Dancing Poetry Contest
Deadline: April 15, 2020
Sponsored by Artists Embassy International - 27th 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 2020 Festival at the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Theater at the Palace of the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco
The top three poems chosen as Grand Prizes will be choreographed, costumed, and recorded live in an on-stage performance at the Festival. See pictures from our 2019 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 Constantina Clark, Linda Eve Diamond, and Jennifer Lemming. 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.
The entry fee is $5 per poem or $10 for 3 poems, payable to Artists Embassy International. (Poets outside the USA, please send an international postal money order in US dollars or US currency.) Each poem may be up to 40 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 Newsletter). 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. Questions? Please email Ms. Cheung at jhcheung@comcast.net.
Please enjoy "How To Love Your Neighbor" by Constantina Clark, winner of a Grand Prize in 2019:
HOW TO LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
Sometimes you just need to let go
Be the water flowing over the rock
With a graceful flowing rhythm
That shape-shifts its way
Over all the obstacles
That call for fluidity of spirit
Sometimes you just need to not resist
The moment that slyly beguiles you
And dance on the head of a pin
While the world holds sway
Over you and you twirl within
Creating your own separate peace
Sometimes you just need to be venerable
To open yourself up to the ebb and flow
Of your humanity as spirit embodied in flesh
Embracing the lively movement
Of what it means to be human
Subject to the energies of life
Sometimes you just need to surrender
To find your secret melody
That calls you to peace and tranquility
When faced with the moment's strife and
Let the dance of surrender shore you up
When the waves come crashing over you
Sometimes you just need to forgive yourself
For missing the mark and not getting it right
And the wanna-bees and wishes and hopes
That never quite materialized into reality
But still coyly wait to suddenly surprise you
As they sashay their way back in different forms
Sometimes you just need to love yourself
Exactly as you are, a brilliant dancer, whirling,
Engaging in life movement uniquely yours
Swaying subtly to your own special music
That kisses your soul in its own glorious way
Rejoicing in your one true being and then
And only then you'll finally love your neighbor
as yourself
