On Sunday, April 15th, we’re hosting the OFFICIAL Throw Poetry Slam Semi-Finals! Experience some of Montreal’s BEST slam poets in a fierce competition to make the finals! Only the top 8 will advance.
Divan Orange
4234 Boulevard Saint-Laurent, Montreal, QC H2W 1Z3
Doors at 7 // Show at 8
$7 general admission
$5 with student ID or QWF membership
No one turned away Facebook event
Featuring Cat Kidd:
An incontournable of Montreal’s spoken word scene since the early ’90s, Catherine Kidd has forged a reputation as one of the nation’s most surprising and inspiring voices for page and stage. Her award-winning multimedia poetry performances have toured in Europe, Asia, Africa, UK, US and Canada. Published works include the poetry collections Sea Peach [2002] and Bipolar Bear [2004], and the novel Missing the Ark, all from Conundrum press. Her latest poem series was launched as the solo show Hyena Subpoena last Fall in Montreal.
Join us for our Slamtastique Finals on June 11th 2012 where our previous 8 winners will compete to win glory and fudge!
It’s difficult to believe that way back in October 2011, Montreal held it’s first Story Slam at Cafe Shaika (with featured guest Ian Ferrier). Now, nine months later, we have 8 Slamteller winners ready to compete for the glory of being Montreal’s Champion SlamTeller! It’s going to be Epic!
Just in case you’ve forgotten, here are the standings so far:
October 2011: Eveline Ménard November 2011: Laurent Castellucci December 2011: Sarah Comrie January 2012: Christine Mayr February 2012: Vivekanand Ian Gurudata March 2012: Julie Golick April 2012: Don Fex May 2012: TBA
To make this event extra special, we’ll be having 5 celebrity judges. So far, we have the following confirmations:
I’ve been getting a few emails and calls about the Story Slam, but also about the Spoken Word scene in Montreal in general. If Montreal is not the capital of Spoken Word in Canada, if not North America, it can’t be far away from wherever this mystical capital might be.
My event (Conte Slamtastique Storytelling) is a story slam rather than a poetry slam, which means it focuses on story-based spoken word rather than poetry. Poetry is okay as long as it tells a narrative story but in a poetic format. Please refer to the rules for all the information (English, Français)
So just to be official, these are the events I have personally attended and can recommend if you want to get into the Spoken Word scene in Montreal. All of these events are bilingual, featuring Anglophone and Francophone artists not only from Montreal, but also from abroad.
Mic & Dim Lights Mtl: this is the sister poetry venue to the 2nd largest poetry venue in Los Angeles, hosted by the Royal Poets Society, beats by Mark the Magnanimous and LionArts.
Madpoetix (Facebook): founded by artistic director, poet and video artist Kym Dominique-Ferguson in 2007 with the intention of pushing performance poetry in Montréal to another level through video, photography and live productions.
Throw Poetry Collective: is group of spoken word poets & community artists who host Canada’s only bilingual poetry slam, produce one-of-a-kind events like Poesie Boudoir (an erotic poetry house party) and Cinq-a-Sex (rad sex ed through spoken word), while bridging creative communities across Canada.
Congratulations to Julie G (aka The Pocket Bard) for winning the March edition of the Slam Telling. Many thanks to all our Slam Tellers that night, including a couple of folks who took the stage for the first time ever! Julie took the first prize (a delicious brick of mint fudge that she subsequently share with everyone) for her telling of Beowulf as written by Rathflaed DuNoir.
Next month is something new we’ll be trying out: Liar’s Month! The theme is telling almost believable lies, which is not the same as telling a mythic story. The difference is that when you are telling a story and say something like “And then the Devil walked through the door…”, this is a signal to the listener that the story has entered a mythic, symbolic level where you are not expected to take it literally. But with a lie-based story, the story *could* be true, but it seems so outlandish that you suspect it probably isn’t true.
In this video, Eric Michaud (storyteller and the award-winning Roy des Menteurs) explains the difference between a lie and a story (it’s all in French, so my apologies to the uni-lingual). His actual definition starts at 2:10:
So we’ll see you at Cafe Shaika on April 9th 2012!
Contes Slamtastique Storytelling
Monday April 9th, 7pm
Shaika Cafe
5526 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec
The first SlamTelling of 2012 was the best yet! We had new tellers, returning tellers, and an emotionally appreciative audience. All this is a recipe for an intense evening of performance art! We even had a teller from the Montreal Storyteller’s Guild: Christine Mayer, who ended up winning the SlamTelling competition. Congratulations Christine!
Christine Mayer: SlamTeller winner January 2012
We also had fierce competition with our other SlamTellers: Ameara told a sweet story of love that she rediscovered over the holidays and Linda regaled us a another mythic tale. Laurent Castellucci shed first blood on our stage as our sacrificial teller, and Sarah Comrie had them weeping (quite literally) in the aisles with her bittersweet stories of love. Magical.
Laurent Castellucci, Linda Demissy, Ameara MClennan
Sarah Comrie, the SlamTelling crowd at Shaika Cafe
I tried to record the performances, but unfortunately something went wrong with the PC and all the recordings came through with massive distortions. I suspect that, for some reason, the software ignored the high-quality microphone I had plugged in and used the built-in microphone in the tablet. I think I need to find a better way to record these shows.
The next SlamTelling will be on February 13th, 2012. See you then!
Join us for our fourth evening of SLAMTelling
Joignez-nous pour notre quatrième soirée de Conte de Slam!
Shaika Cafe
5526 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec
Deuxieme lundi de chaque mois, 7pm // Second Monday of each month, 7pm Prochain Slam: 9 janvier 2012 Next event: January 9th 2012
Cinq juges, cinq minutes, des contes incroyables! (lisez les regles)
Five judges, five minutes, incredible storytelling! (read the rules)
Conteur invité / Featured Teller: Sarah Comrie
Conteur sacrificiel / Sacrificial Teller: Laurent Castellucci
Shaika Café
5526 Sherbrooke Street West/Quest
Montreal, Quebec Google Maps
Second Monday of each month, 6:30pm
Deuxième lundi de chaque mois, 6:30pm
Dates:
January 9th / 9 janvier 2012
February 13th / 13 février, 2012
March 12th / 12 mars 2012
April 9th/ 9 avril 2012 May 14th / 14 mai 2012
June 11th/ 11 juin 2012 -- Finals!
