Youth Poetry Slam Rocked!
July 23rd 2010 07:14
This week youth around the country blew up Los Angels with poetic rhythms and symphonic phrases as Brave New Voices National Poetry Slam exploded all over the city of angles. During the 1990’s one of the most vital and energetic movements in poetry was slam. Slam has revitalized interest in poetry performance. Slam poetry is a competition where poets perform their work and are judged on content and performance by members of the audience or selected judges. This poetry is transforming students from reluctant, shy, or indifferent learners into passionate artists. “Youth Speaks first founded Brave New Voices as the National Youth Poetry Slam in 1998. Brave New Voices brings together young poets from across the globe to create new pathways toward artistic growth, civic engagement, and youth development. This week young people from 51 different cities competed for the bragging rights of best slam poetry team in the nation. 51 teams were wheedled down to 20 yesterday and 20 were wheedled down to 4 today.
Today at Brave New Voices, I watched intense themes of social justice, civil rights, gender, sexuality, violence, immigration and the like performed with such passion and heart that tears flowed as solidarity hands were raised in the air. The electricity of this event is indescribable. Let the poems from last year talk while you watch and listen.
B. Yung
Brittany Wilson
Devin Murphy
Mike Taylor
The final four teams will battle tomorrow in the Grand Slam at the Sabon Theater in Los Angeles. This is your opportunity to reach out and take that struggling youth in your life to this amazing performance. The quiet young man or women, who speaks in one-syllable sentences and utterances, will appreciate this performance. The energetic youth who will not stop texting or talking on the phone will be enthrawaled with the performance. If you care change a life, get a ticket and attend. Spread the word to youth. Find a local poetry group to support. In Los Angeles, Get Lit, is an organization that supports literacy through poetry. Make a difference in a young person’s life by celebrating this amazing show.
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