Tonight, a swarm of poets in Brooklyn! I’ll be reading alongside some excellent poets including Poetry Teachers NYC faculty members: Dan Dissinger and Megan DiBello, plus Emanuel Xavier and Peter Rugh and many others. Curated by artist and poet Sam Jablon.
Interested in reading as well? Come along and bring a poem to share!
Come to Wayfarers @ 1109 Dekalb Ave between Broadway and Malcolm X Blvd. from 7-10pm.
For more info, go to: Wayfarers’ reading
Writing begins in the body. It grows like a dislocated pattern of weather beneath skin and wraps around bones like a thunderstorm of messages.
How to translate the urgency of mind? What does a poem look like in fetus form? Without bones and still maturing into a shape that can be identified. How to wrestle it onto a page and watch it perform off the lines or restriction of notebook?
Poetry Teachers NYC is excited to announce the next round of workshops in May. This will be a triple explosion of poetics, taught by a collaborative of writers and performers. Three classes to choose from and if you call yourself indecisive, then you can sign up for all three!
Class Dates: Sunday, May 8, 11, 18th (times below).
Performance Date: Saturday, May 24th (6PM-9PM).
Class Location:
Shelter Studios
244 west 54th St.
12th Floor & Penthouse
Between Broadway & 8th Ave.
Is performance poetry just about walking on stage and reading your poem in a booming voice or can it be more? Can it also inspire in a visual way not just auditory? Can we use media or images or film to add another layer to what we have written. In this workshop we will focus on getting around performance stereotypes and work on developing your words as visuals using video and computers. We will be looking at the visual text of a poem, making the audience read not listen. How does composing it this way change your process? Todd Anderson will focus on and workshop the technology aspect then Thomas Fucaloro will lead us through performance techniques. As visual as you are, there is still room to enhance performance of your work. We will also be examining classic poetry in order to enhance stage performance. We will be looking at Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas and more.
THE MOMENT OF CREATION Taught by Caitlin GillWhat happens when we sit still? What happens when we move from sitting still? When does it happen? The decision from stillness to movement? The act from mind to the moment of creation? In this three week course, we’re going to explore making our art from a place of stillness/movement with these questions in mind. It’s an exploration. An experiment. We will employ all of the curiosity in our artist bodies and perhaps try something new. Something weird. Something scary. Something beautiful. Something.
We will make the studio and our time together a sacred space. Everything is welcome. We will work as an ensemble to support each other in the vulnerable space of process. Whether you’re creating something new or working on an existing project, we’re learning how to create while being with others and using their strengths to support our own process. We’re also learning how to be with our fellow artists on their journeys from a place of openness and support. Most importantly, we will play. And we’ll see what comes of these curious endeavors.
FROM PAGE TO STAGE Taught by Megan DiBello, Dan Dissinger and Aimee HermanOur unique, three-instructor approach sets PTNYC workshops apart, bringing multiple poetic perspectives to the table and serving to spark open dialogue.
In addition to receiving writing prompts and weekly assignments, students are challenged to get to know their own work through performance, both in class and on stage. Students are also encouraged to contribute to open discussion of one another’s writing and readings. The three instructors also address the needs of individual students, focussing in on writing craft, performance style, and self-editing.
PTNYC is ecstatic to announce our summer writing program!!!!
SUMMER WRITING MISSION
Immerse yourself for the month of July in New York’s historic poetry scene, drawing on the rich lineage of the the city’s downtown creative community. Cultivate your craft under the guidance of professional New York poets and celebrated guest lecturers. Absorb the city’s signature entrepreneurial spirit and emerge equipped to publish, perform, and succeed in your own creative endeavors.
CURATE YOUR OWN READING
During the 4 weeks of the Summer program, students will learn what it takes to plan a Poetry or Multi-disciplinary event in New York. The venues we have chosen are The Sidewalk Cafe and The Cornelia Street Cafe. Both of these iconic venues are downtown staples to the performance community. Students will be tasked with choosing student readers, creating programs, finding a host, as well as marketing and promoting their events. Each event will need a title and a theme. Students will learn about managing logistical aspects such as time constraints, content, scripts, and pricing. They will also be able to figure in other creative aspects, such as music, visual art and dance.
STUDENT-LED PANELS
There will be 3 student-run panels, each with 4 presenters, held on Wednesdays, starting on July 16th. Each student will write their own paper in defense of a theme that the panel’s moderator will choose. After each student presents his or her paper (max time 15 minutes, including any tech needs), there will be a Q & A. The panels will each run for 2 hours total, from 6PM-8PM.
