3-session Storytelling Workshop for Adults

 

Friday 6 May 2016.

Saturday 7 May.

Sunday 8 May.

 

3pm-5pm each day.

 

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Workshop Location:

Near Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai.

 

Total Workshop Fee (for 3 sessions): Rs 2,200.

 

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Participants are encouraged to prepare in advance

to tell approx 5-minute versions of these 3 stories --

 

1) A favorite grandmother story

(a fairytale, an episode of an epic, etc).

 

2) The story of an eye-opening experience.

 

3) The story of one's life.

Especially in terms of how one discovered, and has developed and applied, one's unique interests and talents.

 

A goal of the workshop is to enable participants

to tell grandmother stories and personal-experience

stories with the same sense of reality and

emotional involvement.

 

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This Workshop is designed especially for Parents, Teachers,

Human Resource Trainers, Therapists, Social Workers,

Performers, Creative Writers, Tour Guides,

Home-Schooling Parents, Professional Storytellers,

and People interested in becoming any of the above.

 

Two recent articles about the Workshop are here and here .

 

Links to additional articles relating to the

World Storytelling Institute are here .

 

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The Workshop would be led by

Dr Eric Miller (PhD in Folklore),

Director, World Storytelling Institute,

98403 94282
eric@storytellinginstitute.org

 

Dr Eric's webpage is

www.storytellingandvideoconferencing.com .

 

The World Storytelling Institute's webpage is

www.storytellinginstitute.org .

 

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Two aspects of Storytelling are: the stories themselves; and ways of telling the stories.  Workshop topics include:



 

Story Content 

Types of Stories. 

Finding and Creating Stories. 

Elements of Stories. 

Symbols and Metaphors in Stories. 

Story Structure. 

Dramatic Tension. 

Story and Place. 

Story and Community. 

Story and the Past. 

Story and the Future. 

Storytelling and Personality Development.   

Freudian and Jungian analysis of Fairy Tales. 

Therapeutic Uses of Storytelling.

Using Storytelling to Teach Academic Subjects.                              

 

Story Performance

Vocal and physical warm-ups.

Breathing/Singing/Moving and Storytelling. 

Eye contact.

Role-playing by tellers and listeners. 

Psychological, verbal, and physical audience-participation. 

Stylized speech and movement -- by the narrator, and by story characters. 

Timing, pacing, and rhythm; striking a pose; pauses. 

Story Mapping / Painting / Drawing. 

Storytelling accompanied by Illustrations, Puppets, and Props.  


Ways of Coaching Storytelling. 

Using stories in inspirational speeches. 

Using stories in sales pitches.

Facilitating Story Contests, and Storytelling Festivals.

 

Storytelling is a form of Public Speaking that may also feature some Acting (when one role-plays and speaks as charatcters).  Thus, this is a Workshop in Public Speaking and Acting.





 

Stories we would be working with include: 


1) Folk Tales (Animal Fables, Fairy Tales, etc) --

please see www.storytellinginstitute.org/87.html .

2) Episodes of Epics.


3) Personal-Experence Stories, and other Documentary Stories.


4) Stories made-up by individuals.

 

Regardless of whether a story's characters might be humans, animals, divinities, aliens, etc -- all stories are about situations.  Story characters are in these situations, and story listeners may identify with the characters, and project themselves into the characters and the situations.  Listeners can think about, and imagine, if they might do things similarly to or differently from ways the characters are doing things.  This gives the listeners practice for living.

 

Storytelling for Discovery, Inspiration, Development, and Transformation
 of one's self is one of the Workshop topics.  There would be also an introduction 
to the field of "Therapeutic Uses of Storytelling".


Telling a story can be the first step in an interactive process. 

After each story is told,
1) The storyteller can lead a discussion about the story,
2) The listeners can draw/paint the story,
3) The listeners can make puppets and masks relating to the story,
4) The listeners can act-out the story as a skit.
5) The listeners can be invited to add to, and in any other way, change the story.
6) The listeners can be invited to tell additional stories that might come to mind -- real-life experiences, as well as traditional stories, etc.


Some Guidelines for Storytelling:

1) Before Telling a Story
One you have selected a story to tell:
a) Identify one or more turning points / key scenes / dramatic moments, of a story.  These are scenes in which important things happen, important decisions are made, and/or important actions are taken. 
b) Visualise each episode of the story, and practice describing what you see.  One way to practice is alone, silently, with one's eyes closed.  Also:  You might write the story.  You might represent the story visually, as a series of images.

2) While Telling a Story
Get to the key scenes in a timely manner.  "Step into" characters (role-play), especially during the key scenes.  When speaking as a character, at times look into the eyes of a listener and address her as if she were another character in the story.  Doing this invites the listener to join the play, to pretend that she is also a character in the story.  One at a time, you can do this with other listeners present.

3) After Telling a Story
Lead a conversation about the story with the listeners.  Ask "open questions", such as,
"What did you think about the story?"
"How did you feel about the story?"
"What did you like about the story?"
"What do you remember about the story?"
"How do you feel about the ways the characters behaved?"
"Might there be something about the story that you might like to change?”
"What messages, morals, and meanings do you get from the story?"
(Encourage each listener to formulate this for him/herself.)


In addition to Basic Storytelling, there would also be some consideration of
1) Uses of puppets in storytelling.
2) Collecting family stories, and other oral histories from various individuals and groups.
3) Story and storytelling tourism (visiting the countryside to visit the places of a story, and to hear and tell stories there).
4) Uses of storytelling in the Business World.
5) Methods of (spoken and visual) translation during performance.
6) Using storytelling to teach a language.
7) Using storytelling to teach any subject.
8) The history of the modern Storytelling Revival Movement around the world.

9) Facilitating storytelling contests and festivals.

Versions of this Workshop could be designed for any duration, for any group size, for people of any age and profession, and to occur in-person or via videoconference (Skype, Google+, etc).

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