FEST 09 CONFERENCE AND FESTIVAL REPORT
By Clare Muireann Murphy
I attended FEST ’09 as a representative of the Irish storytelling scene, as director of the Community Storytelling Initiative and as a practitioner of the traditional arts in my country. My presence at FEST ’09 was made possible by the support of Culture Ireland. My sincerest thanks to Culture Ireland for supporting my work and the advancement of the traditional arts in Ireland and abroad. FEST ’09 was a seminal moment in storytelling where important decisions and connections were made that will raise the profile of storytelling internationally.
IN BRIEF
FEST 09 was the meeting of 19 countries, represented by 60 storytellers, to determine an international forum or meeting place for European Storytellers. The aim of the Conference was:
to further the agenda of FEST 08
to agree on the Memorandum that determined the ambitions, aims and intentions of the FEST organisation as a whole.
The Conference also served to bring together many different types of storytelling organisations to share knowledge, information and ideas on current projects, upcoming projects and possible collaborations.
Activities in brief:
Country reports:
Each country that did not get a chance to report on the storytelling situation in their country at FEST 08 was encouraged to do so at FEST 09.
Steering Group:
A Steering Group was appointed to drive FEST forward towards the meeting of FEST 10 in Reading, UK. Steering Group elected 5 storytellers from 5 different countries who have promised to uphold the ideals of FEST while driving it forward by answering questions and undertaking tasks before FEST 10.
The individuals voted onto the Steering Group are: myself Clare Muireann Murphy, Ragnhild Mørch (German/Norwegian storyteller and previously a member of the Committee for FEST 08), Martin Manasse (coordinator for FEST 10), Casilda Regueiro (Spanish teller living in Switzerland), Georgos Evgenikos (Greek teller and Festival director)
Photo by Mats Rehnman, Fabula Storytelling
(L to R Casilda Regueiro, Clare Muireann Murphy, Martin Manasse. Georgos Evgenikos, Ragnhild Mørch)
Memorandum:
The Memorandum was voted into existence on Friday August 7th 2009, with each representative signing for their organisation or country.
Interest Groups:
Interest Groups were formed around a variety of topics concerning storytelling and its’ role in society. These groups will continue to work throughout the year on their areas of interest.
Individual Presentations:
Several individuals were allotted time to present on storytelling projects of interest that they had managed in their home countries, or regions.
Presentations during FEST ‘09
Clare Muireann Murphy presenting on the “International Project”
Alexander MacKenzie “Storytelling and Business”
Abbi Patrix “Creative Transmission, the telling of epic in modern times”
Pep Bruno “Maraton de Cuentos, Guadalajara”
Nicola Grove “Open Storytelling”
Ulf Ӓrnstrӧm “Storytelling in Education”
Nelson Calderon “Escuela Integradora”
Festival:
The Conference ended with a two day festival of storytelling for the city of Lausanne. This festival was put on free of charge as a ‘thank you’ to Lausanne for supporting the Conference. It was attended by a wide variety of the public; from families to the elderly to young people. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
FEST 2010
FEST 10 was voted to be held in Reading, UK in August 2010 and will be managed overall by Martin Manassee along with help from other UK tellers and the Steering Group.
IN DEPTH:
FEST ‘09 CONFERENCE
Day One:
An introductory afternoon and evening during which the various groups of tellers arrived into the Salles de Fetes, Casino de Montbenon, Lausanne from all over Europe and beyond. Some of the countries represented were: Ireland, UK, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands, Greece, Germany, Holland, Québec Canada, Basque Country and Cataluña.
Each storyteller gave a brief introduction of themselves and their work. Most storytellers spoke at least two languages. The dominant languages throughout the conference were English, French, Spanish and Norwegian.
Donald Smith, Edith Montelle and Barbara Gobrecht each gave a 30 minute talk.
Donald spoke about the four distinct variations of storytelling:
High performative style, considered the minstrel or Bardic style often accompanied by music
The normal everyday style still told with artistry
Fireside tales told in houses, huts, around the fire etc
Personal tales told in the everyday context of life.
He emphasised giving each its place, context, recognition and support, as they all contain truth, the marvellous, the epic, the personal and the romantic.
Edith Montelle spoke about the 3 landscape of Swiss folktales; Jura, Plateau and the Alps. Each landscape represents a different aspect of the cultural psyche and is represented by different aspects in folklore.
Barbara spoke about the Germanic aspect to Swiss folklore, touching on key aspects that give importance to the heritage and traditional arts in Switzerland.
All meals were taken in the Salles de Fetes, costs of which were covered by the storytellers themselves. The breaking of bread together allowed for much deeper discussions to occur and allowed time for new connections and friendships to develop.
Day Two:
Day two was divided into presentations and Interest Group meetings.
Presentation 1
The day was launched with Nicola Grove’s presentation on “Open Storytelling”; her company which works with people who have intellectual disabilities. She emphasised the importance of giving a cultural context to the isolation that these people have suffered with throughout history and the role of storytelling as a medium for empowering their voices now.
HYPERLINK "http://www.openstorytellers.org.uk" www.openstorytellers.org.uk
Presentation 2
Alexander MacKenzie’s presentation was on the place of storytelling in the corporate business world, his own “Big Story” project about small venture social entrepreneurship, and the effect storytelling can have to create better communication within the business world.
HYPERLINK "http://www.thebigstory.co.uk" www.thebigstory.co.uk
The conference was then divided into Meetings on the Interest Groups:
Training of storytellers East European stories
Data Across border
Business Young Storytellers
Language Healing
International Festival Education
Storytelling as a performance art FEST structure
I attended Business and Across Border Storytelling and can only report on these two.
Meeting:
Business and storytelling:
We spoke about the levels of experience that each of us had at the table varying from none to working full time within the corporate world.
There was some discussion on the polarisation of artists on working in the business world at all, as it is seen as a place devoid of artistic merit. Money making within the artistic community is also often looked upon as contrary to the nature of art. How do we build a bridge between art and business?
Alexander MacKenzie spoke about the 3 ways to enter the business world with storytelling.
Away Days; Storytelling as entertainment
Team building HR Department; Storytelling as skills and training work
Executive level workshops; Storytelling used as development of staff or a company as a whole, using corporate language. (analytical, Meyers Briggs breakdown of the stories etc)
The gap between the two worlds of storytelling and business needs to be bridged. Storytellers must understand that Business people are still human beings who enjoy storytelling and can benefit from hearing it. Business people must understand that storytellers are not flaky artists who serve no purpose and waste people’s time but rather supply a vital product to society.
It was also advised that for high level corporate work, consultancy training is recommended so that a common language of business can be used.
I presented on this meeting and spoke about what a story is, why it is used, the role of the storyteller and the way to bridge the gap between storytelling and business.
The main issue was to be wary of generalising with either side and to show respect within each field for their area of expertise.
End of Business and Storytelling notes.
Presentation 3
Ulf Ӓrnstrӧm then presented on the use of storytelling in the educational curriculum. He advocated the integration of storytelling into the training of teachers as well as the daily use of it in the classroom to augment the learning process. He suggested that collaboration with teachers and government is essential for this programme to move forward. He also spoke of the benefits educationally should the oral tradition become an integral part of the Swedish educational system.
Presentation 4
Nelson Calderon then presented on “Escuela Integradora”; this presentation was given in English and Spanish.
“Escuela Integradora”; an afterschool for a mainly multicultural community in Spain. The demographic is half Spanish children and half children from latin America and other countries with high emigration rates to Spain.
The afterschool employs several storytellers to work with the children and this serves three main purposes:
Maintain contact with home culture through stories from that culture
Learn about host country via stories from the host country (in this case Spain)
Teach basic human values using stories as the medium.
Presentation 5
I then presented on the “International Project”, which I managed in Galway from Feb – March 2009. I focused on 3 aspects of the project:
The process of getting the International community who are currently awaiting “status” involved in my project.
The workshop process, learning about building a bridge between the local and the international communities.
The end performance and the effect this had on the participants and on the local community as a means of breaking down prejudice and beginning friendships and integration.
I offered dvds of the public performance to any who were interested, and also offered the full report so that this project, which was wildly successful in Galway, could be replicated in other places. The response to my project was overwhelmingly positive and my hope is that the project will be replicated in other places to the same success it enjoyed in Galway. Lack of comprehensive integration of incoming cultures into host cultures is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed using positive tools like storytelling.
Meeting:
Across border touring*
SUMMARY of meeting: The Creation of the Cairn
A cairn is a pile of stones set on a path to mark the way for travellers.
Cross border touring became the Cross Border Cairn / Varda / Mojón / τύμβος / monte de pedras / Kairo / kőhalom / sírhalom / kopiec / steenhoop /
This group will work to build a cairn, a pile of stones to mark the way for each teller as they seek to leave their country and bring their skills and talents to new climes and vistas. This cairn is comprised of the following stones:
Multilingualism
International touring
Funding knowledge
Cross border projects
Network of information and communication
Translation
Transmission of knowledge
Recommendation and Promotion of tellers
*A full report on this meeting is available on HYPERLINK "http://www.swisstales.ch" www.swisstales.ch under the heading “Across Border Touring Notes”
Day Three:
Presentation 1:
Pep Bruno presented on the foundation of the festival “Maraton de los cuentos” in Guadalajara.
He spoke of the coincidence of the head libraraian becoming major one year and the celebration of their Book Promotion Project which lead to the first Maraton de los cuentos (Story marathon) where a stage was set up and people told stories for 24 hours non stop.
This has escalated into a 48 hour festival featuring professional and local storytellers. It has boosted local economy, promoted literacy, community spirit, integration. It has raised the profile of storytelling all over Spain by becoming the nexus point for storytellers to gather and thereby creating a more cohesive storytelling community throughout Spain.
Presentation 2:
Abbi Patrix presented on the epic tradition of storytelling and how to apply it in the contemporary context. He spoke on the role of the storyteller today, the role of the traditional text and the ongoing development of the craft of storytelling.
He spoke on the nature of Creative Transmission, the way in which storytellers can pass on their crafts and the way in which the artform itself changes over time while still holding to some of the parameters that existed in the original epic form.
He also spoke of a new connection with the Chinese tradition of telling that has survived the cultural revolution and is being maintained by individuals. There is a possibility of opening the door between China and Europe and sharing information, knowledge and the history of traditions in each continent.
Presentation on the Meetings
Training of storytellers East European stories
Data Across border
Business Young Storytellers
Language Healing
International Festival Education
Storytelling as a performance art FEST structure
There was a presentation on each of the meetings, notes were given and people committed to posting their meeting notes online at HYPERLINK "http://www.swisstales.ch" www.swisstales.ch
FEST Forum
The rest of the day was given over to voting on the structure of FEST, to agreeing on the Memorandum and to deciding on whether individuals, companies/associations or only national affiliations would get a vote in future FEST meetings and deciding on the location of the coming years for FEST gatherings. A Steering Group was elected to drive FEST forward to next year’s gathering.
