South West Regional Final SLAM
Wow, what a day! The South West Regional Final, held on Friday the 15th in the Barbican theatre was truly a fantastic and unique experience. The day was kicked off by a small icebreaker, with all participants, staff, shadows and coaches on stage saying hello to everyone, shaking hands, and staring each other in the...
“Before Money” a poem from Consulting Slam Producer: Deborah Stevenson
A word from Deborah Stevenson one of Shake the Dust’s fantastic Consulting Slam Producer’s. “One of the most unexpected exciting elements of being the Shake the Dust Consulting Slam Producer and Artist Liason is the amount of inspiration it has given me. Every time I visit a workshop I become a participant and I get...
Nicholas Judge: Poetry Hero
Dedicated Apples and Snakes Volunteer, Nicholas Judge tells Shake the Dust a little about his Poetry Hero William Blake. The view of London to seer and poet William Blake is of a repressive bleakness; of ‘blackening Churches’ and ‘dark Satanic mills’. The sounds of the city are of crying from the chimney-sweepers, cursing from ‘harlots’, and screaming from...
360° | Shake off Childhood Shyness and Shake the Dust!
This is what Shake the Dust is all about, changing lives and bringing people together through the power of poetry. Writer and performer Paul Cree tells us about getting heard with spoken word! “Of the experiences I’ve gained so far in poetry workshops, one of the most challenging tasks has been trying to convince young...
West Midlands Smash Boundaries!
West Midlands Smash Boundaries in Shake the Dust Regional Final… To see all images of the West Midlands Shake the Dust Regional Final please click here Puberty, media brainwash, cultural divisions, gossiping and the actions of Truce were the subjects of West Midland’s teen poetry teams in the Regional Final on Saturday 9th of June. The...
Interview with Poetry Coach Chris Bennett
Chris Bennett is one of the poetry coaches in the South East. Together with Paul Cree he coaches a team of young people at the Forest Education Centre in Hampshire. When and how did you start writing and performing poetry? I’d written poetry since I was a kid, then, in 1989 I’d been...
West Midlands Shake it Up!
The young slam teams in the West Midlands shook things up big style during their Shake the Dust, Regional Final that took place on Saturday 9th June at The Drum, Birmingham. The awaiting crowd welcomed the five teams of young people from: - Broadway School - Holyhead School - Stockland Green School - Queensbridge School - Woodrush School All the slam teams were lucky enough to...
Did You Know Poetry Was An Olympic Sport?
Slam Co-ordinator Sam Berkson kicks of the Shake the Dust - Poetry & Sport Category with this fantastic blog post, and we love it, so read on… Did you know that poetry was an Olympic sport? That’s right, the Ancient Greek Olympics were a religious festival in which the best in arts and sport were offered up to...
The Regional Final’s Arrived! Go North West!
The Regional Final had arrived! It was time to unleash the talented poetry from our Shake the Dust teams in the North West. After months of preparation, crafting and practicing the Regional Final was upon us! The young slam teams in the North West Region blew us away with their outstanding poetic performances! The groups were coached by dedicated poets...
“Authors, Visionaries, Dream-weavers…”
“Authors, Visionaries, Dreamweavers…” South West Shadow Poet, Hay Brunsdon lets Shake the Dust in on her all time Poetry Heroes… “I think my real poetry heroine was a dreadful substitute Geography teacher I had in year 9, her mundane lesson about the horrific distress and admin caused by earthquakes bored me into writing my first...
East Midlands Regional Final: What a Performance!
The evening was filled to the brim with passionate and confident performances from all of the slam teams in the East Midlands – they set the bar extremely high! Their poetic pieces were delivered with such tremendous energy and displayed what can only be described as a bottomless hunger for poetry! Congratulations to all our teams,...
The North West Regional final: “It’s only the beginning!”
Hey guys! What a journey this has all been up to now, after ten workshops all the groups from Young Identity Old Trafford, Sale Grammar, Accrington Academy, Salford Academy and Chorlton High School were ready for what they had been working toward, the shake the dust regional North West Final. I felt like I was...
