Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: Three girls from KIIT University placed the state on the national map of spoken poetry when they made it to a national-level competition recently.

Nikila Chhetri, Padma Parija and Shruti Mishra took part in the National Youth Poetry Slam held in Bangalore last week, with 24 other teams, each of three students, from colleges in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Calcutta and Chennai.

Spoken word or slam poetry involves recitation of original works alongside collaboration with other art forms such as music, theatre and dance. Unlike traditional poetry, it doesn't depend solely on words but also expressions, actions, and gestures.

The auditions for the competition were held three months ago where the trio from Odisha, the state's only representatives, took part with teams from 100 other colleges.

During the first round, every member had to perform individually. While Nikila chose to slam the suicidal tendencies among youngsters, Padma weaved in the magic of love through her performance. Shruti chose to express her ideas about being content with not having any passion.

"We tried to infuse life into bland words and spice them up with gestures and props. We made sure we enacted them instead of just reading them out," said third-year student Nikila.

She said the competition from the metro city teams was tough. "They had exposure to a number of slam poetry events and workshops and were very well groomed. We do not get such opportunities in Bhubaneswar and it was difficult to match their skills," she said.

While they could not make it to the final round, they are happy that they took Odisha to the national arena.

"From being a non-entity in the Indian slam scene to at least gaining a foothold, we feel it is something to be proud of," added Nikila.

The girls said the varsity had played a big role in garnering their interest in slam poetry. "We have developed a slam culture over the past few years and it is included in our college fest. We have watched our seniors perform, adding to our interest in taking poetry from page to stage," said second-year student Shruti.

During the event, they met Bollywood actress Kalki Koechlin and poet Sarah Kay. "We interacted with them and learnt a lot about stage presence," Shruti said.

The trio and the city's other poetry lovers have also formed Bhubaneswar Poetry Club to popularise the culture.