The Memorandum was (originally drafted by Donald Smith) and this was finally accepted and signed by all qualified members. A list of these members will be published shortly as they are the Council of FEST for the coming year.
Associations and national networks will have a vote but not individuals in the FEST Council.
FEST 2010 will be in Reading England, and FEST 2011 will be in Guadalajara in Spain.
Finally the members had to elect the Steering Group for the next year that will start to formulate policy and create the programme for Conference 2010. The steering group will select its own Chair and Secretary. A separate working group to administer the Conference will be set up in England by the hosts, Society for Storytelling.
The members of the steering group are (in alphabetical order):
Georgos Evgenikos (Greece)
Martin Manasse (England)
Raghnild Morch (Norway/Germany)
Clare Muireann Murphy (Ireland)
Casilda Regueiro (Switzerland/Spain)
Before the Conference departed for a celebratory picnic on the shores of the lake nearby, tributes and presentations were made to the working group that had made FEST 2009 such a success. They are:
Deirdre Foster (Host: Switzerland)
Graham Langley (England)
Raghnild Mørch (Norway/Germany)
Regina Sommer (Germany)
FESTIVAL
The Conference was followed by a two day storytelling festival, coordinated and directed by Deirdre Foster of Swisstales. All storytellers gave of their time freely to perform at this festival. The festival was focused on multilingualism; many stories were presented in two or more languages. The audience consisted of the storytelling and local community, ranging in age from 2 – 92 years old. It had a wide demographic and seemed to attract all aspects of Swiss society to its stage.
The festival was a huge success, so much so that the city council of Lausanne has already asked that it be repeated next year.
FEST 2009 Conference
Casino de Montbenon, Lausanne. 5 – 7 August 2009
Conference report as remembered by Martin Manasse (Society for Storytelling, England); any corrections or further contributions will be most welcome.
I ended my report on FEST 2008 with the following words:
FEST has been born and will, we hope and intend, both continue and grow. It is an honour to be part of it.
I was not wholly accurate. FEST had been conceived but was not truly born until this year. Now FEST has a memorandum of agreement that sets out in effect the rules of the organisation. It has also a council and a steering group.
Delegates arrived and registered on Wednesday afternoon 5 August and, after a warm welcome and supper, heard introductory talks on storytelling from Donald Smith (Scottish Storytelling Centre) and Edith Montelle (France) and Barbara Gobrecht (Switzerland).
Donald spoke of the many faceted nature of storytelling and I have asked for a transcript and have his permission to publish the article in the Society for Storytelling magazine, “Storylines”.
Edith and Barbara offered us contrasting views of storytelling in the French and German speaking areas of Switzerland.
The main business of the conference was to be the creation of a structure for FEST but there was also a theme of Diversity in Storytelling and we heard lively and informative contributions from Nicola Grove, Alexander McKenzie (both UK), Ulf Arnstrom (Sweden) Nelson Calderon (Spain) Clare Muireann Murphy (Ireland), Abbi Patrix (France) and Pep Bruno (Spain). There were also meetings of a variety of interest groups:
Training of storytellers East European stories
Data Across border
Business Young Storytellers
Language Healing
International Festival Education
Storytelling as a performance art FEST structure
A Forum site HYPERLINK "http://www.e-mythos.eu/forum" www.e-mythos.eu/forum has been set up and is hosted by Georgos Evgenikos HYPERLINK "mailto:info@e-mythos.eu" info@e-mythos.eu from the Greek delegation. Forums for FEST and the interest groups will be found there. You will have to register and then contact Georgos for information on the passwords to access the sites in which you are interested. Some sites may be restricted to specific types of participant in which case you may have to be directed to the leader of that group for further assistance. Georgos and his colleagues have generously put together this site at their own expense in support of FEST.
The entire afternoon of Friday 7 August was given over to the report from the FEST structure group and this was followed by an open discussion that lead to voting. Paragraph by paragraph the conference amended and approved the wording of a memorandum of understanding (originally drafted by Donald Smith) and this was finally accepted and signed by all qualified members. A list of these members will be published shortly as they are the Council of FEST for the coming year. The Society for Storytelling is one of these.
The next vote was to decide on the venues for FEST conferences in 2010 and 2011.
England was selected for 2010 and a prospectus and application form will be issued shortly. Prospective attendees should be aware that, while the conference price is competitive, confirmations and payment will be need by February 2010 after which the prices will increase. Planned dates for the Conference are 11 – 13 August.
Spain won the vote for 2011 with a proposal for a June Conference to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the storytelling marathon in Guadalajara.
Finally the members had to elect the Steering Group for the next year that will start to formulate policy and create the programme for Conference 2010. The steering group will select its own Chair and Secretary. A separate working group to administer the Conference will be set up in England by the hosts, Society for Storytelling. Graham Langley, a member of the working group for 2009, has already volunteered to bring his experience of the current Conference to the preparation for the new one. The members of the steering group are (in alphabetical order):
Georgos Evgenikos (Greece)
Martin Manasse (England)
Raghnild Morch (Norway/Germany)
Clare Muireann Murphy (Ireland)
Casilda Regueiro (Switzerland/Spain)
Before the Conference departed for a celebratory picnic on the shores of Lake Geneva, tributes and presentations were made to the working group that had made FEST 2009 such a success. They are:
Deirdre Foster (Host: Switzerland)
Graham Langley (England)
Raghnild Morch (Norway/Germany)
Regina Sommer (Germany)
We owe them a great debt for this has, again, been a truly memorable conference (the catering was outstanding too!) and it was followed over the week end by a public two day festival of storytelling in 14 languages hosted by Deirdre Foster in which many of the delegates took part and which provided a rich and at times hilarious tapestry of stories from all over the world. The possibility of a festival to follow FEST 2010 is being explored.
The memorandum of understanding is appended below.
Martin Manasse August 2009
COUNCIL OF FEST
Pep Bruno (Maraton de cuentos-Guadalajara)
Sam Cannarozzi (Hauts-Parleurs-Lyon)
Laurence Cassaignard (Réseau du conte et des arts de la parole- France)
Zalka Csenge Virag (Hungary)
LuÌs Correira Carmelo (Portugal)
Claùdìa Beatriz Carvalho Fonsesca (Contabandistas de Estorias- Portugal)
Love Ersare (Berä¨tt-Sweden)
Georgos Evgenikos (Mythos- Greece)
Tjuodun Felland (Network of storytelling in Education- Norway)
Karin Ferry (Ber!atern!ot Norr-Sweden)
Deirdre Foster (Swisstales-International Festival- Switzerland)
Carlez Garcia Domingo (Proffesional ascociation of storytellers- Spain)
Berit Godager (ALBA- Sweden)
Nuala Hayes (Storytellers of Ireland)
Virginia Imaz (Ascociaciòn cuentacuentos Paìs Vasco)
Jitka Olàh (Janacek Academy of music and performing arts in Brno)
Graham Langley (Traditional art team- England)
Birgit Lehner (Austria)
George MacPherson (Skye storytelling Festival and Highland and Islands storytellers)
Martin Manasse (Society of Storytelling)
Clare Muirann Murphy (Community storytelling Initiative- Ireland)
Maritha Nielsen (Rogaland Forteller Forum- Norway)
Abbi Patrix (La Maison du Conte de Chevilly-Larue- Mondoral- France)
Stelios Pelasgos (Internationa Storytelling festival of Kozani-Greece)
Guy Prunier (Hauts-Parleurs-Lyon)
Roser Ros (Ass. de narradores i narradors- Spain)
Angela Sajeva (Racontamiunastoria- Italy)
Donald Smith (Scottish Storytelling center, Forum, Scotland)
Regina Sommer (Gruppe deutsch erz!ahler- Germany)
Christina Taquelim (Public Librera of Beja- Portugal)
Kristin Wardetzky (deutschesprachen erzähler- Berlin)
FEST 2010
Where? Reading- United kingdom
When? August 2010 11-12-13
Host: Society for Storytelling
Steering group:
Georgos Evgenikos, Martin Manasse, Ragnhild A. Mòrch, Clare Muirann Murphy, Casilda Reguiero
FEST 2011
Where? Guadalajara - Spain
When?June 2011
Host: Maraton de cuentos
Steering group:
to be elected in 2010
EDUCATION
Members of group: Ulf Ärmström, Sweden; (Scribe) John Barrington, Scotland; Nelson Calderón, Spain; Luis Carmelo, Portugal; Adriana Conterio, Swiss/Italy; Sven Hansson, Sweden; Virginia Imaz, Spain/Basque; Mirjam Mare, Netherlands; Casilda Regueiro, Swiss/Spain; Roser Ros, Spain/Catalan; Kirstin Wardetzky, Germany. This represented seven different countries and two Spanish ethnic regions.
The discussion began by each member of the group giving a thumb-nail sketch of what they were involved with in the field of education, and their personal experiences. This was best summed-up in the story of the little boy who was eaten by a monster. His parents were completely unaware that it was the monster who sat and ate the lad's supper. It was the monster who sat and watched television and it was the monster who slept in their son's bed. The first person to actually recognise the transformation was the child's school teacher. Teachers of the world probably empathise with this scenario.
The first of three main themes came from Virginia, Kirstin and Roser who are actively involved in teaching the teachers. This is surely the most important entry point in fully utilising storytelling in education. It was mentioned that all the greatest storytellers of history taught through the medium of parables and tales. Germany will hold formal workshops for teachers. In an eleven year career in teaching, Virginia has spent four of them directly developing the skills of teachers.
Several of the represented countries have integrated storytelling into the school curriculum. Holland, having introduced storytelling at primary level, now are progressing it into secondary education. In Germany, since 2005, first year primary pupils have one lesson of storytelling each week. This is funded by a university. In the second year, children themselves begin to tell stories. Adriana is one of the storytellers who go into school and endeavours to develop the second theme - building self-esteem. Through the medium of stories, the young people are given a focus and points of alternative interest, reducing mindless violence and vandalism. This enhances self-esteem and builds up their personal confidence.
Outside mainstream education, Spain has an official programme of reading schemes through their library service. This is in addition to monthly storytelling sessions held in schools. This brings us to the third and most important theme of storytelling in education - integration of minority groups. Teachers who make a feature of the background and culture of immigrant pupils will remove any fear the indigenous population may have of the incomers. It will also engender a natural interest in their new class mates. Just as important is the opportunity for the immigrants to re-connect with their own roots and background. Confidence and self-esteem rapidly increase. This really is a win-win situation.
How to further develop the use of stories and storytellers in education? Virginia told of the "Adopt a Grandparent" scheme, already running in the Basque country. This preserves the traditional way of passing stories and information through successive generations. Stories can also be told in song, poetry, tunes and dances. In future, video games, so loved by young, impressionable people today, may actually feature bloody battles of history, rather than the totally imaginary adventures presently depicted.
