By: Christian Sarna
Kwame Dawes, esteemed poet and Emmy award winner, performed a public reading of his work with accompaniment from the Western dance students.
“Verse & Twirl: An Evening with Kwame Dawes and MWSU Dancers” was a collaborative effort between the English and modern languages department and the department of theatre, cinema and dance. It took place in the packed Potter Hall Theater with a line of cars stretching around the building.
Dawes worked with dance students on interpretive choreography of his poems. These poems addressed subjects such as racism, mourning and identity. Dawes expressed his happiness with the collaboration.
“This has been a wonderful opportunity,” Dawes said. “To work with the dancers and meet with the staff for the journal, it’s been fantastic.”
The Western dance students performed interpretative routines to two of Dawes’ poems. The dancers were led by Marla Heeler, adjunct faculty of dance at Western and owner and director of The Dance Arts Center, LLC. Heeler expressed her pride in the dancers.
“I was thrilled with my students,” Heeler said. “They won’t have that opportunity again.” One of her dance students, Libby Denny, was grateful for the chance to collaborate.
“We don’t get to choreograph to stuff like that very often,” Denny said. “Working together to create the pieces and find the meaning in his poems was fantastic.”
Dawes has authored 35 books of poetry, fiction, criticism and essays and continues to write. He spent most of his life in Jamaica and won a 2009 Emmy for an interactive site based on his project “HOPE: Living and loving with AIDS in Jamaica.” He started the evening with a Jamaican folk song.
“Write my name; write my name up there,” Dawes sang. “You could touch my finger on the golden pen and write my name up there.”
Dawes is currently a professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and editor-in-chief of Prairie Schooner Magazine. For Marianne Kunkel, assistant professor of English, the event was a way to thank her mentor. Kunkel worked alongside Dawes as the managing editor of the Prairie Schooner during her time as a graduate student.
“I learned so much from him at the University of Nebraska,” Kunkel said. “For him, today seemed very joyful.”
Kunkel is the current editor-in-chief of Mochila Review, a student-written undergraduate journal published with support from the English and modern languages department. This event unveiled their 2019 issue.
Anne Davies-Speer, a non-traditional student and public relations and community outreach coordinator for Mochila Review, was inspired by Dawes even before his reading.
Earlier in the day, her publishing class had gone out to lunch with him. Davies-Speer was so impressed by Dawes that she forgot to eat.
“His experiences are just wonderful to listen to,” Davies-Speer said. “To get someone of this caliber here is amazing.”
Whether a lifelong performer, an award winning author, or a wandering student intrigued by the sound of moving feet, those in attendance could all appreciate the collaborative soul of the event.
