[Antiracism] FW: ALIXA + NAIMA Natn'l Poetry Tour '05
alixa + naima
artforachange at yahoo.com
Sun Oct 30 20:04:01 EST 2005
Dear western MA fam!,
alixa + naima has forwarded this email to you with the following message:
peace to the anti-racist organizing contingent
in Western MA!
This is Naima and Alixa ("climbing poeTree"-
Brooklyn-based spoken word duo for those on the
list who don't know) reaching out to let you
know about the national poetry tour we are in
the midst of... we on a mission to subvert the
racist capitalist patriarchial system by cross-
pollinating our stories.
So, greetings and much love from Chicago! We'll
be coming round town to do our MA leg of the
tour from Nov 23rd to early December. We will
try to visit as many colleges and universities
as possible during that time, trying to incite
a riot in the trenches of academia! Check out
our website www.climbingpoetree.com and let us
know if you'd be interested in setting up a
platform for us to perform at your school. We
look forward to possibilities for making
Hampshire/Smith/Mt.Holyoke/UMASS/Amherst/whereve
r potentail tour stops on this journey.
holla back at artforachange at yahoo.com if you're
interested and we can talk specifics.
love and struggle
Naima
We deeply appreciate your energy
Subscribe me!
http://ui.constantcontact.com/d.jsp?p=oo&m=1100981044661&ea=antiracism@hermes.hampshire.edu
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August 2005
ALIXA + NAIMA: Natn'l Tour Oct/Nov 2005
BLESSINGS!
a shout and infinite blessings to all our folk!
If you are receiveing this email it is because you
are already part of our beloved family (from way
back to our 2003 national tour or when Blackout LOL
hit DC last month!) OR because your contact was
passed by one of the aforementioned! We are excited
to write you with good news:
In response to popular demand and a renewed
conviction of the power of art to transform lives,
Alixa and Naima are excited to announce their second
national poetry tour scheduled for October and
November, 2005.
see schedule of tour below
If your venue (or someone you know) is interested
in being part of Alixa and Naima's 2005 tour, please
contact the artists directly by replying to this email
(artforachange at yahoo.com). Details below.
Stay tuned for the full scheduled! We look forward
to seeing you in the fall!!!
In Love and Struggle,
Alixa and Naima
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ALIXA + NAIMA
Of the Heart Beat Soul Sister Artist Warrior duo Climbing PoeTree
AVAILABLE FOR BOOKING FALL 2005!
"Creativity is the antidote for violence and
destruction. Art is our most human expression, our
voice to communicate our stories, to challenge
injustice and the misrepresentations of mainstream
media, to expose harsh realities and engender even
more powerful hope, a force to bring diverse peoples
together, a tool to rebuild our communities, and a
weapon to win this struggle for universal
liberation."
~Naima + Alixa, Dynamic, March 19, 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOKING DETAILS
WHO:
Alixa and Naima, Climbing PoeTree
WHAT:
Alixa and Naima's acclaimed performance,
MetamorphoSongs, is composed of single and
two-voice poems that explore diverse themes,
including: state and personal violence, civil
rights, sexuality, immigration and the Diaspora, the
drug war and mass imprisonment, global politics, and
woman's empowerment. Their astounding ability to
bridge the personal with the political and dive deep
into the density of serious issues is matched only
by the grace with which they deliver their message
via a poetic craft they have reinvented and
mastered. Both tragic and triumphant, the poetry
Alixa and Naima deliver challenges its listeners to
acknowledge their own humanity, dissolves apathy
with hope, and helps heal the inner trauma so that
we as people may begin to cope with issues facing
our collectivities.
WHERE:
Anywhere on the map provided transportation from
NYC or previous tour stop.