Finally, the group looked for the ten best ways to promote the interest in storytelling -- and then ten ways to destroy it. Top of the positive list was the need for stories to be enjoyable. Stories should be appropriate to the situation or topic. Stories ought to fully stimulate all the emotions. Children actually love to be scared. Stories can be cautionary tales, advisory parables or simply a vehicle for painlessly passing on knowledge. Sven mentioned how important it is for storytellers to have a number of short stories, used solely to grab hold of the listeners attention. Never, but never, ask the students to take notes, highlight verbs of listen to stories during their playtimes.
Sven summed-up the importance of storytelling in education with a simple tale from his own experience. A former pupil once told Sven that the only thing left in the memory from his time with this teacher, 20 years ago, were the stories of Greek Mythology.
Three hours of totally inclusive discussion can be encapsulated in just six words. EDUCATION IS GOOD AND MUST CONTINUE.
(reporter: Sion Barrington)
„STORYTELLING IN EDUCATION“ 2
The following report gives a resumé of the discussion and exchange of ideas and experiences of the interest group „storytelling in education“ at the FEST meeting in Lausanne on the 6th of August 2009. If anybody spots anything that has been omitted please contact Birgit Lehner (who responsible for this report) by email to: info@maerchenerzaehlerin.at
Participants of this interest group were: Cláudia B Carvalho (P), Giovanna Conforto (I), Tjodun Felland (N), Nathalie Jendly (CH), Birgit Lehner (A), Ragnhild A. Morch (D/GB/N), Jitka Olàh (CZ), Guy Prunier (F), Coralia Rodriguez (CH/C) and Cristina Taquelim (P).
The starting point of the discussion was the attempt to define the term „education“. As the opinion was advanced that „every storytelling is education“, the group decided to keep the definition open to formal / institutional education as well as to informal / non institutional education. In the course of the discussion the emphasis was then put on the education of children.
Skills and repertoire: This overarching theme of FEST 09 made the interest group also reflect about the aims of „storytelling in education“ respectively „education by storytelling“. There was mentioned that children should
- learn to listen to others as well as learn to express themselves
- become aware of the power and danger of words: „You can take back a hand or a foot but not a word“
When talking about skills, it was pointed out that the storyteller should have at least some basic knowledge about pedagogics and human development. He/she should be able to build a trustful relationship with the children. When working in a school, also a good relationship with the teachers and knowledge abour their work and problems will be favourable for the storyteller’s work.
In some countries, for instance in Norway, oral expression is part of the curriculum in different subjects. Tjuden demonstrated how a teacher may often quite simply transform a rather dry subject matter into a captivating little story: For instance, instead of starting a history lesson with „In England, the Viking age began in 793“ he could begin with „One morning, when little Ivar woke up, his father allowed him to accompany him on his ship...“
Rituals, objects and authenticity can help children to listen to and to tell stories themselves. Coralia for instance began her storytelling sessions for a group of immigrated children in Switzerland always with a handful of earth from her homeland Cuba and the true story of her two grandmothers. When she once had omitted this ritual, the children werde demanding it. So she told them to bring henceforth a handful of earth and stories from their own homelands.
She also asks for stories connected with the childrens’ names, starting with questions: „Who chose your name?“, „Do you like it?“, „What does it mean?“, „Do some people call you with a petname or nickname?“, „Do you remember a moment in your life when somebody else mentioned your name and this caused a big emotion (anger, love...)?“
Giovanna presented her experiences with the „telling stick“ that gives the child who holds it the power of speech, and with the alternate beginning of each sentence of a story with „fortunately“ and „unfortunately“ – two more means that encourage and help children to tell respectively to structure a story.
Nathalie had used wrapped objects to make the children guess the hidden things and invent their stories. Cristina invites children to imagine and tell what would happen if for instance a pencil and a bottle meet in the garden and have a conflict, or she asks each child to choose a favourite object, and then an other child should explain why the child has chosen this object.
Other means to encourage children may be songs for coordination, nonsense games or stories with hidden mistakes that the children should find (for instance „a beagle“ = a big eagle).
To retell a story the storyteller has told before is a further and rather common first step to encourage children to tell stories themselves. To support them, Ragnhild recommended to use pictures for the different parts of the story, or to work in small groups, or to ask the children first to describe for instance the different characters of the story instead of making them retell the whole story at once.
Nathalie, Jitka and Guy described different examples of appropriating a story. Nathalie worked with children on the same story for several months, in which she invited them to retell parts of the story, to draw, sing, dance or play them. Jitka mentioned a school-project in Wales, in which older pupils were told very short philosophical stories several times per week, and then on their part told them to younger pupils who imitated even their gestures.
Guy used a related method when working in jail: He asked an emprisoned father to retell a story he had told him while he recorded him. Then he gave the recording to the prisoner’s son at home. And then he asked the son to retell the story for his father in prison while he recorded him and finally gave the recording back to the father in jail.
Flexibility was mentioned several times as an important general skill for storytelling in education, also related to the repertoire that should fit different ages and situations. Concrete suggestions for the repertoire were accumulating and animal stories for children up to six years, wonder tales in order to internalize the structure of hope, as well as enigmatic and mythological stories. Coralia stressed the importance of love stories as children generally make their first painful experiences with friendship / love and loss at an early age.
Finally, most of the experiences shared in this group led to the consensus that „storytelling in education“ respectively „education by storytelling“ needs some continuity to be effective.
Education
Contacts:
Kristin Wardetzky – Kristen. HYPERLINK "mailto:wardetsky@gnx.de" wardetsky@gnx.de
Ulf Ärnstrom – HYPERLINK "mailto:anansi@live.se" anansi@live.se
HEALING STORIES
Members of group:
I have tried to organise these notes in a way that is logical, rather than following the exact sequence of the discussion: please forgive and correct any omissions or inaccuracies).
What do we mean by healing through story?
Not all stories that heal are specifically about healing
It has to do with the intention to heal
But who is to decide whether the story heals?
There are different types of stories that heal
“ Shamanic” stories designed specifically for healing.
In some stories - druidical incantations, telling you where to go to get particular forms of healing. For example, a double pool with a waterfall in Skye used by people with brain damage. Complex ritual with incantations.
Stories which carry explicit messages - eg information about healing but which may be incidental to the story - for the healing to happen you have to put them together yourself
Example: A story about a cow and the little people - at the end the man is healed of his arthritis when the little people whip him with bundles of nettles, sticky willow and witch hazel.
Stories where you do not know if they are going to heal or not - you can’t predict. Because we live in profound uncertainty, the only certain thing is that we will end in what we cannot know, Stories are wholes - with a structure which moves to resolution, completeness with a pattern.
Examples of healing in practice
Storytelling with highly intelligent autistic youngsters (17-28), with short attention span - Seuras was asked to take part in a pilot project to explore the impact of storytelling. 4 days of storytelling followed by an ordinary lesson First session was supposed to be 45 minutes, they expected it to last 5 mins. One walked out after 30 minutes. Over the 4 days their attention increased and by the end of the week in the lesson
they sat and listened for the first time ever. One autistic man he met said “you are the first person who has not treated me like an idiot”.
The college subsequently took on a teacher/storyteller but this did not work in the same way.
First feed people by listening, and then enable people to tell themselves.
Working with children in hospital, several times, Berit always meditated at home before going to work with the child, found this really helpful.
The Little Donkey (Grimm) child with cancer from age of 2 - made a story for Berit with his father of which they were so proud. Allow people to give to us.
Camille
Used to lead events in the forest at night, 8pm - 8am gathering at midnight to share a meal. Fifteen years later people are still thinking of these events, so it did them good. It made an island that they carry with them. Not really my intention - I kniew I was handling poetry, I did not know I would succeed that far. Went into university, sustainability. Now the moment has come to return to telling - starting an education programme in art therapy.
Disability and healing
We talked about what it is that is healing - Seuras clarified that it was not the autism per se, but the difficulties in concentration that were getting in the way of learning and participation, brought on by the autism.
Otherwise our approach - that people with disabilities are automatically in need of healing - feels a bit like colonialism. May be experienced as intrusive
What is the core of a healing story?
You can never know what is received as healing by another person.
A researcher asked many people what had touched them, and they mentioned very small things, like parentheses, so in the end he gave up
Stories must touch something in our lives
Stories of failures - most people fail
Ederly people - “I heard that story when I was 6 years old” - reconnects them with their own lives
telling from the person’s own culture- immigrant people.
The maker of dreams
What is the differnence between a ritual and a story/ we are not shamans, doctors or priests
Difference between healing and curing
Healing - has to do with wholeness
Stories which are used as a tool to heal ie by therapists
Focus on the stories themselves - by storytellers
What is therapy who am I to enter into someone’s private garden. You can’t heal anyone, you can only foster their alive resources.
The process of healing
First getting accepted as who he is - hans my hedgehog
Then getting the right partner
Little Donkey - the love of other people
Where to find healing stories?
Berit started with stories that spoke to her
HYPERLINK "http://www.healingstories.org/"www.healingstories.org
Healing and therapy group, Society for Storytelling
Hans Joerig Uther Marchen vonHeilen
Where next?
Research into the process of healing through story
More collaboration through FEST and exchange of ideas
DOCUMENTS
Storytelling in Healing
Contact
George MacPherson – HYPERLINK "mailto:georgemacpherson@fasach.wanadoo.co.uk" georgemacpherson@fasach.wanadoo.co.uk
TRAINING OF STORYTELLERS
I have tried to organise these notes in a way that is logical, rather than following the exact sequence of the discussion: please forgive and correct any omissions or inaccuracies).
Why did we choose this group/
Interest in how storytelling skills are transmitted
Must be able to practise what we preach
Small culture of storytelling. If people hire a a storyteller and that person is not good, they won’t do it again.
Changing culture of storytelling
in Ireland there is a perception that everyone is a storyteller - role of seonachaidh is still in living memory - when the word went out that the man with the information was there, everyone would gather. Perception is that you either have it or you don’t - you are born with it. The situation is changing and there is great debate about whether there should be formal training.
There is no status for storytelling in the universities, despite strong folklore department.
Storytelling in education - working meaningfully within education is important. Huge respect for written word, huge emphasis on written not oral - storytelling is not fitting in. In teacher training important. Teachers should be the first storytellers, but they say - oh yes I read stories
What training is offered at present in our countries?
Iin Berlin there is a small department of theatre studies in university, masters degree in storytelling. Two kind of students - the theatre pedagogics. Now developingd a one year certificated course in storytelling - 16 weekends. Paid
Berlin course
We begin - learning what storytelling is by example - many different storytellers coming
Myths and fairy tales from our heritage. They become a book of stories
Second semester - they take four weeks working with a professional storyteller and they work on a story for a public performance. Then they go to schools and have a 2 week practice and come back to reflect. Third semester - 4 hours with a storytelling mentor. By the end they have a repertoire of stories. Then they are invited to come to festivals so that they can slowly develop their own style. Important that everyone develops their own style. Mime, body language and voice, movement. Memory - they must know what they are telling - the variations. They also need some theory - orality and international traditions. Ben Haggerty is honorary Professor, Heide from Oslo.
