Dancing Poetry Contest
Deadline: April 15, 2021
Sponsored by Artists Embassy International - 28th Year
Three Grand Prize Winning Poems to be Danced and Filmed
- 3 Grand Prizes will receive $100 each plus their poems will be danced and filmed. Each Grand Prize winner will be invited onstage for photo ops with the dancers and a bow in the limelight.
- Six First Prizes will receive $50 each
- Twelve Second Prizes will receive $25 each
- Thirty Third Prizes will receive $10 each
- All winners will receive a prize certificate suitable for framing and be invited to read at our 2021 Festival at the Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco (the event may be held online if circumstances require)
The top three poems chosen as Grand Prizes will be choreographed, costumed, and recorded live in an on-stage performance at the Festival. See video and pictures from our 2020 Festival, and check the other tabs on our website to read winning poems and view photos of the winning poets.
Last year's Grand Prize winners included Garrett Murphy, Catherine Moran, and Alicia Morrison. For poetry, we look for something new and different including new twists to old themes, different looks at common situations, and innovative concepts for dynamic, thought-provoking entertainment. Please do not feel constrained to submit a poem about dancing.
The entry fee is $5 per poem or $10 for three poems, payable to Artists Embassy International. (Poets outside the USA, please send US currency or an international postal money order in US dollars.) Each poem may be up to 38 lines long. Send two copies of each poem. One copy should be anonymous (just title and poem), the other should have your name, address, phone, email address, and where you heard about this contest (e.g. Winning Writers). There is no limit on the number of entries. Entries should be typed.
Your entry should be suitable for a general audience since our following is comprised of people of all ages and ethnicities. English translations must be included with non-English poems. Our judges consist of poets, dancers, musicians, and visual artists of various media, all members of Artists Embassy International. Judging is done with the anonymous copies of the poems. Artists Embassy International is a non-profit, volunteer, arts and education organization whose goal is to further intercultural understanding through the arts.
Three poets, the Grand Prize winners, will be rewarded with seeing their poems danced by Natica Angilly's Poetic Dance Theater Company, a well-known dance troupe that has performed around the world and throughout America. This company is dedicated exclusively to creating new avenues by combining poetry, dance, and music together for presentation and the expansion of poetry with dance in the life of our culture.
To enter the contest, please visit our website at www.dancingpoetry.com or submit to AEI Contest Chair W, Judy Cheung, 704 Brigham Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95404-5245. Questions? Please email Ms. Cheung at jhcheung@comcast.net.
Please enjoy "Beauties in a Line" by Alicia Morrison, winner of a Grand Prize in 2020:
Beauties in a Line
They stand in a line, these women within frames,
and they are beauty beholden in time,
they move slowly at first, shy to disbelief yet
over time they seem to come alive, these bold
and beautiful dancers, frozen in portraits,
One is Indian with sari of red and bright gold.
She is haughty, she is bold, she is kind,
She likes to dance and glides in time to the
traditional Indian rhythm, her hands up in the air,
Her feet always moving, mischief is in her eyes,
One is by Degas and she moves in silky sweeps,
her white dress is like clouds floating within
the frame, she has flowers in her dark hair and
she does not smile as she moves to the beat we
cannot hear. She is serious, in training, she
cannot be pinned down, she is becoming the sky,
One we may know from one of Vittriano's pieces,
but the dancer seems to have lost her partner,
with the mademoiselle in her long red dress,
arms up in a frame for her partner's waltz,
the maid stands beside her unknowing,
still holding up her black umbrella, though we
do not notice their wind and their sea, she is lost
in the moment, that has since come to close, and
she longs to be back in his arms, so she dances,
The three frames cannot hold them, these women
of great beauty, they emerge from their frames,
dancing throughout, and they mingle and they
embrace, becoming one song, and they teach us
what dance is all about, it is love, it is desire, it is
a rhythm within our souls.
