Writing Dance with Kaija Pepper

Writing Dance

A Workshop with Kaija Pepper – March 2007

“An exhilarating environment…” Workshop participant

How can we capture a theatrical performance in words? Back by popular demand, this stimulating workshop explores the creative possibilities of writing about dance.

Participants will be inspired to deepen their understanding of dance through thoughtful written responses following selected performances of the Vancouver International Dance Festival March 6-April 1. This writing will be the basis for in-depth group discussions, which will include issues of objectivity and ethics, and will support the need to pay wide, reflective attention to performances. A selection of workshop writing will be published later in the spring in The Dance Centre’s publication, Dance Central.

The program is suitable for people from all backgrounds with a passion for writing, critical discussion, dance, performance and the arts.

Course fee: Dance Centre members $160 (including GST); non-members $215 (including GST). The fee includes tickets to three VIDF shows at the Roundhouse (evenings) and four workshops (totaling 11 hours) on Saturday afternoons at Scotiabank Dance Centre.

Performances: the Festival program includes 10 Gates Dancing (Canada), Deborah Hay Dance Company (USA), Kokoro Dance with the VSO (Canada), Ichigo-Ichie & Mari Osanai (Canada/Japan), Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata (Canada) and AURA Dance Theatre (Lithuania). Schedule of performances to be reviewed TBA.

Workshops: Saturdays March 3 (2-4pm) and 10, 17, 24 (2-5pm).

To apply, please send a sample of writing on any topic and/or a letter outlining why you are interested in writing about dance, to Kaija Pepper at kaija@shaw.ca or c/o The Dance Centre, Level 6, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver V6B 2G6, tel 604 606 6400 fax 604 606 6401. Places are limited: early application is advised.

Kaija Pepper is a freelance writer, editor and lecturer, specializing in dance. She is a regular contributor to The Globe & Mail and The Dance Current magazine, and her quarterly View from Vancouver has run in Dance International for over a decade. She has written two books, The Dance Teacher: A Biography of Kay Armstrong and Theatrical Dance in Vancouver: 1880’s–1920’s (Dance Collection Danse Press/es). Her essay on the work of Paula Ross, Jay Hirabayashi and Judith Marcuse is published in Right to Dance/ Dancing for Rights (Banff Centre Press 2004) and an essay on Lola MacLaughlin is in The Responsive Body: A Language of Contemporary Dance (Banff Centre Press 2002). This is the third year Writing Dance has been part of the VIDF (the inaugural workshop was in 2002 during Dancing on the Edge). Kaija holds an MA in Liberal Studies from SFU.

Writing Dance is supported by The Dance Current and the Society for Canadian Dance Studies.

Bart Baxter Contest for Poetry in Performance

The Washington Poets Association
is pleased to announce the opening of
submissions for the 10th Annual
Bart Baxter Contest for Poetry in Performance

Entrants are asked submit two poems for consideration by a panel of judges and eight finalists will compete in a series of one-on-one Poetry Bouts on Tuesday April 10th, 2007 at the Richard Hugo House (a 2006 event co-sponsor). Finalists will be determined based on how their poetry works on the page and on April 10th three different judges will determine the best poem in each one-on-one bout, leading to a single Champion.

Last year¹s champion was Lyn Lifshin. The fast-paced elimination rounds means the two finalists will read a total of 3 original poems each. The top three finalists will earn a total of $500 in cash prizes: 1st place - $300, 2nd - $125 and 3rd - $75.

There is no entry fee, but poets must be current members of the WPA. Annual membership is $15.

Deadline for entries is March 1, 2007. Finalists will be notified by March 15th.

The Washington Poets Association and Bart Baxter created the contest a decade ago to recognize and reward performance poets regardless of whether or not they had been published in print.

Bart Baxter, a longtime supporter of the Washington Poets Association, placed first in the 1994 MTV Poetry Grand Slam and the 1998 Seattle Grand Slam. In 2001, he was Seattle¹s first Poet Populist. His books of poetry include A Man, Ostensibly (Egress Studio Press, 2004), The Man with St. Vitus' Dance (Floating Bridge Press, 2000), Sonnets from the Mare Imbrium (Floating Bridge Press, 1999), and others.

Washington Poets Association is a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging the creation and appreciation of poetry. Besides the annual poetry contests, the group puts on Burning Word, (April 28, 2007) an annual poetry festival that highlights Washington poets, and publishes a judged journal of member poetry yearly.

Membership and contest entry information can be found at <http://www.washingtonpoets.org/>.

Contact: Paul Nelson--Contest Chair
Washington Poets Association
253.735.6328 or pen@splab.org
http://www.washingtonpoets.org/