German part of Switzerland - organisation runs different courses that you can take but no accredited training. You do not have to take these courses in order to work as a storyteller.
France. (Sam Camarazza) Interested in how people teach storytelling. Years ago he was operating on his own. Prefers storytelling to storytelling training. Everyone can tell stories but everyone is not a storyteller. Everyone can use stories but it is not necessarily storytelling. Sam uses many different techniques - oral tradition very fixed in Europe, especially in France. Africa, far East very different. In France it is basically coaching, with exercises for the voice. Sam uses a programme - first you listen, then you talk, then you read and then you write. Many different exercises. Sam
Similar tradition - beginning with initiation, using open techniques - body, visualisation, voice. Then working on own story and moving into h a performance. Refugees, social workers, architects (who are not always good at presenting their work).
Africa. In east afrcia, no professional storytellers. Sam observed Grandxmother teaching children a story - line by line. Now tell me what you have heard. They have good storytellers. West Africa - griot, 7-8 years of training. 60-70 stories, some of which last several days. You have to be from particular storytelling families in order to be a professional storyteller.
Sweden. 3 years ago, started meeting at the Saga museum for 3 days. Ljungby.
Courses in home town, very historically directed. Emerson college School of Storytelling, Ashley Ramsden - different courses. The Now of Storytelling - introductory course - 1. Crafting, 2. Studying traditional stories 3. Creating autobiographical stories. Body Eloquence - nancy mellon
It’s like a mystery the whole course
Annemarie - uses stories when she teaches. Developing courses for teachers to show how to use stories in all aspects of their teaching. Helping to develop teachers’ skills to inspire teachers.
Caspar: The basics of all training is a safe trusting honest room. Where people say what they really mean.
The experiencing room (feel it) - the analysis room- we talk about it, the lab. Separate the personality from the act of storytelling.
Ireland
Performance storytelling brought in, as tradiition is really fireside telling. Felt she failed to find a space for it - not theatre, not literature. Change in policy in Arts Council - special fund to develop Traditional Arts HYPERLINK "http://www.storytellersofireland/"www.storytellersofireland.org. oral narrative - music, dance and language. Irish language was very central in keeping the old stories alive. The really imaginative stories were always in Irish. Need to respect this. And the older storytellers, who are not performance artists - clever, witty, knew how to play the audience in a lowkey way. Music is more like performance art - wall to wall music. But the best musicians were also storytellers.
You never tell the same story in the same way twice - mitigates
England
No central accredited training course - several options, from long courses at Emerson College School of Storytelling to workshops and courses run by individuals. Nicola runs training in inclusive storytelling based on narrative theories derived from studies of informal conversational storytelling; basic skills are to do with collaborative narrative, built up into performance skills.
What are the qualities of a good storyteller?
Main quality is Presence - in the now
Be in contact with the audience and with the story
People have to feel it with their hearts and not with their minds
What is unhealthy for storytelling is a group of Elders who say this is good, tiis is bad
Size of audience - some felt that intimate small audiences were essential, large audiences led to performance rather than real storytelling, others that size was not critical - You must be in ct with the audience and achieve intimacy.
I’m against the performance telling of a repertoire that is rolled out. The audience shapes the story and helps to take part. If you have a huge audience you have to perform. The essence of storytelling is the link with the audience
What I like to communicate, I want the criticism to be what is a good storytelling performance. Not “a good show.” The storyteller has a repertoire of tales. Relative intimacy - telling to 1600 people is not storytelling it is a performance. Need response, looking people in the face. You can use the performing arts (background is experimental theatre).
Never tell a story you don’t like.
Trust - you have to know the story really well. In the flow of the story
To be in a tight connection with the story. It is not so much about knowing the story really well, but about trusting that the words that you need will come
An impro game illustrates presence. You have to steal a hat from someone’s head by distracting them. IF they are really present you can’t do it.
An unconfident storyteller is hard to listen to - you get distracted
Call and response - if the people do not respond to them then you call the audience to order.
Similar to Gospel : alternation between teller and listeners is a formal movement from the autonomous identity of the individual to the community. -In some African storytelling there is a respondent present in the story who takes part. Prods the storyteller to take part.
In front of an audience you have to allow your self to be vulnerable and yet in control.
In teaching - the audience raises a hand when they are bored. Children are a good audience
The worst crime - is to go on too long. People who are so determined to get their story out that they
The ego of the storyteller - you are not the story, you are the medium of the story.
Les laissez sur le faim - leave something
You do just enough to get the story across, not too much, because you have to allow people to create their own image. Too much mime and gesture gets in the way. There must be a gap between the words and the image. Some people do nothing but are still wonderful storytellers.
Storytelling as seduction
Language
A storyteller is someone who has to be in love with storytelling transmission. Storytelling is highlighted language
Storytelling - the chameleon of language. Empathy. Musicality of language.
Discussion about repertoire: what trainee (and experienced) storytellers need to know
When native storytellers tell stories from another culture what is their responsibility
The sharing of cultural sacred icons - sand paintings in La Rochelle - an anecdote is written next to them. When challenged about the sharing of sacred myth, the painter said that it did not matter what was told because it was so deep that it could never be understood.
In the art of Australian aborigines, there are two stories: one surface level for public consumption, displayed next to the work in the gallery, and the deeper sacred story only available to the initiated.
But both stories are true.
It is dilettantish to just take stories and tell them because you enjoy them. People in Ireland are upset because the stories are now available everywhere - that you can just tell them. , because they are highly local stories, specific to place. Always try to take a story and find its roots - go to the actual place of the story.
But - We can’t visit the whole world, we can find the connection. You have to find the context -it may be amusing to tell but that is not a good reason. It must fit to you, but you must respect the culture.
An American Indian said I am telling you these stories but I ask you not to tell them. Because people told it, he did not return. In West Africa, the case of Khamisiwa he told stories to ethologists and he was killed for divulging sacred tales. A Chilean told Armenian stories n was set upon and beaten up. - A white woman telling a Black story was heckled - hey bitch that’s our story - to which she responded, well you come up here and tell it then (offer not taken up).
You say do you want a story - not do you want to borrow a story. You give a story
It belongs to the listener as well as the teller. If you do not want me to hear a story don’t tell it. Because if it is a story that works, if it is meaningful to me, it will enter my heart, my bones and my mind, and it will emerge 20 years later. Storeis are viruses, they spread and demand to be told.
We recognised there was a real problem with stories that have been put in the public domain without the consent of the communities of origin. All we can do is respect the provenance, research the stories as much as we can, be sensitive to the contexts in which we tell.
World context
You have to be aware of what is going on the world as well as what is going on for the audience
Eg not telling the ark story at the time of the tsunami
Context is everything
You can transform experience through the symbolism of the story - but you must be true to the heart of the story
Stories must serve the audience and the now not what was once - change the Odyssey for the benefit of a child who has lost her mother - I respect tradition but tradition is not by telling it the same again and again, but by renewing it
When storytellers go to school should they have ideas about how to do workshops with the children? We all thought yes.
Giving feedback
Feedback - must be phrased positively; what would you change? Have you thought about…
3 step model. What was the clearest image for me? What emotions did it evoke in me? If you do it again, consider this…
I saw this, I will do it the way you did it, and I will do it the way I would do it afterwards.
Honesty
Honesty in training - if you are bored, raise your hand!
Max Frisch - feedback must be a glove that fits to your hand. Raise your hand if you are bored!
obviously these are only observations - not definitive accounts of training in the different lands
I think this is Ben Haggerty’s phrase
Training and Skills
Contacts:
Raymond den Boesterd - HYPERLINK "mailto:info@vertelacadamie.nl" info@vertelacadamie.nl
Nicholas Rochette – info@conte-quebec.com
Célene Jantet - cantinemotivee@gmail.com
DATA
Participants:
George MacPherson (Scotland) - chair
Dr. Barbara Gobrecht (Switzerland)
Sven Hansson (Sweden)
Guy Prunier (France)
John Barrington (Scotland)
Roser Ros (Spain)
Adriana Conterio (Switzerland/Italy)
Zalka Csenge Virág (Hungary) – secretary
Languages spoken by participants: English, Spanish, German, Swedish, French, Italian, Hungarian, Gaelic, Catalan
Languages of discussion: English and French
1. Defining ’Data’
Because none of the participants were entirely sure what the topic of discussion should have been, we started our session with defining what ’data’ meant for us storytellers. We decided on the following: ’Data’ means the stories we tell, together with their sources, collection, and preservation. The definition, of course, is far from complete, but for the time being, we worked with these specific questions.
2. First topic of discussion: Where do we get our stories from?
The sources of the stories we tell and the ways to gather them are different for each one of us. We started the discussion with everyone listing their own experiences and the sources of our repertoire. We came to the conclusion that there are 4 main sources of tales we draw our knowledge from:
1. Oral tradition (as the most important and original source of stories; in many cases it runs inside the family, or in the community one is brought up in. Gathering information through talking to the local people helps understanding foreign cultures and communities as well)
2. Written sources (including books and the Internet)
3. Personal/original stories (stories of one’s personal life and experiences, as well as tales made up and written by ourselves)
4. Stories learned from other storytellers (we discussed the possibility of this fourth category – not always, but in many cases recently it is situated somewhere between the oral tradition and the written sources. Tellers who gather their stories from written sources tell them in their own way, and it is their version that re-enters the oral tradition)
3. Stories written, stories recorded, stories told
We all agreed that stories should be told. By being written down, they inevitably loose something of their essence – Barbara suggested the German phrase ‘drucken und drücken’ which would translate into ‘being printed and being pressed/squeezed’. Then again, sometimes the stories’ only chance of survival is – or at least used to be - being written down. We also agreed that fortunately stories can be revived by an expert storyteller; lifted back from the page into live oral tradition. This is called ‘folklore in the second existence’.
The discussion moved on to recording stories both in audio and in video. The common opinion was that recording a story is definitely better than writing it down – the voice and style of the teller preserves a lot more of the original story than the mere written words. Thanks to modern technology, recording is much easier than it used to be, and more popular too. This topic led us to the question of storytelling on TV. While it gives storytelling a greater visibility, it also has its own problems – editing, time frame, acting etc. We decided that television is a good tool for promoting storytelling, but does not replace the experience of a live performance. Mostly because it is not interactive at all.
4. Stories from other cultures
Telling stories from foreign cultures was a topic we discussed in detail – several different opinions were formed inside our group.
1. Stories travel across cultural borders, and versions of the same tale can be found in many places. Thus telling stories from cultures other than one’s own is perfectly natural and belongs to the process of oral tradition.
