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Networking

Rakkasah East 2010

Presenting poetry and dance as a unified art form

The January 2010 Artists Embassy International Newsletter was the last Newsletter that has been printed. At the December, 2009 board meeting, the board decided to go with using this website as our primary means of communication. This saves money and offers information to the widest variety of people around the world. Although members no longer receive this publication, there are still additional advertisements and program opportunities of all genre open to members. Thank you for your support and interest in AEI.

Containing

Dancing Poetry Festival, 2009

List of upcoming Events

Advanced notice for

   Dancing Poetry Contest, 2010


Winter 2010

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.      For more information about AEI, please visit www.dancingpoetry.com


Gypsy Krackers
Gypsy Krackers with Delta Watershed Series--Earth in which they exalted an onion harvest

2009, The Most Varied Program in the History of the Dancing Poetry Festival

Saturday, September 26, 2009, Noon to 4:00 p.m., you never knew what to expect when the curtain opened and a new act, with a new performance troupe, began. Whoever would dream than an ode to an onion harvest would be so lively as the performance by Gypsy Krackers?  For the Grand Prizes, who but Natica could imagine a poem about Silver Sandals in the form of flappers dancing the Charleston?  And where, on the same afternoon, can you witness the creation of the universe with Eve Dreaming, then delve into the deepest roots of our soul with Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils?   The 2009 Dancing Poetry Festival was truly a grand success!


Gretchen Fletcher, Silver Sandels
Silver Sandals by Gretchen Fletcher, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, one of three 2009 Grand Prize Winners

Dancing Poetry Festival

 

Poetry

Presented on a most glorious stage

in a famous art museum

brought into motion

by local and international troupes

and innovative solos

of exciting

Dance


Dancing Poetry Festival
 Poetry

Presented on a most glorious stage

in a famous art museum

brought into motion

by local and international troupes

and innovative solos

of exciting

Dance

16th Annual Dancing Poetry Festival

     “Congratulation!” one of my friends, attending the Dancing Poetry Festival for the first time, told me during intermission. “I never thought there would be so much variety! This theater is beautiful!” 

     “I can’t believe it, but this was the best ever! You do it every year!” another admirer commented after the show.

     And so it is, an unbelievably beautiful event of “big stage” proportions and grandeur, featuring current poetry from around the world, and dance acts from around the globe innovatively performed to poetry from many countries, written throughout the ages by old masters, obscure authors, and current poets in a variety of performance acts that are unique.


For photographs of the Dancing Poetry Festival, please click on the tab for Winners and Festival 2009.

Dance of the Seven Veils

Jeanne Wagner, Kensington, CA

2009 Grand Prize Winner

 

Behind the torch lights, upturned faces tilt

And leer like sallow lilies in the dark.

The body and the mind are separate skills.

I’ve learned my motions well, I play my part.

 

Their faces leer like sallow lilies in the dark.

I wear one veil for each two years I’ve lived.

I’ve learned my motions well, I move by heart.

I give only what I’m asked to give.

 

I shed one veil for each two years I’ve lived.

You show one thing, another is concealed.

I give only what I’m asked to give.

Teach me what I’m not supposed to feel.

 

You show one thing, another is concealed.

A veil covers up my mouth but not my eyes.

Tell me what I’m not supposed to feel.

I drape myself in veils, my veils all lies.

 

One veil hides my mouth but not my eyes.

I watch the platters where the fish heads stare,

Indifferent to my veils, my veils all lies.

The dead have nothing more to bear.

 

I watch the platters where the fish heads stare

From the flattened silver circles of their eyes.

The dead are severed from their cares,

They’re deaf to the rhythm of the knives.

 

Fish heads stare from the circles of their eyes.

Someone strips the scales, casts them to the side.

Along the spines and ribs, the sound of knives.

The heads left whole, the bodies open wide.

 

I shed my final veil and toss it to the side.

The body and the mind are separate skills.

Even after death the eyes are opened wide.

Like sallow lilies, our upturned faces wilt

Silver Sandals

By Gretchen Fletcher,

Ft. Lauderdale, FL

2009 Grand Prize Winner

 

What could be sillier

than silver sandals in the city--

with high heels, to boot?

Too frivolous for side-walking,

flimsy strips of leather

the cool color of rain drops,

but warm as moonbeams,

wind across toes,

crisscross insteps,

hug heels--sensual,

not sensible shoes

like quicksilver

ones Mercury wore

with little wing-like flames

nipping at his heels.

I could fly in these, too--

I bet--or do other silly things:

I could begin the beguine,

or dance the Carioca with Fred,

sand shushing under our soles.

I could sashay to a chivaree,

my heels casting up sparks

as they strike the ground.

I could jump a candlestick nimbly,

or shinny up a sun ray, careful

not to step on dust motes.

