Dancing Poetry

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.     

Artists Embassy International’s

15^TH ANNUAL DANCING POETRY FESTIVAL

International festival of thought and motion!

New works of relevant poetry read by the authors, classical and modern poetry put to innovative sightscapes come to life on stage during this celebration and illustration of what is currently on the mind of today’s poet at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor’s exquisite Florence Gould Theater in San Francisco’s Lincoln Park on Saturday, September 27, Noon to 4:00.

            Diversity and emotion are brought to the stage by a combination of prize winning poetry and the universal expression of poetry through dance. Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company will dance the three Grand Prize Winning Poems for 2008. NAPDTC will also host the invited poets of an additional forty prize winning entries who will read at the podium, plus eighteen acts of poems put to dance, chosen from dance troupes and poets who have submitted from around the world.

            To see, hear and better understand the heartbeat of many cultures by experiencing the most telling of the art forms, in feeling, thought and ideas, as expressed through the universal soul of poetry, dance, and music, come and join us out our unique festival.

            In many ways dance collaborates in creating moving representations of those sometimes poignant, sometimes comical thoughts of today’s poets. The Dancing Poetry Festival is a one-of-a-kind poetic event for poets, dancers, artists, enthusiasts, family and friends. Come and be stimulated, informed, inspired and entertained.

2008 Winners List, Dancing Poetry Contest
This year, 239 poets sent in 683 poems from 32 states and 11 countries
All poems in one prize category are of equal merit and are listed in alphabetical order

Grand Prizes:

                Lucille Lang Day, Oakland, CA                     In Praise of the Jellyfish

 Janice P. Egry, Verbank, NY                          Silence of the Song

                Allison Joseph, Carbondale, IL                         Xenophilia

First Prizes:

                Katy Brown, Davis, CA                                      Arpeggio

                  Young-jim-fong Larriva, Alamosa, CO         Dance of the Wax Puppets

                Michael Magee, Tacoma, WA                           Chagall Dreams

                Anne Ranasinghe, Colombo, Sri Lanka                         Museum Piece: Sigiriya Ear Ornament

                  Diane G. Woodcock, Doha, Qatar                 Movement

Second Prizes:

            Lisa Bao, Wilmington, DE                                     Harvest-time

            Carol Carpenter, Livonia, MI                               The Season of the Hummingbird

            Janice P. Egry, Verbank, NY                                  Of Shadow and Light

            Ziji Beth Goren, Hadley, MA                                Who Am I?

            Allison Joseph, Carbondale, IL                             The Numerology of Kisses

            Allison Joseph, Carbondale, IL                             Poets’ Boot Camp

            Katharyn Howd Machan, Ithaca NY                 On Halloween I Rearrange My Spice Rack

           Carol Louise Munn, Huston, TX                           Virgen de los Desamparados

            Joan Van Poznak, London, England,                  A Chorus for St. Thesaurus

            Diane G. Woodcock, Doha, Qatar                       A Cupful of Light

Third Prizes:

            Katy Brown, Davis, CA                                         In the Storyteller’s Basket

            Nancy Jean Carrigan, Warrenville, IL                 First Light   Last Light

            Nancy Jean Carrigan, Warrenville, IL                 Mammuthus

            Patricia Luce Chapman, Rockport, TX              Come Dance with Me

            Lucille Lang Day, Oakland, CA                           Woman: After a Painting by Nathan Oliveira

            Mary Jane Derschan, Orange, CA                        Children’s Crusade

            Lily Dayton, Moss Landing, CA                           Spring Tide

            Laverne Frith, Sacramento, CA                            A Woman Alone

            Dah Helmer, Berkeley, CA                                    A Shawl of Indigo Aura

            Fay Williams Jones, North Little Rock AR         In the Mirror

            Tanya Joyce, Emeryville, CA                               Clarkia

            Erica Lehrer, Houston TX                                      Cerulean

            Erica Lehrer, Houston, TX                                     Into the Garden

            Nancy T. Ling, Walpole, MA                                Late Night in the Library

            Nancy T. Ling, Walpole, MA                                 Shanghai Dance Studio

            Peter Nelson, Vancouver, WA                               Native Language

            Julia Paul, Manchester, CT                                    The Power of Little Yao (After an Ancient Chinese Folktale)
            Jendi Reiter, Northampton, MA                           Nature Morte, Palm Beach

            Julia Meylor Simpson, Riverside, RI                    Champagne Dancer

            Sherry Weaver Smith, San Ramon, CA              Grove at Mission Santa Ines

            Nick Sweet, Taft, OK                                              Victory Dance, 1945

            Jan Marin Tramontano, Albany, NY                  The Flamenco Dancer

            Joan Van Poznak, London, England                   Art Lover

            Sharon K. Wieland, Ann Arbor, MI                     Maitake

            Maxine N. Williams, Sebastopol, CA                  Dali

AEI and Natica Angilly’s Poetic Dance Theater Company want to thank all of the poets who entered our contest. All of the entered poems were worthy in one way or another for publication or prizes. However, it was the difficult the task of the judges to choose only three Grand Prizes to be danced and forty additional winners to be read by the author. Nearly every poem had at least one advocate among the judges. The finalists were compiled from those with the highest averaged ranking from our many judges and then final list selected for the widest variety in content and style. When we had two poems on the same topic, one was chosen. Only after all of these processes were completed was the selection committee told the identity of the prize winning poets. Thank you to our many judges.  Congratulations to all of our winners. Thank you to all who entered. We hope to see everyone entering again next year—same deadline, same rules.