- We agreed that one has to be familiar with not only the tale itself, but also with the cultural background; it usually means a detailed background research about symbols and culture-specific references
- We also discussed the opinion that stories can have a meaning and a message even if the audience does not understand all the symbols and cultural references in them
2. Telling stories from other cultures is a possibility, but not a must; some of us only tell foreign tales if they have some kind of connection to their own tales. These connections mostly originate from the universal nature of traditional tales and motifs that travel across borders.
3. Some of us are not comfortable with telling foreign stories at all. The main reason is that many traditional stories carry symbols and meanings that can’t be understood without being born into the whole cultural background; if the stories are told without this knowledge, they can loose part of their deeper meaning.
5. Translation
As a group of eight that speaks nine different languages, we found the question of translation very important. Either in live storytelling or in writing, translating a tale is a complicated process, and requires not only expertise in both languages, but also knowledge of the above mentioned cultural background.
We all agreed that hearing a story in its original language is very important – no matter how excellent the translation is, the same tale told in a foreign language is still not the same. But we also agreed that translation is essential for keeping the tales alive and traveling “from mouth to ear”. We highlighted the importance of bilingual telling (either by the same teller, or as a cooperation of more than one tellers) and bilingual publications. It is essential to translate from the spoken word instead of the written one, whenever it is possible.
6. Miscellaneous thoughts from the discussion
- Unfortunately most books, such as fairy tale and folktale collections, don’t list their sources, which makes background research very difficult. It can be useful for storytellers to be familiar with the research tools and methods of folklorists.
- Memory is a very powerful thing, and is essential for the work of the storyteller. It should be trained, and respected.
- Stories are for teaching, and guidance. Every age has its own appropriate stories that talk about their problems and answer their questions.
- The tale is more important than the person of the teller, and the story is more important than the words.
- By being written down, stories are fossilized. They preserve figures of speech and other traditional pieces, but they also preserve mistakes and other harmful things. It is interesting to observe that oral tradition preserves the same thing occasionally – this process can be seen when the audience corrects the storyteller.
BUSINESS
Members of group: Carles Garcia,Birgit Lehner, Ida Junker, Regina Sommer, Maritha Nielsen, Nicolas Rochette, Angela Sajava, Clare Muirann Murphy, Nathalie Jendly
"There's a heart under a black suit" magical words pronounced by Alexander Mackenzie as introduction to what makes storytelling in business an intelligence of how communication could be at the heart when bringing storytelling in the business context, he then added "economy of experience, experience of economy, expecting an experience ».
It was a very interactive moment between the participants, as to explore the "why" and "how" storytelling in business would be of need and would need ethic in its developpments.
What is the story in service to? why do we need it? where?
and how sometimes one deals with ways to find out how to brake the gap for sustainable economy for art and artists.
Exposed by some as inspiration for people in need of stories & to have stories or as tool or mean of expression for more communication.
Would it be selling with story, the story of what or whom? It is more about getting involved that brings both curious and wonderous, bringing out vivacity of life and not strategies.
Comparable and diversity of experiences were presented:
storytelling in business proposed in different countries, amongst them: into corporate structures, for top managers as small presentations, inscribed in businesses, for food producers, companies. Using epic stories, traditionnal stories, construction of stories.
Storytelling in business? Different processes were presented:
By approaching human ressources or head of communication, presents « a strong door », that opens to then propose conferences, workshops adding speciality, offering something new to do such as:
by proposing a training, developpments in team events, by running a leadership program-spontaneousstorytelling & business, training in consultancy, many of the approaches that would or not be particular training « fitting with one's sensibility ».
As presented also, some of the storytellers had made proposals for 5 years then 3 years that were accepted in different industries, with presenting workshops within 50 pages rigorous document- each exercise relating to a competency.
Often during that exploring, the participants underlined the importance that there seems to be a necessity to learn the language used in business and that it requires specific skills and respect for both sides that enables to understand the nature of all businesses.
Storytelling in business? Yes! As Alexander Mackenzie told us: "as one tells a story, a special mood comes around and usually takes away anxiety. Make decisions from that place » .
Many aspects to still explore in the next Fest annual meetings:
the many skills a storyteller needs and use. The « what », « how » to do and "how" to serve with ethic the purpose of every individual in business in relation with the other and interact if the purpose serves dignity and not only economical goals.
So the main lines that have been explored in the business group, were the skills and training developpments, what is a story, what is the role of the storyteller, trusting where stories came from that enables to go forward. And in order to communicate what is needed in business with the experience of storytelling, that it is necessary to be clear about requirements and capabilities and having in mind that "the intention shall affect the cause".
As added by Carles « Advertising is neither bad nor good, it can create a lie to sell the product. The good thing: it is a valuable product. Work out the integrity. Everyone is different and has his own story, as wine is never the same - the way to make one's wine and stories are the same thing, let's taste some! »
Nathalie Jendly, www.lasuisseraconte.ch
STRUCTURE OF FEST
How to administer FEST is still a matter for discussion but a number of issues arose: “Money divides” – a wonderful thought from Abbi about making sure that great care be taken in being transparent and even-handed in all financial matters. There is a strong desire to keep any system of administration simple, to avoid over-ambitious tasks and definitely to avoid bureaucracy.
Members of group: Deirdre Foster, Love Ersare, Koula Kalogeridou, Mats Rehnmann,Georgos Evgenikos, Nikoleta Chirpilidou, Donald Smith, Graham Langley, Laurence Cassaignard, Camille Bierens de Haan, Martin Manasse, Marie Ulsberg, Mirjam Mare
The structure of FEST
The 6th of august 2009
Notes: Love Ersare (please note that I have written a very unstructured account of the meeting, sometimes more, sometimes less depending on if I were apart of the discussion or not, if I were it was hard to write at the same time. I also apologize for mistakes in spelling and grammar)
Chair: Mats Rehnman
History
Abbi made an event in 202, exchange and workshops in Paris. There was an urge, how do we go on. Second meeting was in Germany. Third meeting was in Oslo, they got money for a huge event in 2008, Mats and Abbi started to collect names and invite people, meeting during different festivals. The Stavanger project had to close down but Heidi Dahlsven from Oslo created a new event in Oslo. There were about 60 people for 19 countries, they started to make a map of Europe, say what is happening everywhere. They also started to discus structure but did not come very far. It is still a vision; independent groups get together and try to create it. Now we will discuss how it will work. One of the main ideas is that it should be open to everyone, but how do we do that?
Deirdre: Fest exists because we are here; Fest is for storytelling, not exclusively for storytellers.
Abbi: When we had the preparation group we thought a lot about vision and structure, In Oslo they realised it was to early, it was such a chock to meet everyone. To see the differences, that shock became the subject. That is why FEST is still very vague.
Graham: Fest does exist because we are here, even though we are not formally structured.
Camille: We exist but we need a skeleton, what should it be built by? What are our needs on a European level, not on a national level?
Mats: Fest could have a few tasks. One is to make the map of European storytelling. What is happening in Portugal? But it is a hard task, who has the right to say who has the right to say what is and is not happening? We have to be careful with who is representing which country. Second task, when we have an organiser they need a board/steering group that can give decisions like: who should come from each country, could we do this on the meeting.
Deirdre: The organisation this year worked very well.
Mats: In the close future people will want to know who is deciding. We need a structure, a group with the task to decide for next year.
Laurence: What are the aims of FEST, We should start with the needs and make the structure after that. As long as we do not have money it will be easy. Start with the Core, and the structure will be born from that.
Graham: The assumption that we are making is that there will be a permanent board, but it needn’t be a standard business board.
Donald: the needs have already begun to emerge: Information, what is going on, Sharing projects and definitions. The structure is not monolith, we need a basic model, but there will be lots smaller of networks included. We do not need authoritarian hierarchy, both we will be able to make it work.
Martin: Very few countries have organisations, be careful to assume that a person speaks for the whole country. We need a core, and then lots of structures around that.
Deirdre: The basics should be created, it is important that to remember that the FEST-meeting will be very different depending on where it is organised (England/Rumania for example).
Mats: Ulf Ärnstrom once said. Storytelling is not a mass media, it is a local media. The bigger structures are Abstract. We should not make the project, but our existence should make it possible by creating a place for communication. How we made it in Sweden: there are so many different views so we can’t make one organisation. We said only organisations, that created 15 more organisations. FEST could do the same thing.
Needs: Communication, information, support, exchange knowledge.
Camille: Working with Sociacracy. The main idea is consent decision making. Short: Imagine a circle, the board, around it many other circles. Centre circle one chairman. Every project around has two representatives. Projects create and sends back information into the centre circle. One circle in the middle, many around that
Love:
Mats: He wants the first pathway. It will only be for one year to try out the model. If we start with the second model and then decide against it we will have to fire people and that will be very hard.
Nikoleta: Will go the first way. Better start with less people and then make it bigger. Everyone should participate at the meetings. We should all publish the information in our websites and newsletters so that the information comes out. We are many members which mean that the information will travel. We are making progress.
Martin: We should go away with a proposal. We should start with a small and workable group. Let us have an agreement, something to give to the rest of the group. Martin wants the first part with the smaller number of representatives. And it will give a forward movement.
Marie: An idea. Worried about the council. We should build the structure through the website with different member-status. It could have a membership field, and that will give money to build the website. They would be motivated to become members and we will be able to tell people what we are doing. A community that also have a level with information that could sort the information. We should start to build the website.
Mats: there is a website, but without the money
Abbi: We are already doing that. The small thing that we succeed to meet is a great achievement.
Mats: We are only a few people here; everyone cannot afford to come. When we make the structure we have to make sure how representation works so that we will not look like a club.
George: I have listened to many opinions; at the end we should have something a step further than last year. I am afraid that if we stay at the same spot next year will be even harder. We have to define it since most of us wish to have an open group; it has to be defined from the beginning. We have to start discussing important details. If we create it we need some real existence, the real thing, a legal organisation.
Deirdre: The middle centre should be there to serve the others. Not to have any power. If all countries put some money into the centre we will get a bit of funding. Maybe we could find money to be represented somewhere, maybe on Internet.
Donald have been working on a Memorandum
How do we create a structure that is enough legally but still open? He went o UNESCO and the European commission. There is not one legal system in Europe, so the way to advance this you should have a memorandum to which we all agree on a first constituting meeting. That would be enough basis for the use of creating meetings for FEST, to show for funders. And also as a base for creating multinational networks in for example healing storytelling.
Donald explains the memorandum.
The legal thing is light. It is only working by our signed agreement. Each organisation will have one representative that will sign. Example: one network group working with African cooperation, one with a website-project. In two years so much should be happening that we should be fighting over space in the programme.
Martin: If we assume that we have agreed on a structure. First we should have space for representatives, and then we also want observers. Next years we could have 166 places. Martin would like so sign a memorandum on this meeting.
Mats: Most people have not got national representation. But it is not a problem, as long as we have about five countries. We should not give membership for local groups because then there will be national suspicion. We could also have representation not based on national networks.
