So lara bozabalian is on the Toronto Poetry Slam team, and she's been updating us on what's been goin down at National Poetry Slam. See her earlier entries on TorontoPoetrySlam.com.
Here's her latest, and since she mentions VPS Team member Nora, I couldn't help but spread the love....
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If you ever have the chance to embed yourself in a throng of screaming, roaring poets, in the middle of a balmy courtyard, and cheer on one of your countrywomen on the night of a full moon… then do so. Last night the Underground Indie Championships had Nora (Team Vancouver) throwing out huge performances that got her into the final four of this $125 pay your way competition which is filled with some of the best poets anywhere, and, incidentally, results in a $1600 payout. She was awesome. She is awesome. Kudos. The event was held post-Semi's and post Group Piece Finals (more on this in a second) in the backyard of the Marriot (NPS Poets) Hotel.
Other memorable moments from the competition included the Security Guard who, after being brought on stage and thanked for his efforts, pulled out a poem he had written about slam and walked through the crowd reading it out, hand gestures and all. The crowd went absolutely ballistic. It felt like a football game (even though I don't go to them).
But, back to the beginning of the evening... 4Women made it into Group Piece Finals, which was huge, so we spent the day getting prepared. All of the ladies worked extremely hard and well together, and a huge thanks goes out to Nora for dropping by to help us polish our work. The Group Piece Finals night was held post Semi's in front of a standing-room-only packed crowd. A great place for a learning curve, if there ever was one. Toronto had been getting a lot of love from the slam community thus far, with poets from all over sharing appreciation and support. We chose to perform Group Piece, the one group poem we have that has all four members on stage. We left the stage feeling elated, and settled in to watch some of best group pieces we had ever seen. The writing and choreography were amazing, and that will surely push our team towards writing and performing better group pieces. Special mention goes to Team Seattle who, led by Karen Finnfrock, put on a Statue of Liberyy piece that blew our minds.
Also notable was Loser Slam, showcasing unbridled exuberance (read: 6'4 white man bopping around stage, impersonating Flava Flav, bellowing 'What?' into one of four microphones). Damn, even the sacrificial poets were amazing (although I can't remember their names). We will be digesting this experience for a while to come.
Since we didn't mention some of these events before (it is tricky to get internet, and when you do there's usually a time limit), we also wanted to mention the Women's Showcase, which was held in an incredibly cool design studio and filled with a huge audience. What has been really cool to see is the tremendous support and curiosity all poets seem to have for each other’s experiences. We supported Ariel at the 12 Tribes Diaspora Showcase (or, as she affectionately calls it, The Jew Slam) and she got a roar of approval for her Full Figured Life poem, and thanked by the host for bringing levity to the crowd. We explained to him that Canada was good at that.
We will write a wrap-up when we get back, for all of the things that we forgot to mention, or maybe a couple of days after we get back, since we opted out of a hotel room for tonight in order to save $125 dollars (that's american, don't cha know).
Love. Love. Love.
4Women
