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Watch : - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBlufHQ_L2o Oh I how I wish I could translate this word for word! Shri Subbu Arumugam is proponent of the storytelling art form Tamilnadu called VILLU-PAATU which means Bow-Song ( Song from the Bow) Here he shares the Creation Story of the Art form: A Raja went into the forest and killed animals for fun...by evening he regretted his act, so he asked his Minister how he could was his sin away. His minister suggested that the Raja should sing!! So the Bow that was the symbol of violence was turned into a musical instrument by the creative Raja, and then turned the pot upside and place the Bow on it and started singing. The first note he uttered went like this : THANDANA THOM - which means I give myself to my art. So sing, play music, tell stories for the sake of the art itself...and not for the appreciation you could or want to get! Give Your Self to your Art , Give Yourself, Give : Thandanan Thom , Thandanana Thom! ...

While planning any group activity it is important to remember the following: Theme: It is necessary to think of your theme for the workshop. But it is not mandatory. I say this because from a child’s point of view, all he/she wants is something to do, to explore, to create and to take home! So even if you don’t have a theme for your 3/4/5 days together that’s ok. In all probability, it will be the parent who will ask you for theme!! Well…precisely for that curiosity, let’s have a theme. Coming to particulars, the very first 5 day workshop I did was purely Story based, so to satisfy my need for a theme, I took on Around the World Stories, and did 5 stories from Africa, India, a Greek Myth, and Tibet  Moving on, I did a 5 day workshop on Creative learning, yet again only I knew the theme! It started with making toys from Junk, followed by a day of Art, a day of Math (! Yes, loads of learning there), a day of Science and of course the last day reserved for a story! Th...

September30th created a meeting I will not forget. When you meet someone after 15 odd years and then continue the conversation like there was no interim, then you really understand the meaning behind the words; Life's ebbs and flows. So smoothly did we hit it off, like we have kept in touch for all this time. We dwelled on the past, our journey, our shared tales and of course new stories that has created who we are now. I am lucky she did decide to come for this Confluence of storytellers held on the outskirts of Bangalore; with uncertainty over what an educator would do in a gathering for tellers.... But the informality and the openness of the tellers gathered, made it easier. Thats one story The other is the East and West meet, briefly I stayed to interact with people from the Eastern mountains of Sikkim, and the blue mountains of Nilgiri mountains. A story wove us through a Treasure Hunt, beautifully created by Salil Mukhia( along with Ba...

Pure storytelling is not performance... As we sit or cuddle cozily into bed, or mayhaps, cuddle near mum or grand mum; old forgotten stories, or new ones are told. There are no frills, no dramatics (maybe, if you have a person who loves to be theatrical!). Just the teller and the audience, transported into a world of words. Living and feeling the nature of the story. Sometimes pensive, sometimes giggly, sometimes bored, sometimes demanding, the audience draws the teller into different moods and spaces. This audience may have not done all this, yet the teller took us into his world of stories, lost to many, but discovered by the interested few. I went for a story telling session at Page Turners book shop by Acoustic Traditional.( Hmm...I would like to know the story behind that name?!). They are an NGO working at reviving tribal folklore and stories. Salil the story teller and the brain behind AT, sweetly and cleverly spun 2 tales from ancient lore for us. One about a monk and h...

    Went to meet this very warm and prolific story teller at a library called Hippocampus . What was memorable for me was the way she shared her involvement with story telling. Most tellers are passionate about what they do. Yet developing a unique technique and style is also the toughest part. This French Storyteller spoke with such ease in a language that she does Not use for story telling; English! That fascinated me. The other was the fact that she feels comfortable telling stories of Caucasian origin, from Russia. Yet she has no connection with this country. She also went on to say that when she first landed in Russia ( I dont remember which city she mentioned), she felt she knew the place before. That is the connection and identification that goes with story telling. One can travel to so many different worlds through a story. Isn't it amazing?! Her prolific collection of stories are gathered from every part of the world. The stories themselves published in Frenc...

Elif Shafak What a powerful speaker, sensuous, inspiring, and so rooted. The message she gives us is that of breaking barriers within our minds. Please do watch the entire presentation. It is mind blowing.

http://devdutt.com/everybody-tells-a-story Devdutt Patnaik...catch his take on Story telling   http://www.ted.com/talks/devdutt_pattanaik.html Or catch his Story telling skills as he demystifies Myths..and talks about East and West perspectives... Fantastic... I am further convinced that Stories and Story telling and Storytellers  rule the world!

Story telling is different from Drama or solo/mono acting...it is an interactive process where the audience is asked to move with the Teller, imagine with the Teller, and experience with the Teller. There are many others qualified to give an insight on these differences, but I speak from my thoughts/heart. For those who enjoy performing arts this is a very genteel art to pursue. I call it that because, there is no right or wrong way to do Stories. The only way is to connect with your audience. To share with them a thought, a feeling, an experience. With younger children it is important to have a story line, as they need a plot, an organized thought process, which they themselves may not have in their thoughts. While with an audience that gets older, you don't need an organized plot. You need to spark imaginations,and even give them an opportunity to make their own endings, extract their own conclusions. Yet there are some Learnings that I have gained from my own meager experiences...

Story teller : Carmen Agra Deedy, tells a personal story with her own twists and turns. The cuban accent, the flow of words, the humour and the message at the end, truly takes us through a voyage of thoughts and imagination. She tells us a simple story of her Nonagenarian mother, taking the car out on the sly, and making her a part of this mayhem!! She holds the audience in her grip. Weaving such a vivid picture and with such humour. To Tell a story with so many nuances is really a skill! I felt the words have been delivered slightly fast, but then so are we Indians accused of talking too fast! Story telling and stories... Any one who is fascinated by both must see this..she is amazing... There are many such Tellers even in our own families. True they may not tell so precisely or with such coherence, yet Story telling is in born in most Humans. Grandmothers are known for their storytelling skill. Ask any one they will tell you that having a grandmother at home is such a boon, as Story...