Professor performs spoken word poetry Oct. 15

Spoken word is an old and contemporary form of poetry. As practised today, spoken word combines poetry with elements of theatre, music, dance, and performance art, in solo or group compositions. There are different forms, such as slam or text-based performance, and collaborations with dancers and musicians.

Dr. Justin McGrail, a professor in Vancouver Island University’s Department of Art and Design, will present his unique combination of creative and theoretical work in a presentation on spoken word poetry on Oct. 15 at VIU’s Nanaimo campus.

Entitled “Resistance is Reasonable,” McGrail’s illustrated talk will explore the history of spoken word in Canada and the US, through discussion and images, and will culminate in the performance of his original work.

McGrail’s talk is part of the Arts and Humanities Colloquium series, a line-up of presentations on cutting-edge work in the Arts and Humanities disciplines. All presentations are open to the public and free of charge. “Resistance is Reasonable” will take place on the top floor of the Library in Room 507 from 10 to 11:30 am.

Born in Toronto, McGrail holds a PhD in architectural history, and the VIU community knows him as a professor of art history. But he has also made a name for himself as a performer of spoken word poetry in bookstores, clubs, malls, poetry slams, classrooms, galleries, cafes, and at festivals across Canada since 1991.

A founding member of Montreal’s influential spoken word quintet Fluffy Pagan Echoes, McGrail has written and performed poetry for multiple voices, and has performed in a range of multi-disciplinary collaborations, including dance, visual art, theatre, and music. In 1995 he collaborated with Montreal’s DuoDance Company in “Of Fire and Sword”, a spoken word-dance performance about the fate of Scotland’s Highlanders that was mounted in Toronto, Montreal, and at the Halifax Fringe Festival.

The title for McGrail’s VIU performance on October 15 derives from another 1995 creation, the “Fluffy Pagan Echoes: Resistance is Reasonable,” a spoken word performance for five voices he co-authored and presented at the Montreal Fringe Festival.

Since coming to the West Coast, he has produced his own reading series (The Word Circus) and radio programme (A-way with Words), competed at the National Poetry Slam, been heard on CBC Radio, and performed at the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival, the Word on the Street Festival, Victoria’s Sunday at the JBI, the Vancouver Children’s Festival, and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.

Recently, McGrail has collaborated and performed with Victoria’s Suddenly Dance Company and Tripod Dance Collective. In 2007 he was featured in “Pourtinade,” a dance-music-spoken word performance directed by Lori Hamar, which premiered at Victoria’s MacPherson Playhouse as part of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra’s “New Currents Festival”, and subsequently at ArtSpring in Ganges (2009), and the Metro Theatre in Victoria (2010).

McGrail’s presentation will be accompanied by refreshments and followed by discussion. Everybody is welcome.


For more information, contact Katharina Rout (Katharina.Rout@viu.ca) or Helen Brown (Helen.Brown@viu.ca) .