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| November, 2007 |
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AUTUMN, 2007
Artists Embassy International is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting intercultural understanding and peace through the universal language of the arts. Founded by Althya Youngman in 1951, AEI has continuously promoted individual and group artists working in many media, offered venues, publication opportunities, poetry contest, prizes, festivals, conferences, classes, exhibitions and many other opportunities for the promotion of artists and their work throughout the United States and the world. Membership dues, $30 per year, include quarterly newsletters, advertisements of events, opportunities and contacts for international events and reports on your personal artistic work. Subscription only to the quarterly Newsletter, $10 per year. Send dues, subscription, newsletter articles and information to AEI for inclusion in the next publication.
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| Rona Alexander, Lee Salomon and Wanda Ingmire in Pegasus, by Ruth Wildes Schuler |
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DANCING POETRY FESTIVAL 2007
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“The best ever!” was the most prevalent comment heard after the 2007, 14th annual Dancing Poetry Festival was completed. The grand prize winners were magnificent. The poetry winners were marvelous. The dance performances were amazing and unique.
Our three grand prize winners, this year, all from California, were as diverse as the imagination can handle.
First danced was Pegasus, by Ruth Wildes Schuler of Novato, CA. Rendering the colors of the celestial maelstrom was no easy task. Rona Alexander portrayed Pegasus prancing through the cosmos, bestowing a palette of colors for artists and poets to us mere mortals. Wanda Ingmire, Lee Salomon and Nancy Merritt held up Pegasus’ wings to swirl through history and artistic genres then soared past the Earth, beyond the Polestar and the Dog Star and into the galaxy to gather more stardust go give to us to induce more creativity.
To see these photos in color, please visit our website at www.dancingpoetry.com
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The second Grand Prize Winner to be danced was Won’t Wear My Mama’s Mumu, by Bill Reinman of Oakdale, CA. This hysterically humorous piece was the choice of the dancers who insisted this was the best one to dance. Dressing up in mumus, using dime store tourist props, the seriousness of other numbers was offset by laughter as the poet and dancers complained about having to follow in the footsteps (in the mumu) of their mother and not follow their own way. The conclusion: follow in the footsteps, but do it your own way.
Our final Grand Prize Winner performance, was The Birth of writing, by Patricia Wellingham-Jones of Tehama, CA. This stately dance was accompanied by a set of three original sculptures by Marin artist, Nancy Beck from Inverness. This poem described the possibility that writing was invented by women, then taken over by men. With one sculpture as the moving centerpiece of the dance, the women went about their daily work and creativity, satisfied that they could write, but not demanding any credit.
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Bravo!
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UPCOMING EVENTS
Annual Board Meeting
Don’t miss our Annual Board Meeting to be held Friday, December 28, 2007, 12:00-3:00 p.m., at Plearn’s Thai Restaurant, 2050 University Ave., Berkeley, CA. At this meeting the board meets to review the past year and plan the coming year. All interested members of AEI are welcome to attend.
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Salon For Your Imagination, WOW!
AEI and the Salon For Your Imagination, WOW! have worked hand in hand for many years to display art at Cafe Arrivederci, 11 G Street, San Rafael,CA. Natica has an ongoing display of her masks and tambourines in “our” little dining room where the Monday night Salons are held.
November 30 to January 11, AEI’s Judy Hardin Cheung will display her poetography, poetic photographs accompanied by excerpts of poems. This exhibit is titled Celebration and includes photos of celebratory joy, befitting the holidays without the usual holiday stereotypes of commercial celebration.
December 10, Judy will give a presentation as the Salon’s visual artist discussing how to combine various arts into different media and exploring paths of celebration and enjoyment. Included in her photography will be pictures of Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company in performance as well as pictures depicting simple, personal celebrations of ordinary things such as a child contemplating the pattern of raindrops.
Coming up in the next many months, are poets who entered the Dancing Poetry Contest and were referred to and accepted by the Salon host, Angar Mora. For information on how to attend the salon, who is presenting on which Monday evening, or how you may display your art or be a featured poet, storyteller, singer, musician, etc., please contact Angar Mora at 415-897-7313. Tell him you heard about WOW! in the AEI Newsletter.
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Alameda Historical & Art Museum
Exhibition and Artists Reception
During the month of January, AEI will have an art exhibition at the Alameda Historical & Art Museum. On January 12, we will have an artists reception, poetry reading, dance performance, refreshments and a general gala day.
Alameda Island Poets join AEI for this day to commemorate Jack London’s birthday. Natica Angilly will also celebrate her birthday, which she shares with Jack London on January 12. However, Natica was not born in the same year.
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Dancing Poetry Contest Rules, 2008
Deadline: May 15, 2008
Line limit: 40 lines or fewer
Entry fee: $5 for one poem, $10 for three poems (US $)
No limit on number of entries
Any subject, any form
Poems must be in English or include English translation
Send 2 copies of each poem, one with ID, one no ID
On one poem, include your name, address, phone, email and how you heard about this contest
On the second copy, put no ID. This goes to the judges
Send entries and entry fees to
Judy Cheung, NL DPF contest chair
704 Brigham Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
for further info: www.dancingpoetry.com
or jhcheung@comcast.net
Sorry, no electronic submissions can be accepted
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Dancing Poetry Festival, 2008
We must always plan more than a year in advance to continue our successful Festivals. Next year’s festival will be held at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, San Francisco, CA, on September 27, 2008.
