Sun-Sentinal on Slam
Check out this article about the Dada poetry slam in the Sun-Sentinal. Putting aside my irritation that they didn't talk to Cristina (or mention her), it's pretty cool.
Well-versed performers
Poetry slam team looks to upstage rivals on sixth trip to national contest
By Erika Slife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 6 2006
Delray Beach ยท It's after midnight on a Tuesday, and most of the city is asleep, but inside a cozy room of a 1924 house-turned-restaurant, the poets are having their say.
Part confessional, part social commentary, part rant, the weekly poetry slam at Dada, an eclectic eatery and bar on Swinton and Atlantic avenues, is where outspoken artists lift their words from the jotted notes in journals or wadded napkins and belt them out before an audience in competitive, three-minute bursts.
"She made a promise at the bus stop bench she couldn't keep," a heartbroken performer bemoaned one recent Tuesday.
"I want the right to drive drunk again," another thundered to a laughing crowd in a tirade against the legal alcohol limit.
Now, a group of them known locally as Poets Anonymous hits the national stage this week for the largest team performance poetry event in the country, the National Poetry Slam.
"Fundamentally, when you walk into the venue when you are about to compete you are entering a sea of strange faces and you know it's your job to get them to adore you by the end of your performance," said Casandra Tanenbaum, a schoolteacher by day and Dada's official Slam Master and team coach by night. "If the crowd is with you, you've won."
The five-member team will head to Austin, Texas, today to go verse-to-verse with about 75 groups from all over the country, as well as Vancouver and France. It's the sixth trip to nationals for the Delray Beach team; last year, they made it to the semifinals, the best showing ever.
Started in 1986 by Chicago poet Marc Smith, poetry slam enthusiasts celebrate poetry slam's 20th anniversary this year, a milestone after seeing it spread to all parts of the country and move into pop culture. Slam poetry has been included in concerts, like Lollapalooza's 1994 tour, and featured in TV shows, such as HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.
"Most people today don't sit around the living room reading Byron or Poe. You have to bring them to a bar to enjoy it," said Andrew Procyk, an adjunct sociology professor who once ran, unsuccessfully, for a city commission seat. It will be his sixth time going to nationals.
At times confessional, more often entertaining, the poems are delivered in frenzied, dynamic renditions. Judges, who are volunteers from the audience, use placards to rate the poets on a scale of zero to a perfect 10 based on delivery, performance and preference.
The top scorers earn a trip to the second round, where a winner is determined.
Winners from those final rounds make up the Delray Beach team headed to the nationals.
"Sometimes I don't know what the draw is because it's weird to put a numerical and competitive edge on poetry," said Renda Writer, an entrepreneur and writer and team member. "But I do it anyway. It's an outlet for me to be heard."
On a typical night at Dada, poets will sign in from 10 to 10:30 p.m. Slam Master Casandra, who officiates the contest, will pick three to five volunteers from the audience to judge and the competition begins.
Sometimes more than 100 people will show up to watch 12 to 14 performers, said Sean McGrade, general manager of Dada.
"We're committed to the arts, the owners here really wanted a cross-section of the community to have a base, whether it be art, music, voice and opinion, poetry and self-expression," McGrade said.
In a city that is striving to establish a cultural and artistic identity -- Delray Beach officials spent $53,000 to come up with a cultural plan -- Dada on its own is a major contributor to the South Florida art scene, poets say.
Mayor Jeff Perlman said city officials are seeking to springboard off what some in the private sector have started. In January, the city hosted the Palm Beach Poetry Festival for the second year in a row.
"The environment that's been created here is very conducive to the creative class. We've got all the physical assets in place," Perlman said. "That's the biggest part of the battle. Now we have to cultivate a plan. How do you stimulate it?"
Dada may be a start. Poets from Miami to West Palm Beach and beyond gather to critique one another, as well as inspire.
"I think of course the opportunity for a certain amount of exposure, personal exposure and intimate exposure, is a draw for the performers," Tanenbaum said.