Magic shoes, these

silly silver sandals


Eve Dreaming

 by Nancy Rakoczy, Flushing, NY

2009 Grand Prize Winner

I see Eve dreaming on a moonless night

caressed and held by a tree that tangles dreams and green

thoughts.  A leafy smile, a rustle, a frown

and cascades of elephants and antelopes

leopards, lions, and lemurs pour from her head.

 

Dwarf zebras, a million anteaters pour from her sleeping head.

and Eve, who lies there dreaming

turns in her sleep and frowns, and cloven hoofed antelopes,

anteaters, sloth, octopi, and possums tangle the night

and dance in her hair. She frowns

and they trot away, slipping into a garden of green.

 

She sighs, turns on her side, and this woman who dreams in green,

and breathes up cascades of creation from her head,

gives up porpoises, starfish and whales with small effort and a frown.

Watch. A curved green stalk grows from her heart, as she lies dreaming.

This tall solemn stalk grows triumphant in the night;

this green life grows tall making shade for elephants and antelopes.

 

Look. Not just elephants and antelopes,

everything that is green,

everything that this moonless night

can show us,

Eve dreams. She lies there asleep, her head

crowned by a tree that cascades with life and still Eve is dreaming.

She sighs and frowns,

 

turns in her sleep, and with each frown

the bounty of her sleep is tossed from her crown: monkeys and antelopes

jump and canter away while she is sleeping and dreaming;

the green stalk grows from her heart, this green

life of silken leaves grows higher than her head

on this matchless moonless night.

 

Asleep on this particular night,

A hand pauses, and pulls and parts her flesh and Eve frowns,

While a wild animal torrent jumps from her head,

Amidst a swirl of elephants and jackals and antelopes

A hand searches and probes in the deep jungle green,

While Eve lies moaning and sleeping and dreaming.

Life pours from Eve’s head, but from her side is taken this night,

not her dreaming, but a rib, and a bone and a frown

while antelopes leap high and leap green.


Get Ready for the

2010 Dancing Poetry Contest and Festival

 

The Contest opens January 1

Deadline May 15, 2010

 

Over $1,000 in prize money to be awarded

All DPF prize winners will receive a prize certificate suitable for framing, a ticket to the Dancing Poetry Festival ’10, and be invited to read their prize winning poem at the 2010 Dancing Poetry Festival, September 18, 2010, Noon to 4:00 p.m. in the Florence Gould Theater in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor Art Museum in San Francisco. 

 

Three Grand Prizes will receive $100 each plus the poems will be danced, and videotaped for the winner.

Each Grand Prize Winner will be invited onstage for photo ops with the dancers and a bow in the lime light.

Five First Prizes will receive $50 each
Ten Second Prizes will receive $25 each

Thirty Third Prizes will receive $10 each

2010’s winners will be performed on September 18, 2009

 

CONTEST RULES
Line Limit: 40 lines maximum each poem. No limit on number of entries
Send TWO typed, clear copies of each entry
Poems must be in English or include English translation
Show name, address, telephone number, e-mail and how you heard about us on ONE copy only
(The anonymous copy goes to the judges. Judges’ decisions are final.)
Entry Fee: One poem for $5 or 3 poems for $10

Make checks out to Artists Embassy International
Poets outside the USA, please send an international postal money order in US dollars or US currency
No poems will be returned.
Send all entries and fees postmarked by May 15, 2010, to
AEI Contest Chair, Judy Cheung
704
Brigham Ave.
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Accepting a grand prize includes your permission for AEI to publish and perform your poem

in print, on-line, and on stage around the world, with your credits

All other rights remain with the author.
Judges are members of AEI and represent poets, dancers, artists, and musicians with international credits.

Winners will be announced by July 31, 2010

Early submissions are appreciated by the staff. Thank you. We look forward to seeing your work.

 

Check out our website at dancingpoetry.com for last year’s winners, photos and additional general information

 

2010 Dancing Poetry Festival

September 18, Noon to 4:00 p.m.

Florence Gould Theater in the

California Palace of the Legion of Honor

Lincoln Park, San Francisco, CA


Judy Hardin Cheung
L-R (F): Delilah Jasmine, Nancy Merritt, Kitty, Wanda Ingmire, Isis; (C) Shirley (Shukriya) DeVine, Richard Angilly, Arthur Chang, Arthur Levinson; (B) Judy Cheung, Michael DeVine, Natitica Angilly, Sarahann Lum, Cindy Levinson

Our meeting was called to order at 3:00, December 20, 2009 in the home of Nancy Merritt. 12 people were present. The minutes from 2008 were reviewed and approved. The treasurer gave a report. We showed a small increase in 2009.

