Kyle Tran Myhre (Guante)

Virtual Residency: Page/Stage/Engage: Poetry and Performance

Across the globe, the spoken word movement has reignited poetry as a force for artistic expression, critical dialogue, and community-building. As both a specific form (writing poetry that is meant to be shared aloud) and a deeper cultural practice (tracing its roots back millennia), spoken word creates space for all of us to tell our stories, make our values concrete, and speak up about the issues and ideas that matter to us. In this virtual residency, two-time National Poetry Slam champion Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre provides video lessons on topics like the importance of concrete imagery, the revision process, dealing with stage fright, and much more, while also giving thoughtful feedback to student poems, and engaging in live dialogue and performance via video chat.

Virtual Residency: Spoken Word Coaching (Independent or Small Group Study)

While Guante’s most common workshops are set up as broad, accessible introductions to the form, students who really love spoken word may benefit from more intensive feedback and coaching. Whether it’s via an independent study, a small writing circle, or an afterschool-style program, Guante will share tools, tactics, and critical questions that can help students take their writing and performing to the next level.

Virtual Residency: Poetry, Protest, and Possibility

Guante has a decade’s worth of experience facilitating classes and workshops on poetry, and an equal amount of experience facilitating conversations around issues like identity, power, privilege, race and racism, consent, critical masculinity and violence prevention, and other social justice topics. Using poetry and storytelling as entry points, students are encouraged to think more deeply and critically about these issues, as well as cultivate their own agency and power to make a difference. This workshop can be as broad or specific as it needs to be; in some spaces, it’s an intro-level exploration of how the various identities we hold impact how we move through the world; in others, it’s about taking on a specific topic; for example, a series of poems, discussions, and activities focusing on the relationship between toxic masculinity and gender-based violence.

Virtual Residency: Building a Culture of Consent

In this interactive presentation/dialogue, two-time National Poetry Slam champion Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre uses poems and storytelling as entry points into dialogue about what lessons boys and young men learn about “what it means to be a man,” the potential danger in some of those lessons, and what we can all do to help build a world free from gender-based violence.

Exploring Social Issues through Spoken Word Poetry

While this interactive series of workshops still covers the basics of spoken word as an art form (its history, core aesthetic elements, philosophy and more), its primary emphasis is on using writing to engage with social justice issues, political issues, history and identity in a meaningful way. Through writing prompts, critical analysis of examples, free-writing and performance practice, students will be encouraged to speak out about their lives, their world and their values, gaining valuable leadership and critical thinking skills.

Note: Residency has a Social Studies emphasis.

Introduction to Spoken Word Poetry

This interactive series of workshops introduces students to the form of spoken word poetry—its history, core aesthetic elements, philosophy and more.  Through writing prompts, critical analysis of examples, free-writing and performance practice, students will find not only an outlet for self-expression and a way to engage with the issues that are important to them, but a fun, effective way to improve their writing (particularly around traditional elements of poetry—assonance, consonance, metaphor, imagery, etc.), public speaking skills and self-confidence as well.

Note: Residency has English emphasis.

Speak Something Alive: Spoken Word Poetry

In this dynamic, whirlwind performance, 2-time National Poetry Slam champion Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre will perform some of his most popular and powerful spoken word pieces, taking on a wide range of characters, social issues and poetic styles. Mixing social justice with science fiction, heartfelt emotion with absurdist comedy and beautiful writing with powerful performance, Guante’s work is immediately engaging, even for students who have never seen or heard of spoken word before.

Secret Rivers: Poetry + Music

Secret Rivers features the fiery vocals of slam poetry champion Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre backed by the live MPC wizardry of producer/composer SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE. Disrupting the stereotype of spoken word poetry as navel-gazing, open mic night pretentiousness, the duo performs work that centers grounded, human connection—from rejecting dominant culture visions of masculinity, to affirming the importance of grief, to cultivating radical hope in the midst of crisis—all over music that deftly weaves together Hip Hop, ambient, and a mural-like collage of vocal samples.

Counter-narrative Masculinity Through Spoken Word

In this interactive presentation/dialogue, two-time National Poetry Slam champion Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre uses poems and storytelling as entry points into dialogue about the stories we are told about gender roles, and masculinity specifically, and what power there is in telling our own stories. The performance also creates room for visioning new possibilities, and moving from an awareness of the issue into action and activism.

Introduction to Spoken Word Poetry

This workshop will introduce students to the form of spoken word poetry through numerous dynamic examples and critical discussion. We’ll discuss what other forms spoken word draws from, engage in a writing activity and share ways that interested students can learn more and try it out for themselves.

What Poetry Can Teach Us About Having Difficult Conversations

A common refrain is that “we need to have a frank and honest conversation about race in this country.” But how do we actually do that? How do we challenge people while still meeting them where they’re at? In this interactive workshop we’ll share some tools and tactics drawn from our experiences, and also from the world of poetry and performance.

 Zooming In: Art as a Catalyst for Action

 In a world that demands action, how can an arts-conscious approach help everyone become a catalyst, and plug into movement-building efforts? What lessons about activism and advocacy can we draw from how artists engage with issues– or from the creative process itself? How might we “zoom in” in order to make our sometimes abstract values, principles, and missions statements really “live” in the world in a concrete way via practice and policy?