"They derive a very strange and clever joy out of it."
Well-versed performers
Poetry slam team looks to upstage rivals on sixth trip to national contest
By Erika Slife
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 6 2006
Delray Beach ยท It's after midnight on a Tuesday, and most of the city is asleep, but inside a cozy room of a 1924 house-turned-restaurant, the poets are having their say.
Part confessional, part social commentary, part rant, the weekly poetry slam at Dada, an eclectic eatery and bar on Swinton and Atlantic avenues, is where outspoken artists lift their words from the jotted notes in journals or wadded napkins and belt them out before an audience in competitive, three-minute bursts.
"She made a promise at the bus stop bench she couldn't keep," a heartbroken performer bemoaned one recent Tuesday.
"I want the right to drive drunk again," another thundered to a laughing crowd in a tirade against the legal alcohol limit.
Now, a group of them known locally as Poets Anonymous hits the national stage this week for the largest team performance poetry event in the country, the National Poetry Slam.
"Fundamentally, when you walk into the venue when you are about to compete you are entering a sea of strange faces and you know it's your job to get them to adore you by the end of your performance," said Casandra Tanenbaum, a schoolteacher by day and Dada's official Slam Master and team coach by night. "If the crowd is with you, you've won."
The five-member team will head to Austin, Texas, today to go verse-to-verse with about 75 groups from all over the country, as well as Vancouver and France. It's the sixth trip to nationals for the Delray Beach team; last year, they made it to the semifinals, the best showing ever.
Started in 1986 by Chicago poet Marc Smith, poetry slam enthusiasts celebrate poetry slam's 20th anniversary this year, a milestone after seeing it spread to all parts of the country and move into pop culture. Slam poetry has been included in concerts, like Lollapalooza's 1994 tour, and featured in TV shows, such as HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.
"Most people today don't sit around the living room reading Byron or Poe. You have to bring them to a bar to enjoy it," said Andrew Procyk, an adjunct sociology professor who once ran, unsuccessfully, for a city commission seat. It will be his sixth time going to nationals.
At times confessional, more often entertaining, the poems are delivered in frenzied, dynamic renditions. Judges, who are volunteers from the audience, use placards to rate the poets on a scale of zero to a perfect 10 based on delivery, performance and preference.
The top scorers earn a trip to the second round, where a winner is determined.
Winners from those final rounds make up the Delray Beach team headed to the nationals.
"Sometimes I don't know what the draw is because it's weird to put a numerical and competitive edge on poetry," said Renda Writer, an entrepreneur and writer and team member. "But I do it anyway. It's an outlet for me to be heard."
On a typical night at Dada, poets will sign in from 10 to 10:30 p.m. Slam Master Casandra, who officiates the contest, will pick three to five volunteers from the audience to judge and the competition begins.
Sometimes more than 100 people will show up to watch 12 to 14 performers, said Sean McGrade, general manager of Dada.
"We're committed to the arts, the owners here really wanted a cross-section of the community to have a base, whether it be art, music, voice and opinion, poetry and self-expression," McGrade said.
In a city that is striving to establish a cultural and artistic identity -- Delray Beach officials spent $53,000 to come up with a cultural plan -- Dada on its own is a major contributor to the South Florida art scene, poets say.
Mayor Jeff Perlman said city officials are seeking to springboard off what some in the private sector have started. In January, the city hosted the Palm Beach Poetry Festival for the second year in a row.
"The environment that's been created here is very conducive to the creative class. We've got all the physical assets in place," Perlman said. "That's the biggest part of the battle. Now we have to cultivate a plan. How do you stimulate it?"
Dada may be a start. Poets from Miami to West Palm Beach and beyond gather to critique one another, as well as inspire.
"I think of course the opportunity for a certain amount of exposure, personal exposure and intimate exposure, is a draw for the performers," Tanenbaum said.
"They derive a very strange and clever joy out of it."
posted by Bunny | 22:31
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