We look forward to seeing the poetry submissions entered through the contest and the dance troupe proposals submitted to AEI to be juried. For our dance proposal format, please check our website at www.dancingpoetry.com. Poetry is entered according to the same rules as last year. Deadline is May 15, 2008.
Occasionally, we have a poetry entry that is not a grand prize, but is very worthy, especially in the eyes of the author. It is possible to enter a poem that is not a grand prize winner as a separate dance proposal with a dancer or dance troupe of the author’s choice. These submissions will be juried with the other dance proposals. In 2007, we had one such situation. The judges highly considered a poem, but our dancers could not come to agreement on how the poem should be rendered into dance. The poet, upon learning her poem would not be danced, found a willing and able dance troupe, submitted a dance proposal, and was accepted. The result was stupendous!
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Beginning with unique floor work depicting skydiving formations with acrobatics, the company of Tamara Grose of Sebastopol, CA, (tamcandance@prodigy.net) awed the audience with their dance rendition of Skydivers, a second prize winner by Susan Coons from North Bend, OR. They finished by criss-crossing the stage with ephemeral contrails held aloft backstage. Awesome!
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Multi-Cultural Poetry Reading and Poet Luck Lunch
The Seventh Annual Multi-Cultural Poetry Reading and Poet Luck Lunch, held at the Redwood Empire Chinese Association’s Multi-Cultural had poets who came from around the Greater San Francisco Bay Area to share poems in many languages at this unique and exciting event.
Our common language is English for discussion about poetry, poetic concepts, poets and the beauty of this rural, wine country setting. While enjoying a pot luck lunch from various cultures, poets are invited to choose a poem and a partner to read poems in various languages and in English. When the bi-lingual readings are completed, each poet is invited to read poems of their choice in a round-robin.
Poets from Artists Embassy International join with the Redwood Empire Chinese Association and the Poets of the Vineyard Chapter of California Federation of Chaparral Poets to sponsor this event. We are appreciative of the Alameda Island Chapter of CFCP, and its president, Mary Rudge, current Poet Laureate of Alameda, who always support this event with multi-lingual, multi-ethnic participation. We also thank RECA for providing us with their beautiful Center where we can enjoy the balmy California afternoon with poetry in a setting filled with oak trees, pastures and a vibrantly blue sky.
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| Poet Laureate of Lake County, CA, Sandra Wade, reads a poem in German and Natica Angilly reads the same poem in English in the Pick-A-Partner bi-lingual poetry read-around. |
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Famous Poets Convention
NAPDTC is the featured entertainment at the Famous Poets Convention held at the Hilton Hotel in Reno, Nevada. Guest celebrity (center in dark suit) is AEI member, world famous poet, artist and educator, Dr. Kenneth Kuanling Fan from China and Taiwan.
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Rakkasah East, Somerset, New Jersey
At Rakkasah East, at the Ukranian Cultural Center in Somerset, NJ, Natica taught how to use her Stardust Veils. She also taught Extreme Tambourine and how Poetic Dance can be applied to Middle Eastern Dance styles. NAPDTC and Dancers of the Pharaohs were both featured, prime-time performers during this week long event produced by AEI member, Shukriya DiVine.
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While in NJ, the AEI contingency visited our long-time member, poet and photographer, Fred Young. Pictured here from California are, L-R: Sarahanne Lum of San Francisco, Judy Hardin Cheung of Santa Rosa, Cindy Levinson of Oakland, Fred Young from Lindon, New Jersey, Natica Angilly and Richard Angilly.
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| l-r: Sarahanne Lum, Judy Cheung, Cindy Levinson, Fred Young, Natica Angilly, Richard Angilly |
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Selected upcoming events presented or participated in by AEI
for RSVP and information on any listed event, contact AEI at naticaaei @aol.com or 510-235-0361
December 28, Noon-3:00 Annual Board Meeting Plearn’s Thai Restaurant, 2050 University Ave., Berkeley CA. RSVP
Ongoing: Masks on the Shelf, various displays at Cafe Arrividercci, 11 G Street, San Rafael, CA
Nov.30-Jan.11, Celebration, poetography exhibit and sales by Judy Hardin Cheung, Cafe Arrividercci, 11 G Street, San Rafael, CA
January, 2008, all month: Alameda Art Museum, AEI Show displays the art in many media, of many AEI artists.
The Alameda Art and Historical Museum is open Wednesday-Friday and Sunday 1:30-4:00, and Saturdays 11:00-4:00.
January 12, 1:00-3:00, Poetry in Art at the Alameda Art Museum, afternoon with dancers, poet laureates, prize
winning poets and the displaying artists. Eat our poetically artistic offerings with your ears and eyes in the gallery and with
your taste buds at our refreshment table.
February 4, Winter Moon, A Rakkasah event at Temple Beth Hillel, Pinole, CA. Info, www.Rakkasah.com.
February 23, Redwood Empire Chinese Association Chinese New Years Celebration. For info, call Judy Cheung, 707-528-0912 or
visit their website at www.recacenter.org.
March, Rakkasah West, Vallejo Fairgrounds, Weeklong classes and a weekend dance and bazaar festival. AEI has a sales booth for fundraising. Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company will dance Saturday afternoon, Dancers of the Pharaohs dance Sunday.
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Send contributions and dues to Artists Embassy International
1515 Poplar Ave., Richmond, California 94805
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