KCSS foursome win gold for slam poetry

May 19, 2015 · 0 Comments

Aidan McNaughton, Andrew Mlinarski, Gil Segev, Lauren Asner, Leila Friere, and Adam Avenus.
By Gil Segev
King City Secondary School is known throughout the region for its sports teams – soccer, basketball, and of course the infamous football team.
But this year there was a new team in the mix, called the King Royals.
Led by English and Writer’s Craft teacher Andrew Mlinarski and team captain Lauren Asner, the King Royals is a group of the school’s top poets. Leila Friere, Adam Avenus and Gil Segev had to fight for positions in the team, writing three-minute “slams” about topics including love, sexuality, and expectations in life.
The purpose of the team, besides sharing art in a new format, was to compete in the second-annual York Region District School Board Poetry Slam competition, established by Dwayne Morgan. The competition included 16 YRDSB high-schools, showing a growing interest in the art.
The King Royals competed in the quarterfinals in February, beating out every team with a score of 119.6 of a possible 120 points, awarded for the originality, quality of writing, and performance of the poetry pieces.
A week after March Break the team went on to compete at the semifinals, hoping to earn a coveted spot in the finals. They delivered once again, this time scoring an impressive 119 points in four rounds. Mlinarski, who had coached each of the team’s members into the best writing they could produce, cried when they were told they’d made it to the final round on April 30. The team was ecstatic, but also nervous to compete against the rest of the finalists.
All month long the King Royals worked hard on their slams. Brainstorming, writing, editing, and starting all over again. There were moments of tension between members as topics clashed and pieces were slashed in the name of time constraints. But days before the event all the pieces had been finalized and rehearsals were in full-swing. The team felt that if we worked hard at memorizing and perfecting our performance, nothing could go wrong.
And then, disaster struck.
April 30 at 11 a.m. the day of the competition. The King Royals were busy running over the planned poems in room 206. Spirits were high as anticipation built up. Team captain Lauren had just finished rehearsing her solo piece about racism, and they were moving on to the group piece. The four-person poem explored the topic of bisexuality, and all had pivotal roles in it. Adam was excited to rehearse, but as he stood up from his seat to join the others, he cried out in pain and collapsed back down.
Seconds passed in stunned surprise before anyone reacted. Adam’s knee had popped out, presumably from rising in a wrong way. Ice was quickly applied, medical attention garnered, and by the end of third period Adam was at the hospital, leaving the rest of his team behind in total shock.
How could they perform that night without their fourth member? An earlier rule change prevented Lauren from performing a second solo, and the others already had theirs planned out. Team morale was low as solutions were sought, until somebody finally stepped up: Adam’s friend and fellow performer, Aidan McNaughton.
Aidan agreed to fill in for Adam, and began rehearsing with the others at 2:30 p.m. By the time they took a much-deserved break for burgers and fries, reciting the poetry with Aidan seemed as natural as it had with Adam, who was keeping them updated by text messages. The team rehearsed all the way to the venue, which quickly filled out with other teams and mentors as well as families and friends that have come out to support their teams. The King Royals were overjoyed to see so many familiar faces in the audience as we made our way to the stage to perform our works.
The moment of truth came in the second round as all four performers stood to perform the group piece, appropriately titled “The Foursome.” The audience snapped and exclaimed in appreciation for their favorite lines, and erupted in cheers and applause when the local squad finished. The poem had given everyone material to reflect on, as did the three solos they also presented.
Leila’s poem on heartache and finding new love had everyone captivated with analogies to painting and art. Gil’s pessimistic piece on life and relationships had people laughing and singing along to the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” And Lauren wowed the audience with a brilliant commentary on racial inequality, which earned her perfect 10s from the judges.
After many tiring months of hard work and four grueling rounds of performance, the time for the crowning had arrived. Team members collectively held their breath as the fourth and third place winners were announced. Then, to their surprise, the King Royals were announced the champions of the competition.
“We had to be ushered onto the stage in our surprised state to claim the trophies, grabbing an extra one for Adam, who had been right there with us in this emotional journey,” Segev said.
As Adam, Leila, Aidan and Gil graduate this year, they will be leaving behind Grade 10 student Lauren and teacher Andrew Mlinarski to shepherd next year’s team to another victory.