Divas Spoken Word Showcase 2018
Divas Spoken Word Showcase
April 20th
2018
It’s different planning for a
showcase and much different seeing it in action. I wish I was brave
enough to share spoken word with others on a stage. I guess, it was
equal parts bravery and equal parts practice. It was my first
showcase, so I did not know what to expect. I liked that because I
liked being surprised. I liked not knowing what to expect even though
I knew how from previous sessions. I felt like I had watched these
young girls grow week to week through the construction of their
pieces. I feel like an accomplishment for my last Diva’s blog. I
got to the event and I loved the location, just geographically
because it was across the Art Gallery of Ontario. The venue we went
to also had an artsy energy to it that could allow creativity to
grow.
I loved the
poems and spoken word because every piece had a piece of their life
experience that spanned their religion, gender, school experiences
with authority figures and even peer groups. I thought that the
spoken word pieces were very current and I was impressed by the kind
of sensitivity they demonstrated in world issues. I said this before,
but I think it still applies. At their age, I was not aware of
racism, loving myself and everything that made me…me,
wholeheartedly. I merely followed the grain in that I listened to
what was considered cool in my peer group and didn’t really learn
to stand out and understand that I was my own person until my late
teens. I admired the Diva’s Group for having that awareness of self
earlier than most kids in my time did. I value writing. I see the
power in words and see how words can mean something depending on how
you configure them and manipulate them. Writing is its own kind of
art and there are no barriers. That was what I appreciated not just
about the Diva’s program. Truth wasn’t fact, but it was
subjective and whatever truth was on the stage was the one I found
myself enthralled with.
I feel sad that as this is my last
Diva’s blog post, I came in as a placement student and am leaving
this place enriched by this particular program. I came not knowing
what to expect and I’m leaving Regent Park Focus with a better
understanding of the programs and what media does to give the members
of a voice. The Diva’s Program has given these growing women a
voice that is uniquely theirs and I, for one, hope to watch them
develop when we cross paths again.
By: Erika Kahrah
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