WHEN:
S.F. Bay, CA 10/1-10/13***
Los Angeles, CA 10/14-10/19***
Denver, CO 10/20-10/24***
Iowa 10/25-10/26***
Illinois 10/27-10/31
Chicago, IL 11/1-11/6***
Lansing, MI 11/7***
Detroit/Ann Arbor, MI 11/8-11/13**
Pittsburgh, PA 11/14-11/15**
State College, PA 11/16**
Washington D.C. 11/17-11/20**
Philadelphia, PA 11/21-11/22**
Western/Central MA 11/23-11/28**
Boston, MA 11/29-11/30
Providence, RI 12/1-12/3**
Connecticut 12/4-12/6**
Albany/Hudson, NY 12/7-12/9
HOW:
Contact Alixa and Naima directly by email
(artforachange at yahoo.com) or telephone (347 424
1386) to make inquiries or to schedule a show.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"POETRY is our WEAPON, our MEDICINE, our VOICE, our VISION"
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Alixa and Naima make up a Heart Beat Soul Sister
Artist Warrior duo called "Climbing PoeTree". On a
mission to re-envision the world through evolutionary
art that speaks truth to power, Climbing PoeTree
delivers a unique two-tongued performance in which
Alixa and Naima layer and weave their voices in
polyrhythmic cadence. With the compelling conviction
of an orator cloaked in the resonance of song, their
voices coalesce in perfect syncopation like machine
guns marrying raindrops in a sonorous call-and-
response. Together Alixa and Naima have blazed
stages across 35 states and spit fire on 500 mikes
and counting, every syllable manifest at the service
of their vision for justice, creative uprising, and
prison
abolition.
Each with her own impressive background in
performing, teaching, and activism, Alixa and Naima
made their debut as a duo in July of 2003, when they
launched a five-month tour across the nation with a
multi-media, spoken-word performance about the War
on Drugs: Uniting the State of the Americas. Through
performance poetry fused with slide projection and
movement choreography, they raised awareness
about the effects of the drug war on people of the
Americas, untangling complex and parallel realities of
racism, classism, and violence at home and abroad.
In four months, Alixa and Naima were featured at
more than 70 venues, leaving listeners outraged and
inspired.
Since the 2003 tour, Alixa and Naima have made a
base in Brooklyn, headlining shows around New York
City and co-teaching poetry workshops to prisoners
and young people through the East Harlem Tutorial
Program, the Youth Leadership Project of the
Incarcerated Mothers Program, and the NYC Public
School system. They have continuously received
letters and calls from people they met along their
tour for encores, taking them back to cities across
the U.S. to reach even larger audiences. They've
rocked international festivals from Maine to South
Africa, headlined shows at more than 35 colleges and
universities, and propelled the 2004 Lyrics on
Lockdown Tour, a national effort to raise
consciousness about the criminal justice system in
and outside of prisons. Featured on BET's The Next,
and two audio compilations (The We that Sets Us
Free, and Manic Expressive), Alixa and Naima's words
have exploded in wider and wider circles, resonating
echoes the linger long after they leave the stage.
As Alixa and Naima gain notoriety throughout New
York's underground, across college campuses, and
throughout the bohemias of urban America with their
explosive lyrics and eloquently emotive delivery, they
have remained committed to a tradition of cultural
resistance of the great poets and griots before them.
