Presenter: Heather Forest
Saturday 10:30 am-Noon
Room: Wampanoag
Come to my workshop if you are a beginning or burgeoning storyteller who enjoys exploring the intricacies of the creative process. We will journey together into the world of imagination to see the many ways stories are structured. We will playfully explore how to bring stories to life for audiences of difference ages. We will hone performance skills by improvising with the basic tools of the trade: voice, body, words, gesture, and nuance.
Every art has techniques and methods unique to its form. Storytelling is a time/space art form. Like music or dance, storytelling requires the physical “presence” of the artist. A story unfolds in real time and a storyteller must have “stage presence” to authentically generate the tale for the listener.
I first learned about “stage presence” in my youth when I studied modern dance. I had a wonderful dance teacher who insisted that we stay in the present while performing her choreography. “Do not think about what you just did or what you will do next. Stay here!” she would shout while the dance troupe practiced.
Once in a public dance concert someone in the troupe slipped but caught themselves and found balance just before landing on the floor. “That elaborate fall,” the dance teacher said to the blushing dancer afterwards, “was NOT in my choreography.”
“However,” she went on, “you had perfect stage-presence in that moment! You weren’t thinking about anything else but your movement. It was BEAUTIFUL!”
In the workshop we will look at topics such as:
-How to find relevant stories to tell
-How to shape stories for performance
-How to adapt stories to different age audiences
-How to use sound reinforcement on stage
-How to find places to tell stories
-How to describe your work
I have been sharing my thoughts about the art of storytelling since my first teaching experience at the 7th NAPPS Conference at Washington College in 1984. I have many opinions about our art form but believe that true learning comes from direct personal experience. The workshop will be activity-rich to support the ideas presented. I hope the workshop will be useful and that folks leave with an enthusiasm about their own unique creativity and are inspired to make more stories to share with eager listeners.
Heather Forest is a modern-day bard. Her storytelling performances are a fusion of poetry, prose, original melody, and the sung and spoken word. A pioneer in the American storytelling revival she has shared her repertoire of world tales in theatres, schools, literature conferences, and storytelling festivals throughout the United States and abroad. A multiple award-winning author and recording artist, she has published seven children’s picture books based on folktales, three folktale anthologies, eight audio recordings of storytelling and a popular educational web site Story Arts Online http://www.storyarts.org. Ms. Forest is a recipient of the Circle of Excellence Award presented by the National Storytelling Network, U.S.A. http://www.heatherforest.com
