Festival of
Indigenous Storytellers
Fireflies Ashram, Bangalore 30 Sept, to 2 Oct, 2011 "Storytelling Workshop Inspired by Tribal Storytelling" To communicate with Dr. Eric Miller about the Storytelling Workshop described below, please call 0 98403 94282, or e-mail <eric@storytellinginstitute.org>. To learn more about the Festival of Indigenous Storytellers, please click here, call 0 95353 21980 or 0 98860 27733, or e-mail <acoustic.traditional@gmail.com>. The Festival of Indigenous Storytellers -- possibly including Storytelling Workshops -- is planned to occur in numerous locations throughout India in 2011 and 1012. For updated information, please contact the above. Concept
Note for the Storytelling Workshop
This Storytelling Workshop is designed for adults. Young people could also participate. In this Workshop, we approach and perform storytelling in ways inspired by Tribal storytelling. The Workshop would be activity-based. Participants would spend much of the time telling and discussing stories. Various storytelling techniques would be presented, and Participants would have opportunities to practice these techniques. Numerous aspects of storytelling -- as they may occur in conversation, performance, and ritual -- would be demonstrated and discussed. Storytelling as it relates to tribal cultures is the focus of the Workshop. Thus there is an emphasis on storytelling in relation to the earth, other aspects of nature (including vegetation and animals), and ancestors; and on ways in which storytelling can illustrate how all things are connected to each other. This Storytelling Workshop works especially with the theme of forests. We look at stories about: being lost in a forest, escaping into a forest, meeting someone in a forest, not wanting to leave a forest, etc. We consider the forest as a dangerous place; and also as a place of rejuvenation and healing. Story elements we utilise include: leaves, branches, bark, and roots of trees; tree-houses built on upper branches of trees; the smell of earth; insects in the earth and on trees; animals and plants of the forest. In this Workshop, we beckon the stories to come out of the trees, and out of our hearts, and be seen and heard. Participants are encouraged to prepare for the Workshop by thinking about their favorite folk tales and episodes of epics -- stories that they heard as children, and that they enjoy telling to children. They might especially think about the ways these stories may relate to animals and other aspects of nature. This Storytelling Workshop would be led by Dr. Eric Miller, a co-founder and the director of the World Storytelling Institute, an NGO registered in Chennai. Dr. Eric was raised in NYC, was trained as a Folklorist at the University of Pennsylvania (in Philadelphia), and has settled in Chennai. He has studied storytelling with professional storytellers in NYC, and with Kani (Kanikaran) Tribal people of Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. Please "click" the underlined words for information about Dr. Eric's other Storytelling Workshops, designed for teachers, parents, screenplay writers, tour guides, and people in the business world. World Storytelling Institute Dr. Eric's personal website . |