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSIONS
Each week’s round table discussion will feature a new theme built around relevant topics such as publishing, entrepreneurship, life in New York, creative process, submissions, and New York City’s distinct history. Guest writers, publishers, and people in business will be visiting the table to offer ideas and encouragement and spark open discussion. This is a great opportunity for students to ask questions and to network with creative influencers. Guest Writers: Kristin Prevallet, Lisa Jarnot, Brenda Coultas, Advocate of Wordz, Joyce LeeAnn, Peter Rugh, Daniel Dissinger, Aimee Herman, and Megan DiBello along with other guests. Guest publishers will include Great Weather for Media, Three Rooms Press, Fact-Simile, and Monkey Puzzle Press.
ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS
Throughout the 4 weeks, each student will have the opportunity to meet with each of our 3 teachers individually, outside of class. We do this so that each student has a chance to showcase and discuss his or her work and receive personalized feedback and advice. We also chat with students about their personal and artistic goals and help them plan the next steps in their creative lives.
WEEKLY WORKSHOPS
Workshops will be held on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. We will provide a comprehensive source book to accompany the workshop series, containing information about local resources, open mics, and events. Reading and writing exercises will be assigned. Students will write letters to one another regarding their work. The focus of these workshops is to cultivate a students’ distinct creative voices, both written and performative. Voice, stage presence, eye contact, and diction are all performance aspects that will be covered in these classes.
SUMMER WRITING DATES:
Week 1:
July 5th: 9:30AM-12:30PM
July 6th: 9:30AM-2:30PM
July 9th: 9:30AM-5:30PM
Week 2:
July 12th: 9:30PM-2:30PM
July 13th: 9:30AM-2:30PM
July 16th: 9:30AM-5:30PM
Week 3:
July 19th: 9:30PM-2:30PM
July 20th: 9:30AM-2:30PM
July 23rd: 9:30AM-5:30PM
Week 4:
Performance at Governers Island Poetry Fesival: July 26th & July 27th (ALL DAY)
July 30th: 9:30PM-5:30PM
August 2nd: Closing Reading/ Party 6PM-12AM
SIGN UP: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-teachers-nyc-presents-summer-writing-at-shetler-studios-tickets-10968471995
Tonight, watch how words can grow new limbs when poets, performance artists and activists come together to create an evening of creative exploration!
Poetry Teachers NYC presents an interdisciplinary event from a vocal, musical, creative, and performance art perspective. This event will showcase LANGUAGE moving through and from the body as different modes of communication.
With Performances By:
Daniel Dissinger
Aimee Herman
Megan DiBello
Eric Alter
Audrey Dimola
Joyce LeeAnn
LaVonne Natasha Caesar
Steve Dalachinsky
Kimmy Cunningham
Jatlin Gill Thompson-Thompson
Shawn Randall
Peter Rugh
Dan Dissinger, Aimee Herman and Megan DiBello of Poetry Teachers NYC will perform a Remix Poetix at the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe tonight!
236 E. 3rd St. NYC/ 7pm
these clouds, a collision of applause
maple walnut peanut butter
my dad
moleskine notebooks and extra fine black ink pilot pens
sundays
modern love
crown street home
kazim ali’s poetry
rebel
my skin
sobriety
wrists without serration
u.s. postal service
august
those warriors of gender and the ones I am still searching for…
music MAkers
coffee
my soul sister
the moon!
the scent of campfire
my ability to poem
poetry teachers nyc
pancetta bruscetta rivera herman (I and II)
that fallen tree against the lake at prospect park
employment
the contagion of elephants
collaborative art forms
yann tiersen
hard-working lungs
a resilient mind
an appetite
when I am [able to be] present
moving on
white rice
eleanor
farmer’s markets
community gardens
NY Times
creative circle
C & Peggy
found he(art)s
semi-colons
magic
This is an excerpted piece entitled, “Dear Freud”, from a magical evening fusing various poets, musicians and artists together into one room to celebrate the magic of poetry and sound. It was at the Pomegranate Gallery in NYC, put together by Poetry Teachers NYC.
I am so proud to be a part of Poetry Teachers NYC, which is an organization interested in creating spaces for creative folks to perform, translate, and represent their own versions of language. We host poetry workshops and performance series all over NYC. Our next workshop will be through Bowery Arts & Sciences. Our workshops will consist of 3 Teachers: Dan Dissinger, Aimee Herman, and Megan DiBello. We will focus on a student Reviving old work, Reacting to other students work, as well as Reviewing what they have learned not only in the workshop, but from each other. Class is open to all levels of writing. The classes will consist of discussion, writing, reading, craft, critique, editing, and performance technique. Sundays from 12PM-2PM, 1.5hrs. (starting Dec. 1st) Tickets $99
Tonight. See over fifteen poets. Two artists create art right in front of you. Music. Projected language. Collaboration. Remix’d Poetics.
