I am so excited to move into this new year with new projects and new energy. 2016 has been a rough one, but Out Loud HSV has persevered and come together as a community to make some great things happen, and we'll be using that momentum to launch us into 2017!
The big news for our poetry slam community is that we are going to be assembling a slam team in 2017. This is exciting because it will give us a strong group of performers who can represent us in regional and possibly even national performances and competitions throughout the year! Wahoo! I am here to address how we are doing that, and what exactly being on a slam team will mean for those interested.
First, how we form the team. Starting in January our slams will turn tournament style. The first four slams (January 8 & 22, February 12 & 26) are preliminary bouts. Interested slammers are able to participate in one preliminary bout, to give everyone an opportunity to compete. IF the final preliminary bouts in February do not fill up, anyone who has already participated and wants to try again is able to sign up. It all depends on how much interest there is in this. In those preliminary bouts we will still have a winner for the night, but the TOP 4 poets move onto semifinal bouts (March 12 & 26) and the TOP 4 in both semifinal bouts will come together for the FINALS on April 9th! our top 5 performers will be our slam team. YAY! Now this is all a tentative schedule and subject to change if there is little interest in competing and we can't fill all those spots, but I hope YOU, dear reader, will be interested in being a part of this amazing project. We have a ton of talented poets and performers, and being on a team is a great chance to hone your skills and practice performance.
That brings us to what being on a slam team entails. Most importantly, it means coming together with a group of writers to dig deep into this amazing art form and learn how we can improve! It also means committing to weekly practices, writing group pieces with your team, learning to perform as a group, and seeking out performance opportunities. Now if we can raise the funds, I dream of bringing our team to the 2017 National Poetry Slam. I know I dream big, but I think with all of our powers combined we can make this happen, but even if we don't there are plenty of regional competitions we can try to become involved in, or even start up our own!
Are you down? Are you ready? Are you practicing your poems right now? I know I am!
Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or comments, and of course please SHARE this post and our events on all your social media platforms to help us drum up more interest. We want the best of the best, the passionate powerful people, the poets of Huntsville, and that means YOU!!