Connecting with Dance and Community this Poetry Month

A Wrap Up Report on Poetry in Parks, Plus Poetry, Upcoming Events, and More

Lee Herrick, left, and Melinda Palacio | Photo: Courtesy

Poetry Month is going strong, and I am grateful that many readers chose to attend Poetry in Parks on Saturday, April 12. It was a beautiful spring day, and, thanks to State Parks and Anne Peterson at Santa Barbara Trust for Historic Preservation, Poetry in Parks has a home at the Alhecama Theatre. The theater is part of the Presidio, which is Santa Barbara’s only state park. Scott Green from State Parks and I are already planning next year’s event. Our goal is to come up with inspiring programming for Poetry in Parks. The Alhecama’s stage gave me the idea to bring dance into the program. This is the first time I have incorporated dance into a poetry program. It’s also the most I have had to juggle as host, poet, musician, and dancer, along with all the months of coordinating all the moving parts that is Poetry in Parks, including three musicians, special guests, seven poets, and dancers Rosal Ortega, Alma Rios, Angelina Toporov, Cheyenne Catalano, Darla Anderson, Deborah Jimenez, Monique Tamez, Norma Campos, Samantha Stout, and Yana Van Arsdale.

With a few months of flamenco classes under my belt, thanks to Rosal Ortega Flamenco, I was a little nervous dancing in this year’s program. After all, Flamenco is such an institution in Santa Barbara. Our event was held the same day as the auditions for this year’s Spirit of Fiesta Flamenco dancers. I do have the advantage of having danced in my youth and throughout college. Although I’ve made a full recovery from having broken my leg ten years ago, those dance classes seem a lifetime ago. I enjoy the physical and mental workout of Rosal’s dance classes. My fellow classmate, Monique Tamez, says that dancing Flamenco is exciting yet challenging, but also fun. Monique is also new to Flamenco and has only been dancing for three months. We both started around the same time and are often paired together because we are both of similar height, short, just over five feet.

“Conquering the challenges and being able to do a beginner’s performance is satisfying and encouraging,” said Tamez. “I was able to see the larger picture of all the small broken down pieces of what we had been learning. It encourages me to continue learning with Rosal. Rosal’s commitment to making sure we understood the choreography and her encouragement makes her a wonderful teacher.”

Rosal, a native of Santa Barbara, comes from a long line of dancers, beginning with her grandfather Juan Cota and mother Irene Rosita Cota Tuttle. She studied Flamenco and Spanish Classical dance in Seville at age 12 and by age 13 was dancing professionally. She went all out for Poetry in Parks. I appreciate the extra time she put into the choreography and preparing unstudied and new adult dancers by holding extra classes and rehearsals. On stage, she also performed in two numbers. She danced a solo, Baile de Luis Alonso and she performed the cante or singing for the Sevillanas while studio members danced, all the while providing the heartbeat for dancers and musicians and making sure everyone was in compas or rhythm. Two young brothers from Solvang provided the live music for the Sevillanas: Josh McCullom (on guitar) and Sam McCullom on cajon.

I told Scott Green that we could commence our victory lap after he told me that a young audience member asked his father to buy him one of Lee Herrick’s poetry books. The boy is the son of one of the dancers. She told me that her son has been reciting Lee’s poems to the family. This is precisely why we wanted to bring poetry, music, and dance together. I was beaming after the event and basking in all of your compliments.

From left, Takunda Chikowero, Melinda Palacio, and Mirabel S. | Photo: Courtesy

It was a pleasure to welcome Takunda Chikowero back — the 10 year-old poet who has won awards in the Martin Luther King Poetry and Essay competitions and Earth Day Poetry competition — and to see his growth as poet from last year. I also invited Mirabel S. from Laguna Blanca Elementary. Before the program began, I had the opportunity to hear an original poem from Mia Lopez, member and former chair of the Coastal Band of Chumash. She offered a Land Acknowledgement.

We had 80 to a hundred people throughout the afternoon. The afternoon ended with dancing, but poetry was at the center with a musical interlude from Mark Zolezzi with The Gruntled. I played an original song on my guitar and read poetry, along with Perie Longo, Emma Trelles, Lori Anaya, Ruben Lee Dalton, who also played original songs on guitar, and our state Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, who has recently been appointed to a second term. We are lucky to continue to have Lee Herrick as California’s State Poet Laureate. Scott Green and I are already planning next year’s Poetry in Park, the Santa Barbara Presidio edition.

This week’s poem comes from Scott Green, State Parks Archaeologist and founder of Poetry in Parks, the Tahoe Poetry Collective, and the Poetry Backyard summer poetry reading series in Kings Beach, CA. His poem reflects the meeting of Esselen people and members of the Portola Expedition near Carmel.

1769

by Scott Green

I know a spot where a message
was laid. Upon that knoll a decision made.
I know a place that time forgot
And now a cross it marks the spot.

I do not know what thoughts
were had, As men and horses
still iron clad
Made their way across the sand,
By those that were native to the land.

I’ve read the words written down
with hand. By missionaries of that
band.
But they do not convey to me
The tears that shed beneath
the tree. As families
gathered by the sea
And watched the strangers slowly flee.

Poetry Events

April 26, Santa Ynez Valley Poetry Group, the Elverhoj Museum in Solvang. Readers include: Dorothy Jardin, Teresa McNeil MacLean, Cynthia Carbone Ward, and Ron Colone.

April 29, Impromptu Typewriter Poetry, Tuesday 5-7 p.m. at Chaucer’s, also features poet Sharon Frances from Oxnard and her new book. Simon Kiefer brings his vintage typewriters. He and local poets will offer poetry on demand in front of Chaucer’s. For more on this event, read Madeline Slogoff’s story here.

May 2, Guess Who’s in Town: Poets Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and James Crews at the Santa Barbara Public Library, Fireplace room, presented by Laure-Anne Bosselaar, 6-7:30 p.m., Central Library, 40 E. Anapamu Street.

May 4, EP Foster Library with Mary Kay Rummel and Juan Luzuriaga, more TBA.

May 14, Blue Whale Reading, Mary Kay Rummel and Mary Ann McFadden, Unity of Santa Barbara Chapel, 227 E. Arrellaga Street, 5:30 p.m.

May 21, AWC-SB Women of Achievement Awards, Wednesday 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m., Cabrillo Pavilion, 1118 E. Cabrillo Blvd., Santa Barbara. Honoring local artistic communicators, including Melinda Palacio. See Tia Trinh’s story here.