     Arthur Levinson gave a report on archival historical documentation with his two videos, one on Dancing Poetry Festival 2009 and on on the World Congress of Poets held in Nicaragua in which AEI had a prominent role.

     The Dancing Poetry Festival was discussed in many reports. Cindy Levinson continues to contact contest winners and to be sure they get their awards. Judy Cheung creates the Newsletters and website for advertisement. Due to many concerns, we many have a printed newsletter 2 times per year instead of 4. The executive board will further deliberate and decide. Various techniques of advertising were discussed including using postcards instead of more expensive flyers, newsletters and handouts. We sorely missed the services and presence of VP Alicia Rodrigues who can no longer contact the newspapers and poetry organizations for the contest advertisements.

     We finished with everyone saying something about their experiences in Nicaragua. Those who did not attend, said something about the Dancing Poetry Festival. We will continue with a similar program in 2010. Meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

OTHER RECENT AEI ACTIVITIES

Phoenix Spring and Flowing Stream

By Betty Wong

 

I am happy to say that Chinese and East Asian Music (Xinjiang, Silk Road) was presented on Center stage in November, 2009, at the 14th International CHIME Conference in Brussels, Belgium. There were over 60 presenters with numerous concert performances and workshops.

            My connection in Chinese and East Asian music is still a big part of the San Francisco Community Music Center program from 1973 to the present. In 2007 I attended and presented Chinese and East Asian Music to the National ORFF conference, a well known music education system used world-wide and attended by nation-wide ORFF music educators. In 2008  I attended the Larkspur Music Camp in California and taught Chinese and East Asian music for a week and had a ball learning Eastern European music which is probably the most popular music at the camp. It was really gratifying to have the teachers of Serbian and Bulgarian music come to Shirley and my classes for the whole week with accordion and fiddle.

            Now it’s 2009 and after lots of invitations to attend Silk Road summer projects in Asia year after year, I am glad I chose to share with colleagues at the 14th CHIME meeting on Chinese and East Asian Music: The Future of the Past.

            (Ed. note: Betty Wong, with her Phoenix Spring and Flowing Stream Ensembles are long time members of AEI. Betty and her twin sister, Shirley, and brother-in-law Peter are all members of the Phoenix Spring and Flowing Stream Ensembles.)

 

Rakkasah East

Middle Eastern Dance Festival and Bazaar

     As during the past many years, a contingency of AEI members flew to Somerset, New Jersey, in October to participate in the Rakkasah East, Middle Eastern Dance Festival and Bazaar. A small troupe from Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company performed on stage. Each year, Rakkasah is the main venue for AEI sales. We have a booth with Natica’s Dancing Tambourines, Natica’s Stardust Veils, and various books, dance items, specialty items. We want to thank Rakkasah for this annual opportunity. For more information about Rakkasah, please visit www.rakkasah.com. For information of sales items from AEI, please visit our website at    

                                              www.dancingpoetry.com
Selected upcoming events presented  or  participated in by AEI
for RSVP and  information on any listed event, contact AEI at richardaei@aol.com or  510-235-0361
 
Ongoing: Natica Angilly shows poetic masks and enhanced tambourines at Cafe Arrivederci, 11 G Street, San Rafael, CA.
December 28: Richard Angilly, Natica Angilly and Judy Cheung discuss their multi-media work at Salon for Your Imagination WOW!,  Cafe Arrivederci, 11 G Street, San Rafael, CA. Salon is 5:30-9:00. For reservations call Angar Mora at 415-492-8870
January 7-27: Artists Embassy International produces a group exhibit at the Alameda Historical and Art Museum, Alameda Ave., Alameda, CA.
January 9:  1:00-3:00, Artists discussion led by Tanya Joyce and Natica Angilly. Bring an example of your visual art to discuss. You do not need to be in the exhibit to participate. Everybody welcome at the Alameda Historical and Art Museum
January 16, 11:00-3:00,  Meet-the-Artists extravaganza with poetry reading featuring Alameda Island Poets and open mike, Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company, Dancers of the Pharoahs, guest dancers and Food all afternoon! Alameda Museum.
January 23, 1:00-3:00,  Poetry Presentation Workshop, Masks, Mirrors and Moving Muses, let by Tanya Joyce and Natica Angilly at the Alameda Museum
February  6: Rakkasah’s Winter Moon Middle Eastern Dance Classes, Bazaar and Dance Festival, Temple Beth Hilell, Pinole, CA, for more information, please call AEI or visit www.rakkasah.com
February 27, 5:00-9:00, Redwood Empire Chinese Association Chinese New Year Festival, Santa Rosa Vets Memorial Building, Santa Rosa, CA. For more information, please call AEI or visit www.recacenter.org
March 7:  Rakkasa’s Spring Fest, Ukranian Hall, Somerset, NJ. For more information, please call AEI or visit www.rakkasah.com
 
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