Donald: the whole council must give the authority. The memorandum does not deal with national organisation.
Mats: The representative will not have great power, but they will represent.
Nikoleta: What about individual storytellers, and what about Canada, they came two years in a row.
Deirdre: What about people who does not have the money to come
Camille: Organisations will have to deal with money and power, we must address this. Fest should try to find funding, and we therefore need a place to put an organisation with a bank account. We must establish a decision-making process and a way to circle information. If it is to decentred it might disappear.
Donald: Explaining how to appoint people from beyond Europe and a legal place for money and such. Individuals are not included. We should not be an organisation of storytellers. And this forces storytellers to work together.
Graham: Fest is Fest, this is where the energy is, this is where the power lies, and this gathering is the council. One vote per organisation.
Koula: About the structure. Experience from theatre. We have the same structure; we have a council and a president. There are often difficulties between festivals and organisations. Representation should not be based on national criteria’s.
Laurent: Trust vs. Fear. In France there are many organisations, not all pat of mine. We want them all here. People will come if they are interested. It should be as open as possible. We should have a map where all members could put in their activities and organisations. We should have a good way to find everyone.
Camille: An election process without candidate. You explain what you need and then go around the circle and everyone can nominate someone and explain why. Then you go around again and again until it is only one person left. Then you ask that person. A way of obtaining consensus. We could agree for 10 or 12 people for the council.
Mats: Skype meetings are only for 5 persons, it is a good number for the steering group.
Donald: Could we have a council of the first version but also with individual members who are not part of the council.
Mats has noted four different ideas:
Abbi: We should have a target, next years meeting. We should consider ourselves as a temporary council. We should have a suggestion now to the big group. His proposition, the layers: Steering group, Council, Members.
Marie: Working with a website to be as inclusive as possible. With different status.
Laurence: Sociacracy will not work as we do not know each other enough.
Donald: We should be able to elect the steering group from all the members
Camille: We should make a steering group of five people through Sociacracy
Laurence: Interest groups should have a secretary and a chairman and should report to the steering group.
Graham: The steering group should be the ones organising the next FEST
Donald: the Council consists of one from each of the national members and one from each of the interest groups. They should participate through a national group, a multinational group or through Internet forums. We also need a guiding philosophy.
Nikoleta: We should start with the council and steering group.
Abbi: We should do the proposition but with open membership. We should also balance the quantity of representatives after the number of people.
Mats: Is happy for agreement. The steering group for FEST should not be the same for the event.
Koula: We should think of those who are not here
Camille: We should decide a steering group now
Mats: We should not do that, we should do that tomorrow.
In lack of a national organisation the assembled delegates from that nation will agree on one person that will represent them in the council.
After this we try to be practical, what decisions do we all agree on, and what do we disagree on. What are the different roads to walk:
1: National and international organisations for one year to go
2: Everyone with an organisation can be a member and have a vote
3: The council consists of everyone present at the gathering
4: Sociacracy
Steering group
How many? Five? Who can be elected, only council? Should they also do the event, they should not?
Council
Who should be part of the council? Only national and multinational, or all organisations. Or should all who are here at the time be the council
Members
Can individuals be members or only organisations. Should it cost something?
Fest is for storytelling, not only for storytellers
Better to start with a small council and then make it bigger
Creating a website is very important
What about the people who doesn’t have the money to come
If we do not decide anything today, next year it will be much harder.
Memorandum of understanding for the foundation of the
Federation of European Storytelling: FEST
Definitions
The organisation
The Federation of European Storytelling (FEST) is an international collaboration between associations and projects in Europe devoted to the perpetuation and development of live oral storytelling.
Membership
Membership is open to any national or regional storytelling association, or other organisation in Europe which unites storytellers and storytelling groups in a collaborative framework and subscribes to the aims and purposes of FEST. Applications are made to the FEST Council’s Steering Group and approved by the Council.
Storytelling
Storytelling is understood to be the live oral telling of stories, engaging directly with listeners to create a shared experience of storytelling. While welcoming and affirming technological means of communication, the primary experience is in real time and person to person.
Traditions
Traditions are storytelling practices and bodies of narrative which have been passed down through the generations. The work of FEST is based on respect for such traditions and the desire to both preserve and develop their essential characteristics for future generations.
Languages
Linguistic diversity is essential to storytelling in both its traditional and contemporary forms. The work of FEST respects and encourages diversity while also encouraging translation and communication between the languages of Europe.
Culture
FEST recognises and seeks to apply UNESCO definitions of culture along with UNESCO’S international agreements on cultural expression, languages, minority cultures, education and the preservation of non-material culture.
Structure
Council
FEST is governed by a Council consisting of one representative of each of the members. Including at least one representative of each national association and interest group network, meeting at the FEST Gathering.
Steering Group
The Council of FEST will elect no fewer than five members who will form a Steering Group to support and advance the work of the Council, including the annual FEST Gathering, between the FEST Gatherings.
Interest group Networks
It is within the power of the Steering Group, with the approval of a three quarters majority of Council members, to form task and theme specific working groups or networks, involving the wider membership of FEST, and any national, international or regional groupings committed to the relevant task or theme.
Attendance
It is within the power of the Steering Group, to approve attendance at Council meetings to ensure a wide and balanced representation of the members, and also including representatives of other international cultural bodies, individual advisers, or observers from storytelling organisations from outside Europe.
Administration and Finance
The Council can appoint professional associations or organisations based in member countries to carry out delegated tasks of administration, finance and event organisation. Such appointments will be time limited and task specific. Appointments can be made by the Steering Group between Council meetings, subject to consultation with Council members.
Professional associations or organisations nominated in this way will be accountable to the Council through the Steering Group and must subscribe to the aims and purposes of FEST.
Signed (for)
by Signature:
Name:
Organisation:
Date:
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
A group of delegates involved with some of the European festivals will lead an international exchange of information on ideas, techniques, dates, venues and any other aspects of festivals. They also intend to ensure that a comprehensive list of festivals appears on all European storytelling websites.
Members of group:
STORYTELLING AS A PERFORMANCE ART
FEST 2009 à Lausanne.
Atelier sur:
Storytelling as an art and
Langage.
Members of group:
Introduction : Ce prétendu rapport essaie de rendre compte d’une conversation telle qu’elle s’est déroulée, avec les omissions et les répétitions qui ont pu se produire et peut être même en omettant involontairement des éléments de la conversation.
En fait, deux ateliers ont été fondus en un seul, d’où le double titre.
Nous avons commencé par un tour de table pendant lequel chacun s’est présenté, puis nous avons brièvement abordé le thème du storytelling en tant qu’expression artistique (storytelling as an art).
On a suggéré que la motivation profonde du conteur va définir son propos. Bien sûr, un conteur professionnel doit travailler pour gagner sa vie, mais le ressort fondamental de son activité doit rester celui d’un artiste : créer des œuvres d’art. La question de savoir ce qu’est une œuvre d’art, a été considérée hors sujet. Cependant nous fûmes tous d’accord sur le point que la motivation profonde du conteur est déterminante pour son travail.
Rapidement, il est apparu que les deux propositions de cet atelier avaient de fortes connections et peuvent être menées de front.
Quelqu’un a fait saillir la référence du IFNSR HYPERLINK "http://www.ut.ee/isfnr/page.php" International Society for Folk Narrative Research
À propos de la langue utilisée, ou des langues utilisées, certains éléments, ou certaines aptitudes à utiliser ont semblé importants :
-Le langage corporel
-Les mots-clés
-L’importance de travailler en tandem avec un conteur et non pas un traducteur
-Les images de l’histoire
-Le baragoin, ou langage dépourvu de sens
-La simplification de l’histoire
Mais, bien sûr, le sens de l’histoire ne doit pas être changé, ni sa structure.
La perte du rythme est un piège à éviter au cours de la traduction.
Le choix des mots demeure très important, d’où découle la nécessité d’une bonne connaissance des deux langues. Dans le processus de simplification, des détails sont omis, dans la mesure où le sens de l’histoire est respecté.
La préparation d’un spectacle bilingue demande un travail important qui doit prendre du temps.
Il est apparu important que les deux personnes sur scène soient deux conteurs et non pas un conteur et un traducteur. Qu’ils devront rester ensemble au moins trois jours à converser à bâtons rompus, afin de mieux se connaître et d’entrer ensemble dans l’histoire qui sera racontée, avant de la présenter sur scène . Ils donneront alors autre chose qu’une traduction, la complicité les unissant étant, elle-même, un élément important du résultat.
C’est alors qu’est venu l’exemple d’une tradition de l’Inde appelée « ragué ». Dans cette tradition, le conteur est sur scène avec un percussionniste, qui assure la rythmique, mais participe aussi au récit par des commentaires et des interventions dans le récit.
Une différence a été établie entre les cultures qui ont une tradition de tragédie et celles qui n’en ont pas. Raconter un récit de tragédie risque de dériver vers une expression plus théâtrale que contée.
Dans une prestation avec deux langues, une approche empirique propose une proportion qui serait de 15% dans la langue d’origine et de 85% dans la langue maternelle de l’auditoire.
Par ailleurs, quand deux conteurs se relaient dans le récit, le passage de parole se fait agréablement quand le conteur qui a la parole baisse le ton, pendant que l’autre prend la parole doucement puis élève la voix quand le premier en arrive à se taire.
Le rythme des histoires semble important afin que les images exprimées du récit ne viennent pas détourner le sens profond de celui-ci.
Deux niveaux de compréhension an été remarqués :
-les images
-le sens profond
ainsi que deux qualités de rendu :
-le son
-le rythme
Une autre piste a été évoquée : pendant qu’un conteur parle, l’autre illustre les sentiments de la narration.
Nous avons aussi remarqué sue la préparation d’un spectacle à deux voix et dans deux langues ressemble à un travail de préparation de contes avec musique.
L’écoute s’est avérée très importante, pour les deux conteurs entre eux autant sur scène que dans le travail préparatoire.
On a mis aussi l’accent sur l’intérêt d’entendre la musique propre d’un langue étrangère.
Il y aurait au moins deux façons de comprendre une langue étrangère :
-comprendre clairement le sens
-en avoir un ressenti.
Les connaissances de l’auditeur sont en cause, mais aussi la musicalité d’une langue.
La question de l’importance de l’auditoire a été abordée . Il semblerait cependant que peu de différences soient perceptibles pour le narrateur quand il s’agit de raconter des épopées.
En général, cependant, la qualité du silence du public n’est pas la même selon le nombre d’auditeurs. Le rythme de parole devra être plus rapide pour le conteur devant un auditoire plus nombreux.
Une proposition a été faite d’utiliser le langage scientifique de neurologie linguistique pour comprendre ce qui se passe quand on raconte des histoires.
(Reporter: Jean Guillon)
LANGUAGE
FEST 2009 à Lausanne.
