HYP-Hop High Tea

By: Abeera Shahid

The scent of tea and treats,

The strangers chatting away,

The snapping of fingers,

The sound of music and words blending together…

The Hamilton Youth Poets brought the audience into their personal worlds at the HYP-Hop High Tea event on Sept. 25 at the Spice Factory. HYP is currently preparing to represent Hamilton at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word in Winnipeg, and HYP-Hop High Tea is their annual event to rally community support behind the poets.

When I walked into the space, I expected a traditional audience set-up with seats arranged in rows. Instead, the event started by allowing attendees to interact over tea in beautiful porcelain cups, sitting around small circular tables. This environment facilitated meaningful conversation between strangers who felt like friends by the end of the event.

Later in the evening, the audience migrated to a theatre-like space to witness a spectacle of musical talent and poetry come together. You could feel the energy in the room as the poets shared their personal stories, criticized sensationalized news, and breathed inspiring metaphors about life using chemical collision theory.

Macapella and musical bands amplified the voices of these poets by adding their creative contributions. The performances made me reflect on world issues, feel the plight of the poet and I left motivated to write more of my story in spoken word form.

The range of poetic styles in the room was diverse and each of the poets’ personalities complimented each other in group performances.

HYP team poet Victoria Wojciechowska attested to the range of style in the evenings’ performances.

“We have people who do fresher hip hop style poetry and people whose inspiration for spoken word come from rap. Then we have page poetry, so it is the classic with the new,” said Wojciechowska

The relationship between HYP and the local community is mutually beneficial. HYP is a grassroots group that has cultivated a culture of storytelling and offers a supportive atmosphere for creative expression.

“I think it's a show of faith; we put ourselves out on the stage emotionally, with vulnerability, we try to be honest, and integral. We try to bring in the community by hosting these extremely open events, poetry slams-all ages, going into schools, really reaching out to the farthest places in the community,” explained Wojciechowska.

The inclusivity that HYP promotes is evident considering the audience featured members from various parts of the community. There were people who had seen HYP perform at Supercrawl and McMaster Welcome Week to family and friends of the poets.

The community gains from HYP, but the program transforms the lives of poets who participate. I related to Wojciechowska’s insight on how writing poetry for an audience can be distinct from personal writing.

“I think a lot of teenage girls grow up writing in journals and it becomes this outlet for our voice to be very private…[HYP] really reframed for me to think of writing as the closest form of teleportation we have. How to communicate your thoughts in a way that will be best received by the audience, best understood. Making sure that I am not just being cathartic on stage, not using it as only something for me but really trying to leave others with...an idea I have or a thought or a lesson”

Spoken word is a powerful tool for storytelling and HYP uses it to empower people to share their truths. HYP’s commitment to providing community members a space for expression through the monthly slams, workshops in schools, organizing the slam competition, Louder than a Bomb, and more is admirable.

I cannot wait to hear from the HYP team once they return from the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word; you can join me in supporting their return at the Welcome Home Slam on Oct. 30!