Rupert Common
Literary
Specialities: Improvisation, Songwriting, Spoken Word/Slam Poetry
Contact Info
Email address
Phone Number
Website address
Resides in
English Montreal
Social Media
Experience working with
Student In
- Cycle 3 Elementary
- Secondary 1 & 2
- Secondary 3 & 4
- Secondary 5
- CEGEP
Lifelong Learners
- Adult Learners
I regularly explore the following Broad Areas of Learning/Themes in my work
- Health and Wellbeing
- Personal and Career Planning
- Environmental Awareness and Consumer Rights and Responsibilities
- Media Literacy
- Citizenship and Community Life (Identity & Belonging)
Listed in the Quebec Culture in the Schools Repertoire
- No
I have experience working with
- ART STARTS (BC)
I can facilitate virtual creative experiences
- Yes
Travel
- I am available for travel within the same day
- I am available for travel overnight
I am a spoken-word poet, singer-songwriter and street-dancer. My professional practice combines music, dance and writing to form multidisciplinary art on stage and film. My work is rooted in the both the traditions of English Literature and Hip-Hop culture. Described as "Folk-Hop," it follows in the tradition of protest music. As an artist-educator with youth my goal is to share the magic of the uttered word and inspire them to engage with written and improvised styles of verse.
Creative Approach and Experiences Offered
Given that my art-practice happens within the context of a politically active and multi-generational Hip-Hop community, I offer a socially relevant way to engage youth in poetry. My approach includes the art of improvisation or “freestyle rap,” – a method of spontaneously composing lyrics on the spot. Through interactive, group games and exercises I share tips on rhyming, free association and even music theory. These lyrical and rhythmic games form a natural bridge to the study metre, and of poetic structures like stanzas and rhyme schemes.My workshops are dynamic. Students will be able to engage in pairs, as a group and also have the time to be introspective and write creatively at their desk. There will be chances to collaborate and perform and also, to be a spectator and to be entertained. Representation in source material matters. Students are introduced to an array of artists from different time-periods and continents. Mystics, Griots, Bards and MCs can all find their place.