Fifth Annual Poetry Slam
Sierra Nevada College’s Poetry Slam celebrates art of the spoken word
Poets will be aiming for a slam-dunk with a cheering and jeering audience at Sierra Nevada College’s Fifth Annual Poetry Slam at 7 p.m. Friday, April 29, on the Incline Village campus.
This contest of performance poetry casts aside the drawing room image of poetry readings, and opens the door to a raucous, fun-loving celebration of the art of the spoken word. With a promise to be entertaining and enlightening, the event is free and open to the public in Patterson Hall at Sierra Nevada College, 999 Tahoe Blvd., Incline Village, Nev.
Poets who would like to participate in Sierra Nevada College’s Slam should arrive at least 20 minutes before the event; the first 12 to sign up will be entered to compete for a shot at the title of Tahoe Slam Poet of the year and for cash prizes.
The chosen poets will perform their original work at the slam for a panel of judges chosen at random from audience members. The audience is welcome to make its opinions known by hollering and hissing, cheering and applauding the judges’ scores - all in good nature.
Poetry slam events have ignited throughout the country, generating a renaissance of spoke word poetry. From its beginnings in Chicago where a construction worker wanted to breathe life into the open mic format, the poetry slam now has an annual championship tournament staged in a different city each year. It will be held in the Boston area this year, with several of its events at nearby Cambridge, Mass.
Likewise, Sierra Nevada College’s competition has grown each year with appearances by national poetry slam champions and preeminent spoken word artists.
In its fifth year, the poetry slam at Sierra Nevada College will feature Matt Blesse, a Truckee, Calif. native and UC Berkeley graduate. He was the Grand Slam Champion of San Francisco in 2008 and placed third in the nation with Team SF in the National Poetry Slam. Search Blesse’s name on YouTube to discover why he has been called a “spoken word firecracker, making audiences of all ages explode with pure joy.”
Denise Jolley, who was the 2009 Grand Slam Champion in San Francisco and a member of the third-place national team, will also appear. She is a writer, performer, educator and community builder, a member of Salt Lines Spoken Word Collective, and has served as executive director of Seattle Youth Speaks.
For more information, contact Sierra Nevada College’s English Department Chair June Saraceno at (775) 831-1314, ext.
Slam Rules
• The poems must be the poet’s own original work.
• Total stage time is limited to three minutes to perform your poem – no preambles please! Just the poem and nothing but the poem!
• Just the POEM! No props, music, costumes…
• Of the five scores the highest and lowest are dropped and the middle three added together to give a total range of 0-30 for each performance.
• Heckling the judges is OK – Heckling the poets is NOT. Give each poet support with shout outs, applause, whistles, etc – save the ‘boo’s’ for judges whose scores you disagree with
• Have fun!
Location
- $12
- all ages
- April
- April 29
- art
- artists
- cash
- celebration
- Champions
- Chicago
- City
- college
- community
- Community,
- Competition
- construction
- contest
- country
- Drawing
- event
- events
- Executive Director
- explode
- Free
- FRIDAY
- fun
- have fun
- Incline Village
- information
- JUDGES
- June Saraceno
- life
- Members
- Music
- nature
- Nevada
- Open Mic
- panel
- Performance
- Poem
- poetry
- poets
- prizes
- public
- Search
- Sierra
- Sierra Nevada
- Sierra Nevada College
- Sierra Nevada College,
- Support
- tahoe
- tournament
- Truckee
- Youth
- youtube
- san francisco