Atelier sur:
La langue utilisée et l’art de raconter
(Ces deux propositions faisaient initialement le propos de deux ateliers,
ils ont été réunis en un seul)
Language and Storytelling as performance art
(Two worksops have been combined into one.)
Ont participé :
Giovanna Conforto
Tjdun Felland
Claudia Fonseca
Jean Guillon
Kristine Haugland
Amir Mirzai
Ragnhild A. Morch
Stelios Pelasgos
Introduction : Le premier rapport est clair et concis, et pourtant ce ne sont que des notes que m’a confié Ragnhild pour construire l’ultime rapport. Le deuxième essaie de rendre compte d’une conversation telle qu’elle s’est déroulée, avec les omissions et les répétitions qui ont pu se produire et peut être même en omettant involontairement des éléments de la conversation.
Compétences
(Exp: veut dire que cela a été essayé et expérimenté…)
(Suggestion : propositions d’idées)
La simplicité (exp)
Contrôle de l’auditoire (exp)
Jouer avec l’histoire dans l’instant (suggestion)
Utiliser différentes langues créant un rythme (suggestion)
Ne pas jouer 50% - 50%, mai 85% pour la langue de l’auditoire et 15% pour la langue invitée (exp)
Tuilage des voix d’un conteur à l’autre (une voix baissant de volume, l‘autre commençant pet être pendant deux minutes (exp)
Utilisation du langage corporel, gestuel (exp)
Une question s’est posée : est-ce encore raconter des histoires quand on utilise les images ou une gestuelle ? Rhythme(exp)
Utiliser du son (exp)
Deux conteurs sur scène en même temps (exp)
Conversation entre eux (exp)
Le chant
Le deuxième conteur joue un rôle de réaction au récit du premier et ainsi rend son langage plus explicite (exp)
Donner au conteur qui raconte son attention (exp)
Le duo de conteurs bilingues est à considérer comme le duo musicien/conteur. (suggestion)
Deux options de travail se présentent : une langue étrangère peut être employée pour ses rythmes et ses sonorités et une langue étrangère peut être enseignée par le racontement. (suggestion)
Si deux conteurs de langues différentes collaborent, ils ont besoin, avant le spectacle de trois jours de travail ensemble, cinq jours seraient mieux.(exp.)
Une vraie traduction est aussi efficace quand, tout en racontant, il y a une concordance de gestes entre les deux conteurs. (exp)
Utiliser la technique des conteurs Indiens appelée du « Ragi »: Le Ragi pose des questions pour raviver le récit (exp)
2 conteurs rehaussent le dynamique de l’histoire (exp)
Un débit de paroles lent (exp)
Raconter dans une langue étrangère nourrit la narration dans sa propre langue.(exp)
L’art de raconter
Nous eûmes des échanges à propos de la définition de l’art de raconter.
Quelques difficultés, dans cette démarche, sont apparues pour définir la frontière avec le théâtre.
Différentes opinions se sont exprimées quand à la jauge des spectateurs . Certains pensent qu’au delà de 100 à 200 personnes, cela devient impossible (ou au moins difficile) de garder la qualité du racontement. Le problème du pouvoir est apparu alors.
En Europe, on constate une absence culturelle de la place de l’art de raconter. Amir a fait remarquer que l’Iran a une longue tradition en la matière avec un espace clairement défini.
Pour la forme épique (spécifique à la Grèce) la jauge du public importe peu.
Différences de répertoires.
Le théâtre demande plus de gestes et moins de silences.
La question s’est posée de trouver la terminologie propre à définir notre art.
Connaître son public au moyen du plus d’informations possibles.
Connaître des histoires à propos de l’art de raconter.
Les conteurs doivent connaître les motivations profondes qui les poussent à raconter. Toujours se questionner pour connaître ses motivations.
D’autres aspects ont été mentionnés :
Le rythme
La respiration
La présence
Le style
Le silence et les expressions dans le silence
Un rythme rapide convient mieux à une jauge importante de spectateurs.
Communiquer avec le public en le faisant participer.
Le conteur devrait être transparent
Ici commence le deuxième rapport
Nous avons débuté par un tour de table pendant lequel chacun s’est présenté, puis nous avons brièvement abordé le thème de l’art de raconter en tant qu’expression artistique (storytelling as an art).
On a suggéré que la motivation profonde du conteur va définir son propos. Bien sûr, un conteur professionnel doit travailler pour gagner sa vie, mais le ressort fondamental de son activité doit rester celui d’un artiste : créer des œuvres d’art. La question de savoir : « ce qu’est une œuvre d’art » a été considérée hors sujet. Cependant nous fûmes tous d’accord sur le point que la motivation profonde du conteur est déterminante pour son travail.
Rapidement, il est apparu que les deux propositions de cet atelier avaient de fortes connections et peuvent être menées de front.
Quelqu’un a fait saillir la référence du IFNSR HYPERLINK "http://www.ut.ee/isfnr/page.php" International Society for Folk Narrative Research
À propos de la langue utilisée, ou des langues utilisées, certains éléments, ou certaines aptitudes à utiliser ont semblé importants :
-Le langage corporel
-Les mots-clés
-L’importance de travailler en tandem avec un conteur et non pas un traducteur
-Les images de l’histoire
-Le baragoin, ou langage dépourvu de sens
-La simplification de l’histoire
Mais, bien sûr, le sens de l’histoire ne doit pas être changé, ni sa structure.
La perte du rythme est un piège à éviter au cours de la traduction.
Le choix des mots demeure très important, d’où découle la nécessité d’une bonne connaissance des deux langues. Dans le processus de simplification, des détails sont omis, dans la mesure où le sens de l’histoire est respecté.
La préparation d’un spectacle bilingue demande un travail important qui doit prendre du temps.
Il est apparu important que les deux personnes sur scène soient deux conteurs et non pas un conteur et un traducteur. Qu’ils devront rester ensemble au moins trois jours à converser à bâtons rompus, afin de mieux se connaître et d’entrer ensemble dans l’histoire qui sera racontée, avant de la présenter sur scène . Ils donneront alors autre chose qu’une traduction, la complicité les unissant étant, elle-même, un élément important du résultat.
C’est alors qu’est venu l’exemple d’une tradition de l’Inde appelée « ragué ». Dans cette tradition, le conteur est sur scène avec un percussionniste, qui assure la rythmique, mais participe aussi au récit par des commentaires et des interventions dans le récit.
Une différence a été établie entre les cultures qui ont une tradition de tragédie et celles qui n’en ont pas. Raconter un récit de tragédie risque de dériver vers une expression plus théâtrale que contée.
Dans une prestation avec deux langues, une approche empirique propose une proportion qui serait de 15% dans la langue d’origine et de 85% dans la langue maternelle de l’auditoire.
Par ailleurs, quand deux conteurs se relaient dans le récit, le passage de parole se fait agréablement quand le conteur qui a la parole baisse le ton, pendant que l’autre prend la parole doucement puis élève la voix quand le premier en arrive à se taire.
Le rythme des histoires semble important afin que les images exprimées du récit ne viennent pas détourner le sens profond de celui-ci.
Deux niveaux de compréhension an été remarqués :
-les images
-le sens profond
ainsi que deux qualités de rendu :
-le son
-le rythme
Une autre piste a été évoquée : pendant qu’un conteur parle, l’autre illustre les sentiments de la narration.
Nous avons aussi remarqué sue la préparation d’un spectacle à deux voix et dans deux langues ressemble à un travail de préparation de contes avec musique.
L’écoute s’est avérée très importante, pour les deux conteurs entre eux autant sur scène que dans le travail préparatoire.
On a mis aussi l’accent sur l’intérêt d’entendre la musique propre d’un langue étrangère.
Il y aurait au moins deux façons de comprendre une langue étrangère :
-comprendre clairement le sens
-en avoir un ressenti.
Les connaissances de l’auditeur sont en cause, mais aussi la musicalité d’une langue.
La question de l’importance de l’auditoire a été abordée . Il semblerait cependant que peu de différences soient perceptibles pour le narrateur quand il s’agit de raconter des épopées.
En général, cependant, la qualité du silence du public n’est pas la même selon le nombre d’auditeurs. Le rythme de parole devra être plus rapide pour le conteur devant un auditoire plus nombreux.
Une proposition a été faite d’utiliser le langage scientifique de neurologie linguistique pour comprendre ce qui se passe quand on raconte des histoires.
FEST 2009 in Lausanne.
Workshop about :
Language and Storytelling as performance art
These two worksops have been combined into one.
La langue utilisée et L’art de raconter
(Ces deux propositions faisaient initialement le propos de deux ateliers,
ils ont été réunis en un seul)
Introduction : The first report is clear and concise, hence it was only notes given by Ranghild to build the ultimate report. The second one pretends to be an account of what was said during the time we spent together, written in the order it was said, hence with repetitions and omissions.
Attended :
Giovanna Conforto
Tjdun Felland
Claudia Fonseca
Jean Guillon
Kristine Haugland
Amir Mirzai
Ragnhild A. Morch
Stelios Pelasgos
Language
Skills
(Exp: means it has been tried out and experienced…)
(Suggestion means as an idea)
Simplicity (exp)
Check with the audience (exp)
Play with the story in the moment (suggestion)
Use different languages to create rhythm (suggestion)
Not 50% - 50%, but 85% of spoken language and 15% of foreign language (exp)
Sliding voices of one teller over the other; maybe 2 minutes (exp)
Use body language / gestures (exp)
Q: Is it still storytelling when one uses imagery and pantomime?
Rhythm (exp)
Sound (exp)
Two storytellers on stage all the time (exp)
Conversation between them (exp)
Singing
Use 2nd storyteller as a tool, one tells, one acts / reacts (exp)
Give the telling storyteller the focus (exp)
Duo bilingual tellers is like storyteller and musician
Two ways of working: foreign language as sound and rhythm and foreign language to be taught through storytelling
If bilingual storytellers collaborate allow for at least 3 days of working together before the show. 5 is better.
Translator effective when also telling the Storyteller mirroring gestures between two storytellers (exp)
Use Indian technique of “ragi”: the ragi asks questions to liven it up (exp)
2 tellers bring the dynamic up (exp)
Slow pace (exp)
Telling a story in another language feeds into the telling in ones own language
Storytelling as performance art
Discussions about how to define storytelling as art form
Difficulty in defining when a performance becomes theatre
Different opinions on how many people should be in the audience during a storytelling performance. Some think numbers above 150 – 200 makes it impossible (difficult?) to keep it as storytelling. That there arises a problem of power.
Europe lacks a way of defining storytelling as art form. Amir pointed out Iran which has a long tradition and clear defined areas.
For Epic it doesn’t matter what size the audience is.
Repertoire distinction
Theatrical: more gestures, less silence
How to find terminology to define storytelling
Know who your audience is, find as much information as possible
Find stories about storytelling
Deep motivation, always question oneself why one is doing it
Other aspects mentioned:
Rhythm
Breathing
Presence
Style
Silence and gesture into silence
Fast rhythm bigger audience
Communicate with the audience by making them active
Storyteller should be transparent
Everyone briefly presented themselves, followed by a short introduction about storytelling as an art.