"Imagine Langston [Hughes] and LeRoi
[Jones], Sonia
[Sanchez] and Susana [Baca], Fela
[Kuti] and Frida
[Kahlo] all sharing one microphone in perfect
harmony, you might understand the spell that Alixa
and Naima are able to cast over a crowd,"
~Mae Jackson, Poet and Civil Rights Activist
Both tragic and uplifting, thoughtful and rousing,
Climbing PoeTree's performance lifts listeners up off
their chairs, fists in the air, tears in their eyes,
feeling their own heart beats. Alixa and Naima,
equipped with ink and soul, use their art to expose
injustice, heal from violence, and generate vision to
help us all imagine a more just and compassionate
world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Poetic Profile
HBO's Russell Simmon's 2001 Def Poet, Alixa
Garcia gained national attention at the 2001 and
2003 National Poetry Slams. In 2004, she was chosen
as the "Ground Breaking" poet to represent the
United States in a televised international cultural
exchange hosted in South Africa by LoveLife. She
was a featured poet and panelist at the 2005
Wielding Hammers: Women's Art and Liberation
conference held at the University of Michigan
2002 Harambe Slam Champion, Naima Penniman
made her debut at venues ranging from the
Nuyorican Poets Café to the Riverside Church in
Harlem. She was a featured poet and panelist
alongside Sonia Sanchez and Jessica Care Moore at
the 2004 National Spoken Word Symposium, Iowa
City, IA, and at the 2004 National Black Writers
Conference in Brooklyn, NY
Together Alixa and Naima have been featured 380
times to date at:
Local and international conferences and festivals,
including:
Dreams Deferred: The Criminalization of America,
Northampton, MA, 2005; International African Arts
Festival, Brooklyn, NY, 2004; Women Center Stage at
The Culture Project, New York, NY, 2004; Cultural
Exchange International Art and Music Festival,
Portland, ME, 2004; One World Fair, Cummington, MA,
2004; Female Flavor: Women in Hip Hop Conference,
Bronx, NY, 2004; National Blacks Arts Festival,
Atlanta, GA, 2003.
Colleges and universities, including:
New York University, Cornell University, University of
Chicago, Brown University, Colombia University, Bard
College, Penn State University, University of
California
at Sacramento, San Francisco City College, Michigan
State University, Oberlin College, Wesleyan College,
University of Vermont, University of Rhode Island,
Northeastern University, Clark University, Simmons
College, University of Iowa, School of Visual Arts,
Smith College, Hampshire College, Boston College,
New School University, University of Maryland, Sarah
Lawrence College, Mt Holyoke College, Canisius
College, Barnard College, Amherst College (2003-
2005).
Performance venues, including:
The Nuyorican Poets' Café, NY, NY; The Green Mill,
Chicago, IL; The Black Box, Oakland, CA;
Zerubabbels, Cincinnati, OH; The Point, Bronx, NY;
The Rotunda, Philadelphia, PA; AS220, Providence,
RI; Gathering of the Tribes, NY, NY; The Lizard
Lounge, Cambridge, MA; Tower II, Atlanta, GA;
Zeitgeist Theatre, New Orleans, LA; The Bad Juju
Lounge, Seattle, WA; La Raza, Sacramento, CA; The
45 Bleecker Theatre, NY, NY
And have shared the stage with such poets
and performers as:
Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Jessica
Care Moore, Talaam Acey, Crystal Williams, The Last
Poets, and Dead Prez.
Published:
In print:
Street Signs, 2000 Bat City Press, Sarah Lawrence
Review 2000/2001, Dark Phrases Volumes 11 and 13
(2001 and 2003), Altar Magazine Issue 2 (Spring
2003), Up Rising by Naima, self-published poetry book
(2003), re'nas'cent by Alixa, self-published poetry
book (2003).
Audio recording:
Stethoscope (Alixa and Naima demo), 1000 copies sold
The We That Sets Us Free (compilation produced by
Justice Now), 5000 copies sold
Manic Expressive (spoken word poetry compilation
produced by Jared Paul), 100 copies sold
Video recording:
Ancestors Watching Lyrics by Naima, Alixa, and
Bryonn Bain
Music video executively produced by Warrington
Hudlin, Black Filmmakers Foundation
Interviewed/Reviewed:
Clamour Magazine, Issue 24, January/February 2004;
Dynamic Magazine, March 2004; Black Entertainment
Television (BET)'s prime time show The Next, June 26
and 29, 2004.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Contact Us
artforachange at yahoo.com 347 424 1386
"...to destroy us/they'll have to annihilate our
angels/we summon the strength of all those/who
came before us/and all those coming/we must weave
freedom/in our fingers/when the world gives us
nothing/but believing/a new day's coming."
from Alixa and Naima's Pheonix
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
artforachange at yahoo.com
Join our mailing list!
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