Poetry Teachers NYC is excited to host a night where language and art comes alive.
Where? Pomegranate Gallery 137 Green St. NYC
When? What Time? Saturday, 16 November, 2013/ 7pm FREE!!!
Who will be performing? Travis Cebula, Sara Suzor, Peter Rugh, Thomas Fucaloro, Aimee Herman, Sara Nolan, Sam Jablon, Daniel Dissinger, Megan DiBello, Moira Williams, Todd Anderson, Nichole Acosta , Jane LeCroy , Selina Josephs (artist), Nikhil Melnechuk, Angelo Daniel, Ngoma Hill, and Oded Halah.
Aimee Herman and Megan DiBello @ DUMBO Arts Festival, Brooklyn
Come to The Parkside Lounge today located at 317 E. Houston in NYC from 4-6pm for an open mic featuring the dynamic and magnificent Megan DiBello and I as we storm the stage with our collaborative poetics. This is a great performance series that happens every Sunday. They ask for a $2 donation and it is a 2 drink minimum (they have soda and coffee and tea if you are not inclined to drink). It is 21 and over.
A little about us:
Megan DiBello founded Poetry Teachers NYC in 2010. She holds an M.F.A from Naropa University, in Writing & Poetics and a B.A. from Marymount Manhattan College. Megan is also a Literacy Partners Volunteer Tutor. She has been published in Fact-Similie, Flanour Foundry, The Bathroom, & Monkey Puzzle Press. Megan has performed at theWhite Box Gallery, The Bowery Poetry Club, The HOWL Festival, The Socrates Sculpture Park, The Center of Book Arts, and the upcoming DUMBO Arts Festival. Her first hybrid book is entitled, Voyeur Without A Title
Aimee Herman is in the latest issue of The Understanding Between Foxes and Light. Aimee is also a faculty member with PTNYC and absolutely in love with creating spaces for other poets and creative folks to shed their own language. She is a marvelous poet who will crush your soul and feed it back to you.
The installation is a moveable platform, made out of different sized crates. Each individual crate is designed for a departed writer. Performers will be standing on Julia de Burgos, Jayne Cortez, ee cummings, Allen Ginsberg, Barbara Guest, Langston Hughes, Tuli Kupferberg, Taylor Mead, Frank O’Hara, and Pedro Pietri.
I have moved quite a bit in my life. Pushed things into garbage bags and backpacks and makeshift suitcases. I have traveled across the country to find my place on pages and stages and classrooms. With each move, I always gravitated toward the local open mics. Here is where I always found my people.
In Connecticut, just outside of Hartford, I went to a Wednesday open mic full of mostly musicians, and one other poet who was drenched in romanticism and spirituality. We gathered every week, mainly the same faces and occasionally a few new, curious ones. Eventually, we started collaborating. I was accompanied by a bassist, harpist, electric guitar player and percussion. If we had met in any other way, we’d barely notice each other. But music and poetry sewed us into this small cafe each week.
In Colorado, in a mountainous town called Boulder, I found an open mic in walking distance to my studio apartment on Folsom Street. I met a tall, illuminating man from Long Island and two young poets who later became my first friends there. We poem’d so hard and fierce, that we later collaborated our languages onto a much bigger stage in a theater. This is where I fell in love with a human who got me; this is where I saw the power of stretching arms and stanzas into performance; this is when I knew there was no back-up plan. I could be nothing else but a poet. But a performance artist. But this slinger of words.
Upon moving back to Brooklyn to start my graduate degree several years ago, I found myself searching again. I tried out a few in Brooklyn, then traveled underground toward Manhattan. I started to notice similar faces. The thing about poets is we tend to be shy before the poems come out. Once we unzip, we are animals. I found my zoo of NYC poets early on and have been howling with them ever since.
That Long Island poet who I met in Boulder (who became my mentor), told me: Aimee, make sure you pay it forward. I am paving the way for you and you must do the same for as many others as you can.
So, I search out the ones who move me and make space for them. More than that, I tell them how they impact me, because oftentimes we forget to say out loud how much these words and gestures mean.
*
Almost a year ago, I was approached to be part of something that incorporated all of my favorite things: poets creating a space for other writers to create. Founded by Megan DiBello, Poetry Teachers NYC is a collective of poets and creative humans offering affordable, creative writing workshops around New York City. We also host an array of performance events and open mics. Its been a journey and this road will continue. Today, some PTNYC poets can be found in Brooklyn (including the fantastic, experimental remix’r Daniel Dissinger) , burning up the Way Station stage. Next month, we can be found at the Dumbo Arts Festival. In October, we will be hosting a variety of workshops through Bowery Arts & Sciences. Sign up. It will be more than experience; it will be a disrobe to all the languages and poetics inside you.
Aimee Herman 