A event held at The Station on Tuesday 17th January. The event starts at 18:30.
Raise the Bar is the South West's leading live poetry night, running blockbuster spoken word events in Bristol and beyond since 2014.
We are excited to begin 2023 with our biggest open mic ever, and an incredible headline poet SAFIYA KAMARIA KINSHASA! 15+ poets/musicians. 3 minutes each. This will be an opportunity to try out new material in a safe, warm environment hosted by Raise the Bar's compere extraordinaire Saili Katebe.
Safiya will be launching her brand new collection 'Cane, Corn & Gully' (Poetry Book Society's Winter Choice 2022), and performing a unique blend of poetry and dance inspired by the book.
Our open mics are welcome to poets, rappers, storytellers, lyricists, songwriters, and wordsmiths of all styles and levels of experience, whether it's your first time or your 100th. If you'd like to sign up to perform, or just sit back with a beverage and listen to some of the city's finest wordsmiths, this is the evening for you.
The event is also aimed at networking and meeting with local writers and performers, finding out about other opportunities and starting your creative year with a bang.
➡️ **Open mic spaces are now full but you can still email [email protected] to be added to the reserve list. Audience tickets are still available.**
‘From top to bottom, one of my all time favourite shows’ – Shane Koyczan
'One of the best poetry nights in the country' – Rafeef Ziadah
'Out-loud reactions are encouraged…shaking off traditional theatre etiquette' – Bristol 24/7
Doors 6.30pm | Show starts at 7pm
16+ accompanied. Wheelchair accessible. For further access enquiries please contact [email protected]
ABOUT SAFIYA KAMARIA KINSHASA:
Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa is a British born Barbadian raised poet, dancer and choreographer. Her interdisciplinary art braids dance and poetry on the page and stage. She is also a PhD student in Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds.
Safiya is an Obsidian Foundation fellow and an Apples & Snakes/ Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance recipient. Her notable commissions include writing for English Heritage, BBC Bitesize and The Wailers. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals including Poetry London, Poetry Review, Caribbean Writer and Wasafiri.
Safiya is also a national and international spoken word champion and came third place in The London Magazine Poetry Prize (2022).
BOOK BIO
Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa’s first poetry collection Cane, Corn & Gully embodies a unique discourse through movement and poetics to explore themes which have permeated the lives of Barbadian women from the 1600s to the present. It is the first poetry collection to feature dance notation and the first book to feature reconstructed dance scores of enslaved people using a technique Safiya developed which allows her to transform choreography into poetry and vice versa. In Cane, Corn & Gully Barbados itself becomes a guest choreographer to challenge the original colonial and racist documentation of Black West-Indian women.
The collection takes readers on a surrealist journey, where each poem is collated from dance using a technique of Safiya’s invention to vindicate narratives from the women themselves by their movements passed down through generations. Labanotation (a method for documenting dance) is featured throughout the collection which builds into a grand choreographic piece performed by the women of Barbados.
Entry requirements:
We are excited to begin 2023 with our biggest open mic ever, and an incredible headline poet SAFIYA KAMARIA KINSHASA! 15+ poets/musicians. 3 minutes each. This will be an opportunity to try out new material in a safe, warm environment hosted by Raise the Bar's compere extraordinaire Saili Katebe.
Safiya will be launching her brand new collection 'Cane, Corn & Gully' (Poetry Book Society's Winter Choice 2022), and performing a unique blend of poetry and dance inspired by the book.
Our open mics are welcome to poets, rappers, storytellers, lyricists, songwriters, and wordsmiths of all styles and levels of experience, whether it's your first time or your 100th. If you'd like to sign up to perform, or just sit back with a beverage and listen to some of the city's finest wordsmiths, this is the evening for you.
The event is also aimed at networking and meeting with local writers and performers, finding out about other opportunities and starting your creative year with a bang.
➡️ **Open mic spaces are now full but you can still email [email protected] to be added to the reserve list. Audience tickets are still available.**
‘From top to bottom, one of my all time favourite shows’ – Shane Koyczan
'One of the best poetry nights in the country' – Rafeef Ziadah
'Out-loud reactions are encouraged…shaking off traditional theatre etiquette' – Bristol 24/7
Doors 6.30pm | Show starts at 7pm
16+ accompanied. Wheelchair accessible. For further access enquiries please contact [email protected]
ABOUT SAFIYA KAMARIA KINSHASA:
Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa is a British born Barbadian raised poet, dancer and choreographer. Her interdisciplinary art braids dance and poetry on the page and stage. She is also a PhD student in Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds.
Safiya is an Obsidian Foundation fellow and an Apples & Snakes/ Jerwood Arts Poetry in Performance recipient. Her notable commissions include writing for English Heritage, BBC Bitesize and The Wailers. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals including Poetry London, Poetry Review, Caribbean Writer and Wasafiri.
Safiya is also a national and international spoken word champion and came third place in The London Magazine Poetry Prize (2022).
BOOK BIO
Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa’s first poetry collection Cane, Corn & Gully embodies a unique discourse through movement and poetics to explore themes which have permeated the lives of Barbadian women from the 1600s to the present. It is the first poetry collection to feature dance notation and the first book to feature reconstructed dance scores of enslaved people using a technique Safiya developed which allows her to transform choreography into poetry and vice versa. In Cane, Corn & Gully Barbados itself becomes a guest choreographer to challenge the original colonial and racist documentation of Black West-Indian women.
The collection takes readers on a surrealist journey, where each poem is collated from dance using a technique of Safiya’s invention to vindicate narratives from the women themselves by their movements passed down through generations. Labanotation (a method for documenting dance) is featured throughout the collection which builds into a grand choreographic piece performed by the women of Barbados.
Entry requirements:
Tickets for similar Bristol events.
— The Wardrobe Theatre
spoken word
lgbtq+
lgbtq+
poetry