the Internet, commonly calling for the Toronto police to lift the ban and stop ticketing him.^[1] Adam Vaughan, a former City-TV reporter and councillor for Trinity-Spadina, has stated that Zancai is "a much-loved character when you don't have to do work around him," but he is nonetheless "probably a public nuisance", and that some people understandably take issue with his behaviour.^[1] In an interview with the National Post, Vaughan stated:

Just because you have a right to freedom of speech doesn't mean you have a right to an audience. And when you impose yourself in a public space consistently and without much regard for whether other people can enjoy that public space, boundaries are broached.^[1]

On the contrary, Zancai's lawyer has stated that Zancai is "entitled to be as strange as he wants to be," and has defended his right to make use of public spaces for doing pushups.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Naked Cowboy

[edit] External links

• Zanta pool at Flickr

Persondata
NAME	David Zancai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	David; Zanta, Toronto Zanta
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Canidian performance artist and actor
DATE OF BIRTH	May 7, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH	Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH