The core members are Diana Norma Szokolyai and Dennis Shafer. The duo seeks to collaborate with other artists and create bridges between music, poetry, dance, and the visual arts.
Core member bios
Diana Norma Szokolyai
Diana Norma Szokolyai is a Hungarian and American poet, performance artist, and educator. Roses in the Snow (her first book of poetry and photography), placed runner-up for best poetry book in the 2008 national DIY Book Festival. Her work has appeared in The Boston Globe, Area Zinc Art Magazine, Polarity, Up the Staircase, The Dudley Review, Human Rights Institute: Human Rights News, Teachers as Writers: Essays on Teaching and Learning, and other publications. She is recipient of a Human Rights Art Award from the University of Connecticut's Human Rights Institute. Composers that have either written music for her texts or commissioned poems for their music include David Krebs (U.S.), Sebastian Wesman (Peru), Jason Haye (UK), Peter James (UK), Claudio Gabriele (Italy), and Juliet Case (U.S.)
She is co-founder of Sounds in Bloom, an internationally performing poetry-music-movement-art collaborative that performs in theaters, bookstores, concert halls, art galleries, educational settings. and forests. Sounds in Bloom recently started the Chagall Performance Art Collaborative Series, which is currently in residence at the Outpost 186 art space in Cambridge every third Friday of the month.
Together with saxophonist/composer Dennis Shafer (co-founder), they collaborate with a variety of international artists. Sounds in Bloom gives workshops to children and adults in extended contemporary musical techniques and improvisation, creative writing and interdisciplinary artistic collaboration.
Diana Norma has given readings and shared the stage with classical, jazz, and experimental musicians at at the Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris), Outpost 186 art space (Cambridge), Mobius Center for Experimental Art (Boston), Tenri Cultural Institute (New York), The Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music (Cambridge), The Percolator Art Gallery (Lawrence, KS), Fairbanks Art Gallery (University of Oregon), Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore (Paris), The Grolier Poetry Bookshop (Cambridge), and other venues including spoken word events and artist "salons" in Paris, Vienna, and Budapest.
Education:
HARVARD UNIVERSITY (Cambridge, MA)
Ed.M Arts in Education (2009)
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT (Storrs, CT)
2-yr exchange with SORBONNE PARIS III and PARIS IV (Paris, France)
M.A. French Literature and Cultural Studies (2007)
Thesis: "Re-examining Subjectivity and Deconstructing the Gypsy/Gadjo Paradigm: Education and Creation of the 'Gypsy' Poet"
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT (Storrs, CT)
B.A. magna cum laude French, minor in Human Rights (2004)
activities: UNESCO student Ambassador for Human Rights, President-Intercultural Federation, Vice President- International Relations Association
Dennis Shafer (saxophonist, composer)
www.dennisshafer.com
Co-founder of Sounds in Bloom, saxophonist Dennis Shafer was presented with a Legacy Award from the Creativity Foundation in 2008. A native of Lawrence, Kansas, he has returned to Boston after three
years in Paris, France where he studied with saxophonist
Jean-Michel Goury. In Paris, Dennis worked with several great
composers and saxophonists, including Francois Rosse, Etienne Rolin,
Yosh'ko Seffer, Francois Coutinaud, and Rico Gubler. He also
premiered works by Robert Lemay, Jacques Hetu, Yosh'ko Seffer, and
toured with various ensembles across France, as well as Austria and
Hungary. Dennis Shafer is the founder and co-founder of several
groups in addition to SIB, including Le Tapis Volant, the Skyline
Quintet, the Back Bay Saxophone Quartet and the Opus Jazz Duo.
Returning to Boston where he has premiered works by Robert Morris,
Micheal Paull, and Larry Bell.
Education:
THE LONGY SCHOOL OF MUSIC (Cambridge,MA) (2009)
Artist Diploma (with Kenneth Radnofsky)
CONSERVATOIRE NATIONALE DE BOULOGNE BILLANCOURT (Boulogne, France)
3 years of study with saxophonist Jean-Michel Goury (2004-2007)
THE BOSTON CONSERVATORY (Boston, MA)
Bachelor of Music cum laude 2004)
COLLABORATIONS:
to be updated...
David Krebs- (composer) - http://www.myspace.com/davidevankrebs
Sebastian Wesman- Estonia (composer) http://www.myspace.com/sebastianwesman
Ellom (reading our poetry in dialogue with each other and musicians) www.myspace.com/alonetimewithme -Estonia, Paris, Boston
inner landscapes
polarities
the surreal
the macabre
neo-romanticism
expressionism
magical realism
Sounds in Bloom has been inspired by soundpainting http://www.soundpainting.com/index.html), and we are currently in the teacher certification process for soundpainting.
Sounds Like
What some people have said:
Poet & Writer Ed Luhrs has called the poetry "wild" and "an adventure into ecstatic realms."
" Your 'Ripped Lullaby' reminded me of Steve Reich"- Anna Robinson (musician, The Boston Conservatory)
FLYER FOR OUR NEXT CONCERT. If you like our stuff, and want to participate in the guerrilla magic of spreading the word, please copy and paste to your pages, use as an invitation or accidently leave some in old movie theaters, bookstores, staircases, cafes, or in the newspapers on your bicycle route.
Poem inspired by the Brakhage film, "Mothlight," at the request of Project: 5a.m., who composed the music:
Collaboration with Ellom
"The Deadly and Wide Oceans Inside"
In July 2008, Ellom flew from Estonia and met us in Paris. We worked intensely in collaboration with musicians Dennis Shafer (sax), Mattias Leboucher (piano), and Elise Douylliez (violin). The city itself was our loveliest patron. We had more concerts in APril 2009 in the Boston are.
Performance Diary:
01/15/09 Chagall Performance Art Collaborative featuring poet Scott Ruescher
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA
12/18/09 Chagall Performance Art Collaborative, Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA
11/20/09 Chagall Performance Art Collaborative featuring poet Judson
Evans, Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA
10/16/09 Outpost 186 Interdisciplinary Arts Cabaret, host- poet Rita Banerjee
10/16/09 Cambridge Writers Workshop, Outpost 186,
10/11/09 Cambridge Writers Workshop, 1369 Cafe, Inman Sq. Cambridge
09/18/09 Outpost 186 Chagall Performance Art Series
09/18/09 Cambridge Writers Workshop, Outpost 186
08/31/09 Masterclass, Pacifica University, San Francisco
08/28/09 Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University
08/15/09 Art Cafe, Lonely Beach, Ko Chang Thailand
06/18/09 Shakespeare and Co. Bookstore with Ellom
06/11/09 Sounds in Bloom at The Percolator Art Gallery (Lawrence, KS)
06/05/09 Fairbanks Art Gallery, Dept. of Art Oregan State University
05/15/09 Zeitgist- Chagall Performance Art Collaborative presents "Spatial Poetics"
05/12/09 poetry for MIT multimedia installation- secret attic studio
05/08/09 Installation at Carpenter Center for Visual Art (Harvard)
04/17/09 Zeitgeist Outpost with Momentum
04/07/09 The New School of Music with Ellom & Chagall Performance Art Collaborative
04/05/09 Zeitgeist Outpost Art Gallery with Estonian Poet Ellom
03/13/09 Jewitt Hall, Longy School of Music, and premiering works in collaboration with
Italian composer Claudio Gabriele and David Krebs
02/18/09 Cygnet Fest Fundraiser curated by Emily Beattie
02/08/09 Zeitgeist Outpost Art Gallery Opening with Vox 4 String Quartet and
Simon Tedesci
12/06/08 The Grolier Poetry Bookshop
11/17-12/05 Harvard’s Gutman Library Visual Art Exhibit
12/04/08 Hungarian folk songs in song and stories at Harvard Multicultural Festival
11/07/08 Zeitgeist Outpost Art Gallery with Serbian Guitarist Srdjan Grujicic
11/01/08 Mobius: Boston’s artist-run center for experimental art with Gleason’s Twins & composer Juliet Case
10/04/08 Tenri Cultural Institute of New York (http://www.tenri.org/) with the Vox 4
Quartet
10/23/08 Conroy Commons Cabaret in Longfellow- Harvard University
10/03/08 Zeitgeist Outpost Art Gallery: Sounds in Bloom hosts the Vortex Other
Dimension Series in Contemporary Performance Art
07/31/08 La Cité Internationale des Arts (Paris) with Dennis Shafer (saxophone)
Estonian Ellom in Voice (Poetry) and French musicians Mattias Leboucher
(piano) and Elise Douyliez (violin)
Sounds in Bloom is very happy to start the Chagall Performance Art Collaborative series.
