Poetry Slam Workshop Slamming is lifestyle!

at Peirama28 April - 2 May

An absolutely fascinating week-long workshop with three different tutors from Holland and Germany plus the contribution and support from Kul-

turkabinett e.V. – a non profit organization based in Stuttgart specialized in performing arts.

This is a “don’t miss” experience!

What is a “Poetry Slam”? Poetry Slam is actually a competition among poets – in a broad sense – in front of an audience that is asked to rate them in the end. There are different ways for the audience to express their liking or disliking of a certain poem – performance: applause, cards lifting with grades (from 1 to 10), etc. In some cases, the host or hostess – a very important figure for a Poetry Slam - will ask for volunteers to form

an informal judging committee. Despite the fact that Poetry Slam is a competition, it is definitely not competitiveness that motivates par-ticipants. It is the joy of self-expression in a most unique, simple and sincere way. It is also the fact that as a “poetry slamer”, one works a lot on their poems or texts with absolute freedom, both in terms of subject and form, as well as on presentation or performing skills, which of course are the key to engage audience. And, it is only in respect to the presentation of a poem that “Poetry Slam” sets rules, like the duration – varying from 3 to 5 minutes depending on the country and the stage – or the prohibition of any features: it’s just yourself on stage, your body and voice and a microphone. No music or backdrop.For the history, “Marc Smith is credited with starting the poetry slam at the Get Me High Lounge in Chi-cago in November 1984. In July 1986, the slam moved to its permanent home, the Green Mill Jazz Club. In 1990, the first National Poetry Slam took place in Fort Mason, San Francisco, involving a team from Chicago, a team from San Francisco, and an individual poet from New York. As of 2010, the National Poetry Slam has grown and currently features approximately 80 certified teams each year, culminating in five days of

competition.”*Slams have spread all over the world, with very active slam scenes in Germany, United Kingdom, France, Spain, etc. In Greece, though, “Poetry Slam” is an unknown term for most people, even though there have

been a number of slams. *from Wikipedia

Now, let’s move to the history of this particular workshop and the involvement of “Peirama” with poetry slam. In November 2012, Kathrin Wegehaupt visited for the first time Thessaloniki to participate in the 1st Greek German Civil Society Meeting as a representative of Kulturkabinett, organized by the Greek German Civil Society Initiative. There, she met Christina Pertsinidi, one of the four initiators of the above-mentioned

non-formal organization.During the last dinner, it happened that they were sitting close to each other, so among other things Kathrin talked to Christina about Poetry Slam. When Christina, Director of the cultural non profit organi-zation Peirama – similar to Kathrin’s Kulturkabinett – explained her that Poetry Slam is not exactly spread in Greece, they spontaneously came up with the idea to organize a Mentoring Academy in Stuttgart at Kulturkabinett for a small number of people in Northern Greece. The idea was simple. As Poetry Slam “is a competition in which poets read or recite original work” and are then judged by the audience, it occurred to them that the establishment of a nucleus of Poetry Slam in Thessaloniki would give young people a

perfect means to express themselves and to handle the pressure caused by the crisis in Greece.Kathrin went back to Stuttgart the next day, talked through it with Naemi Keuler, the Director of Kul-turkabinett, and they started working on it. They managed to get the project funded by the Municipality of Stuttgart, they searched for tutors and with Christina they set the date for the Academy to take place: 14th to 21nd September. Christina started searching for the participants. By late July the team was ready. Nine people from Greece spent an amazing week exploring Poetry Slam and experimenting, while the last

night they organized their own Poetry Slam in front of German audience with great success!

...

Τhe WorkshopThe actual form of the workshop will be free – like Poetry Slam is – requiring only one thing: absolute dedication. Each day, we will need to work for around six hours with the tutors and in teams. At the same time, we will be organizing a Poetry Slam to take place on the last day of the workshop. Afterwards, you will have experienced the whole procedure, you will have made new friend and slam-mates and you will

definitely meet with a new passion of yours.The workshop itself will be highly interactive, following again the concept of Poetry Slam, in the sense

that it will leave space for the participants to influence the overall procedure.Who can take part in it?

