Spoken Word and Emotions Dance

“That’s something a stranger should do, is blow into town and point out something that might’ve been overlooked.”

More and more frequently under the influence of technology, the delicate nuances of phonetics are lost to our newfound inclination to abbreviate. To fragment. To shorten. And all of that gentle, measured sloping meter and rhythm of a language cured and perfected by years and years and generations of people is shamefully neglected.

Thankfully for groups like Emotions Dance, the revival of the artistry in verbal communication was the primary focus for at least a few hours.

Paired with the grace and beauty of dance, Trinity Preparatory School served as the venue for a spoken word performance on the second day of ArtsFest 2011. Words took on an entirely new form when issued through the microphone that night for the dozens of attendees waiting anxiously in the crowd. Sentence after sentence fell upon our ears, each out pour of words cresting and falling in gentle lapping rhythms at times, and snapping and popping and flickering quickly at others.

If art is a force intended to alter the way we perceive the world, then art emerged in true form tonight. We should be thankful for artists like those who invest their passion into the performance of spoken word, because it is through their endeavors that we are able to detect, define and finally grasp that mundane layer of everyday truth, so that we may flip it over and peer at it from the other side.

Without these artists, would we pay any mind to words further than the everyday utility of them during our 9-5 shift as a means to navigate through people in order to get from point A to point B? I’m not so sure we would. Sometimes if it seems our world is void of art, perhaps the problem is not that our immediate surroundings are commonplace, rather that we have become complacent with them.

We should all take a leaf from the book of the spoken word artists and try to peer at that reality in front of us from a new angle. Reevaluate! Overanalyze everything! Try a double-take once in a while. How many beautiful things have you overlooked today simply because they’re included in your routine?

I can be the first to attest to the following: attend a spoken word performance, and language will no longer be one of the arts your attention sails past on a daily basis.

Spoken word was an invigorating reminder that we should all take the opportunity to rub off the callouses once in a while, so that we can have an honest experience with the world around us.