Poetry ‘slam’ planned at Union

What exactly is a “poetry slam?” Find out March 9-10 in Memorial Union, when the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee holds its first “Weekend Slam.”

The free public slam consists of four events:

• The film “Slam” Saturday, March 9, at 3 p.m., Fredric March Play Circle Theater.
• A Poetry Slam competition, 10 p.m. Saturday, March 9, in the Rathskeller.
• A workshop by spoken word artist Saul Williams, 1-2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 10.
• A performance by Williams in Great Hall, 4 p.m. Sunday, March 10.

“It’s very exciting. We haven’t seen a weekend dedicated to raising awareness of what a poetry slam is, having fun with the whole concept and being inspired by others’ performances,” says organizer Brittany Reed, director of the Performing Arts Committee. “A poetry slam has its roots in coffee house readings by poets associated with the ‘beat generation’ in the 1950s.

“Recently, there has been a resurgence with slams, which fuse performance and poetry,” Reed adds. “It’s not the same as reading your poetry; when doing a slam you bring the rhythm, the energy and the action of body movement along with facial expressions. It’s presentation and a lot of audience participation. Good performers keep energy flowing between themselves and the audience.”

The first event of the weekend is a showing of the film featuring Williams. ‘Slam’ is an award-winning film that marvelously weaves together urban life and the re-emerging expression of spoken word,” says Reed. “A discussion will follow the film.”

The second event is billed as an “All-Campus Poetry Slam,” Reed says.

The difference between a poetry slam and poetry reading is the emphasis on competition. Five judges will decide who makes the cut from the first round of 16 performers, and then choose four from the next round who will qualify for the finals.

“Two of the judges are from creative writing program at UW, one is a WUD advisor, one is a WUD director, and the other is a performing arts professional,” says Reed. “This high-energy competition of 16 slam poetry performers will showcase local spoken word artists.”