Everyone.. There are no age limits – it’s open to teenagers as well – and no particular pre-conditions. Poetry Slam is much more fascinating when diverse. Of course, it will be great to have actors, directors, writers and artists or theater technicians in the team. They will definitely make the most of this peculiar

performing skill and will facilitate the implementation of the Poetry Slam.Important: the workshop will take place in English!

Participation fee: 60 euros. For Peirama members, 40 euros. Introduxtory gathering: Sunday 27/4, 7p.m. Duration: every day from 28/4 – 2/5 (approximately 6 hours per day). Applications: at peirama18@gmail.com, until the 25/4, including full name, telephone number, age, occupation, availability (mornings, afternoons, noons.Info: Peirama, 51, Filippou Str., open on weekdays from 17.00 – 22.00, 2315507959, 6974294761, pei-rama18@gmail.com, www.peirama.gr, FB: Peirama.

If you are coming from outside Thessaloniki for the workshop and have no friend to host you here, we would love to help you out with accommodation. Just tell us. If you are still hesitant, you can visit the link http://issuu.com/peirama/docs/thesslamoniki_poetry_slam_album, to take a look at the album of the previous such workshop, the participants poems and photos and above all their thought about their experience with Poetry Slam.

TutorsDominique Macri (1981, MA Psychology) lives in Marburg, Germany working as an actress and free-lance author. She has been a professional improv theatre actress for ten years and a poet all her life, before she entered the poetry slam scene in 2007. Since then she has been performing throughout Eu-rope, as „artist in residence“ in the „smoke and mirrors“ tour (a formation of nine European poets) and with her world-renowned group „viertelvorvier“. She runs poetry slam and theatre workshops, especially for juvenile offenders and/or adolescents with mental health issues. In her work as a trainer she combines her therapeutic knowledge with her artistic skills.

Pim Griens is a director and actor (B.A.) from Breda (Netherlands). He has led several theater produc-tions, has played roles in many productions and also trains actors. As an actor of the theatergroup KROV (Netherlands Breda) he has toured with the play “Oud Zweet” (Old Sweat - written by Jeroen Flamman, director Mireille Verhoeven) in the Netherlands as well as abroad. (Germany, Czech Republic, Marroc). This play, performed in the Dutch language abroad, has been received with great appreciation. As an actor he’s especially known for his talent in physical play and improvisation.As a director he tries to look for the boundaries of what an actor is capable of. Not giving an actor the chance of ‘escape’. As a person in general known for his high energy, enthusiasm and his ability to connect with people . His latest play as a director in the summer of 2013 was “Alice in Wond Wond Wonderland”.As a director he believes in the following statements, by which he always tries to train his actors:- An actor must believe in the beauty of imperfection. Be as comfortable with your disabilities as with your usual preferent abilities. Dare to show them on stage!- An actor must explore his role from what is within. Meaning that an actor should explore his thoughts, his abilities, his disabilities first before he tries to become someone else and use all that he himself(!) has to become that character. - On stage an actor should constantly try to think through the mind of his character and must try to block own thoughts.- A character on stage should always show different physical layers. A one-dimensional character is a boring thing to look at. - Use the force of contrast to the max. As well in physical play, in the use of the stage as well as in the psychologics of the role. These solid believes, of course are of constant influence during his work as an actor as well. He has been teaching young kids, students and adults in the art of theater/drama.Furthermore, Pim Griens runs workshops for enterprises, corporations and organisations in the areas of body language, leading conversations and giving feedback. He is a teacher and mentor at Avans Uni-versity of social work, Den Bosch - Netherlands. In September 2013 he worked for KKT Stuttgart as a foreign teacher for Greek students who where given the chance to learn about the art of poetry-slam. It was his job to teach the students about presentation on stage and to do the finishing directing of the Greek students acts.

Ken Yamamoto (1977) lives in Berlin working as a professional author and poetry slammer. Since 2004 he performs on stages. He presents the poetry slam of Mainz and founded the Berlin Slam- and Reading Stage “Spree vom Weizen”. Ken Yamamoto works as a tutor for very many different poetry slam and creative writing workshops throughout Germany and has also led international workshops. At the same time he works as a curator for literature events. He is a world-renown poet and a poet of the written language.