A REVIEW OF MY BOOK OF POEMS, ROSES IN THE SNOW:
Stanislavski said: “Love the art in yourself, not yourself in the art.” Roses in The Snow is an absolute testament to that. Each poem and photograph within it resonates authenticity, grace, and depth without pretension or device. The author’s words and images depict strength through vulnerability, silence through voice, light through shadow and pay homage to the strange dance of sadness with beauty.
Roses in the Snow is an exquisite collection of postcards from journeys through the inner and outer universes. I challenge anyone to read “The city is falling in my heart again” and not believe that at some point in some place, it was written for them.
The carefully placed black and white photos make you feel as though you really are sitting at the next table from one of the instants the author has carefully captured and holds still-breathing. “Dove in a Fountain in Cordoba” left me joyously perplexed for a day about what defines captivity and freedom.
Watch out for this book. You can put it down, but it will get up and silently follow you.
-Sairica Rose, poet & author of Subtitles for a Silent Movie (Reactor Press)
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton St., Harvard Square (off of Mass Ave.)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138
phone: 617-547-4648
Hours of operation:
Tues. and Wed. : 11am-7pm
Thurs.-Saturday: 11am-6pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
In Paris, France:
The Red Wheel Barrow English bookstore
22, Rue St Paul
75004 Paris, France
+33 1 48 04 75 08
The Village Voice Bookshop
6, Rue Princesse
75006 Paris, France
+33 1 46 33 25 34
here are some of my visual pieces:
Myspace Editor
$(THE TIP JAR )$
SIB NEWS:
Sounds in Bloom is in the process of obtaining non-profit status, and your contributions will soon be tax-deductible.
We would greatly appreciate any pocket change for our TIP JAR to help us give more time to our art and outreach programs. All donations will be made through the safe and secure intermediary PayPal, so your personal information is kept safe.
Donor's names can be published or remain anonymous upon request. If you'd like to make a special request, just send me a message or include a note with your donation. If you'd like to become a FRIEND of Sounds in Bloom by sending a DONATION of 25 EUROS or more, we will send you a DVD of our performance in Paris, which includes bonus Egyptian Bellydancing and Serbian Folk music!
After you've finished here, you may like to hear this poem sung on myspace...
Poem 162 of 230, WalkaboutsVerse (please see my blog): TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001
Where traditions are not so rare; Sea, country and works scent the air; A multitude of monuments, Planted tubs and patterned pavements.
The longish pedestrian malls; The remnants of defensive walls; Historic buildings are a gauge Of the respect for heritage.
Wheat, rape and pines in the fields; Estuaries guarded by shields; Long sandy beaches and wide scenes; Romantic-ruin go-betweens.
Rivers in parts licked by trees, Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries, And crossed by practical delights - Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.
Fine churches headed at Durham; Football kits ad infinitum; Kept castles - one for study; Masonry behind masonry.
And, with moulding-works out that way, It’s somewhere for a longer stay..?
Wish I could make it to Helsinki but can't . . . . Tallinn is two and a half hours from Tartu, so Helsinki is a bit farther. I love that town but haven't been there for ages so I'm afraid I can't recommend any places - maybe you can ask Haldjas - she's been there more during last years. Greetings to Dennis and Thailand, be well,
dear one! Bruno and I are coming to Paris in July for a few days and are planning an impromptu performance on a street or bridge or anywhere that might take us.
Will you be there? It would be wonderful indeed to catch up, and also for you to meet Bruno.. we will be there from 16th to the 20th July.
yes norma! it was such a warm and beautiful meeting - reciting to innocent passers by and free food and picnic by the canal and waiting three hours for erica's concert (worth it) and everything. hope paris has been continuously kind to you, e.
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