Social justice, activism and action were promoted at the Grand Slam Competition as seven poets competed for a chance to be a part of the 2012 Brave New Voices international slam competition.
¡DUENDE!, a community group that focuses on empowering youth through the arts, hosted the competition on Friday at the MADhaus community warehouse venue on Pine Avenue in Downtown Long Beach. Several Cal State Long Beach alumni founded the grassroots art group and former CSULB students judged the event.
Performers included 16-year-old Bucket Manyweather, 19-year-old Hatefas Yop, 16-year-old India Ford, 16-year-old Abrielle Parker, 17-year-old Claudia Chen, 18-year-old Xavier Buck and 17-year-old Ade Ford.
As each poet recited their prose, audience members snapped, showing support for the social justice laden prose.
“I was blown away,” Michelle Jackson, founder of ¡DUENDE!, said. “They talk about things that I wasn’t ready to talk about when I was 16 or 17.”
The six winners, Manyweather, Yop, Ford, Parker, Chen and Buck make up the Long Beach Slam Team that will go forward to the Brave New Voices competition in July. ¡DUENDE! will hold workshops for the next few weeks in order to prepare the performers, Buck said.
“I don’t know what to expect exactly,” he said. “But I know we’ll be prepared by that time, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The evening consisted of three rounds of poetry. There were only three guidelines: less than three minute performances, no props and an age limit of 13 to 19 years old.
After each piece, a panel of five judges submitted a numbered score from a ten-point scale. Five points were dedicated toward content while the other five points stemmed from performance.
CSULB alumna Courtney Klink knew what to look for, having been on the CSULB Slam Team three years in a row. However, judging the poetry proved to be difficult for the seasoned performer.
“Their poetry is a piece of them and it’s their expression of their struggles and their growth,” Klink said. “To judge that and to put a number to that is abysmal.”
¡DUENDE! plans to start new workshops next spring, which are held at the Manazar Gamboa Community Theater in Long Beach.
To find more information on the organization as well as upcoming events, visit their website at duendedelongbeach.weebly.com.