The suggestion was : the profound motivation of a storyteller distinguishes his work. Of course, a professional storyteller has to earn his living through his work, but his main motivation is that of an artist, creating works of art. We didn’t go very deeply into the question : « What is a work of art ? » but it seemed that we all agreed that the storyteller’s main motivation determines his work as a storyteller. Then it quickly became apparent that the two topics of the workshop have strong connections and can be combined.
Somebody mentioned the ISFNR : HYPERLINK "http://www.ut.ee/isfnr/page.php" International Society for Folk Narrative Research
On the topic of language, some skills were recognized as being important such as
-Body langage
-Key words
-When needed, working in tandem with a storyteller and not a translator
-Images
-Nonsense language
-Simplification of the story.
But, of course, the meaning of the story must remain, the spirit too and the story must keep its structure.
One of the problems of translation was identifed as being the lack of rhythm.
The choice of words remains important. So, another necessary skill is a good knowledge of both languages. In the process of simplification some details have to be dropped.
The preparation of a bi-lingual performance is a big commitment requiring a serious amount of work and time.
It appeared to be important that both performers be storytellers and that they spend at least three days together, sharing experiences and getting to know each other, so that they can both enter into the story before presenting it to the audience. They give more than a translation, their bond of complicity will be an important part of the preformance. Then, came the example of an Indian tradition called « ragé » in which the teller performs with a drum player responsible for the rhythm, for sure, but who participates in the telling with comments and incitations.
A comment was made about the difference between countries with or without tragedy as a cultural tradition. The telling of such a tragedy could lead to expressive gestures that ressemble acting rather than storytelling.
The proportions for the two languages used, by rule of thumb, are: 15% for the original language and 85% for the audience’s mother tongue.
Another element that was brought to our attention was that the two storytellers, each speaking in their mother tongue, must overlap one another : the first one lowering his voice towards the end of his part, and the second dovetailing into the first.
An important topic remains : the rhythm of speech, so that the pictures expressed in the telling do not distract from the meaning of the story.
Two levels of understanding appeared :
-the pictures
-the meaning itself,
and two important topics also :
-sound
-rhythm.
Another way has been depicted which was : while one storyteller is speaking, the other illustrates the feelings of the narration.
It was also mentioned that the preparation of telling a story with two languages resembles the preparation of storytelling with music.
Listening to each other and to the audience is very important for the artists, both on stage and beforehand.
When a foreign language is heard, its music can also be appreciated.
There are two ways of understanding another language : understanding it and feeling it. It depends on the person’s knowlege of the language, but the music of it is also important.
Then came the question of the number of spectators. It was said that there are few differences when epics are told.
However, in general, the quality of silence of the audience is not the same for a small or large audience, the rhythm of speech has to be faster with the latter.
It was suggested that for storytelling to be understood, one could use scientific psycho-neurologic language.
YOUNG STORYTELLERS
Graham Langley, Kristin Haugland, Love Ersare, Ida Junker, Regina Sommer, Raymond den Boestert, Céline Jantet
Presentations
Graham (England)
Look forward for storytelling
Teenagers 15-25 years old
15-18 and a 18-25 range
National event
Kristine (Norway)
Norwegian storytelling organization
They try to make a competition for young people
Love (Sweden)
Young storytellers, almost 26 years old… almost not young anymore
Works with young people
Improvisation and slam,…
Ida (Sweden)
Fabula, company with 4 storytellers
To train 13-16 years old
The goal is to put them on stage
Artistic goal and not educative
They deal with schools
Develop more and new storytellers
Financed by the found of the national gvt and the schools, the teachers have to be paid.
Regina (Germany)
Run an annual festival where she would like to get young storytellers
Works in school where she teaches storytelling, the school was then founded but not anymore
Raymond (Netherlands)
School in Utrecht
First frustrating 20-70 years old
Developed some policy to find younger people
How younger people are learning?
Cooperating with another school with training children, profile in a normal elementary school
They started this year a middle school
Academy is only for adults
Celine (Canada)
Young storytellers are 23 -65 years old
Cantine Motivee is a place where you can come to train with older storytellers
A really little piece of money from gvt for young storytellers
Greece : having a school with two years education with a concept for younger people
England : with the title of the young storyteller of the year, it could become estime for young storytellers, doesn’t like competition, but it was the only way to get that estime
Sweden : they encourage young storytellers to go to slam storytelling, region then national then Nordic contest, copy of Poetry Slam.
Fun as a game to spread storytelling
Storytelling camp every summer, a week camp linked with a festival
First they explain the project to the teachers, then they do an “attack” with professional who give stories in all classes to spread them up, then they offer during school hours training for three years with an happening at the end, after those who want can continue in workshops, then storytelling camp once a year with an international festival
Also project in Sweden with an organization against racism and fascism
Expanded the week-end, then the two winners came back totally excited from Sweden, and then begins a new movement
Now most of the new storytellers got through the storyteller of the year
(Germany) in festival could you get young storytellers from everywhere and make a meeting with older storytellers
(England) the problem is that you have to let them by themselves to be adult
if it’s happening in a festival it’s the time for them to perform in the festival
how to build it on the financial side?
Finding a way to stimulate each other projects
(Germany) find young storytellers to go to the schools to motivate young people
(England) creating a network
(Sweden) one part is the camp in a festival in the Netherlands, the other part would be like a company, with just a little bit older storytellers to go to present their works in the schools to motivate young people to go storytelling
and then could be an European network
(and they fall in love and make children who will be too be storytellers…)
(England) Has to be created a European scene for young storytellers
Question on the age of that young people? How much experience?
Little discussion on true stories and folktales to approach young people
Story of this young storyteller from Marocco but living in England, who called her grand-ma to get a story and who won the contest with that story
Young Storytellers
Contacts:
Graham Langley – HYPERLINK "mailto:graham@storytelling.uk.net" graham@storytelling.uk.net
Célene Jantet – HYPERLINK "mailto:cantinemotivee@gmail.com" cantinemotivee@gmail.com
Nicholas Rochette – info@conte-quebec.com
ACROSS THE BORDER TOURING MEETING FEST ’09
Jean Guillon
Clare Muireann Murphy
Abbi Patrix
Kasper Sorenson
Sam Cannarozzi
Marietha Nielsen
Christine Brinner
Deirdre Foster
Nicolas Rochette
Meeting Notes:
Experience:
The group discussed their own experiences relevant to the topic. We varied from non touring professionals to regularly touring professionals in a variety of countries including Africa, France, UK, America and around Europe.
A touring circuit:
The pros and cons of touring and establishing a touring circuit within FEST were discussed. It was felt overall by the group that it would not be possible to set up a coherent touring structure without a full time administrator and a lot of funding. However it was agreed that the foundations for good touring is knowledge and information, and that this could be shared in a communal pool of knowledge available to members on the FEST website.
It was agreed that FEST is not here “to do your dishes”. The purpose of FEST would not be to provide a touring circuit that anyone could use, rather that FEST provides the foundation of connections and knowledge to develop such ideas across borders between associations.
Through the connections at FEST, through helping each other out, and seeking the cheapest and easiest ways to do things it is possible to tour on very little money. However this would not be a profitable way to tour, but would rather lay foundations for future international tellers while building up local storytelling circuits for the host tellers.
When touring it was advised to seek connections with libraries, language courses, universities, local government, cultural services etc. Take unexpected routes like writing to the King, contacting local embassies and consulates…putting storytelling in new and surprising contexts.
Cross border Projects:
Cross border projects would need to be posted on the communal network to expand the possibilities of collaboration within projects.
Cross border projects increase the possibility for funding approval, although there is some debate on who would be asked to provide the base funding if there are projects happening over a number of countries.
The multilingual multi-teller tour:
There was a lot of interest in a multilingual international touring group (3-5 tellers). Possibilities of more than one group touring at a time. This promotes the language/translation and touring idea all in one go. This idea was proposed last year by Abbi and Heidi and Kitty. Nothing has come of it since as all parties involved have been very busy. With the experience of the tellers already interested, it was agreed that this would be simple enough to set up. Also that it would project and promote the spirit that is imbued in FEST; the coming together across borders with stories.
2 language minimum required for any teller participating.
Questions would be:
Where would funding come from?
Can this be proposed as a working project for FEST itself?
Language:
The role of language in cross border work arose. There is a general agreement that there is a two language minimum to be in this group.
Many countries such as France have quite a narrow response to multilingual telling. This is due to the audience not being exposed to the experience. Abbi has proved through several shows that multilingual telling really works and has a profound effect on the French audience. This indicates that with more experiences of multilingual telling or telling with translation, the mindset of any culture can become more open and accepting of international storytelling.
When touring, or working abroad, using some of the local language or dialect in your work honours the people and engenders their good will. It demonstrates an openness of mind in the storyteller and should be a perspective we all take with us.
Translation and Multilingual telling:
There was a wholehearted agreement that we need to start seriously promoting multilingual telling within our own repertoires and on the international circuit.
Multilingual telling opens doors culturally, as well as opening doors for funding opportunities. It is a powerful tool for making a storytelling experience much more inclusive. Multilingual telling can shift cultural perspectives as demonstrated by Abbi in the Maison de Contes and the success of a bilingual show he performed with Ben Haggerty (Ben performing in French, Abbi performing in English).
While not being proficient in speaking in another language, people with a comprehension of foreign languages are able to listen and understand in another language.
We must create spaces to play with multilingual telling, perhaps at FEST. A focus on multilingual telling at a gathering such as FEST would allow tellers to take chances, to expand their linguistic abilities and to play in multiple languages with other tellers.
Translation
Translation can be artificial but when done well it can be marvellous.
Ways to make it work:*
Establish a good working relationship with your translator before telling, use a storyteller if possible.
Use song.
Learn key words from your story in the language of the country you are telling in (characters, nouns etc)
Tell the same story in several languages.
Spend several days with the person you are telling with to learn each other’s rhythms. Both have to be onstage together. This provides a sense of cohesion on stage.
*Note many of these ideas came through the Storytelling and Language group. Most of the ideas must be accredited to Amir Mirzai who has done a lot of multilingual work.
Network:
This group demonstrates the beginning of a network which would feed each of these intentions. The network is one of ideas, languages, information, hosts, and associations that could apply for funding. We all agreed that we need to find a way to host all this information and to regulate it on a website soon.
This network would include but not be limited to:
A database of member information
A database of addresses of associations interested in storytelling.
Cultural advice on norms and practices in each country.
The possibility of getting a storyteller to recommend you on to a country/association within a country to which you are travelling.
Up to date knowledge on projects happening in each country that you can connect into, or learn from.
Funding information
SUMMARY: The Creation of the Cairn
A cairn is a pile of stones set on a path to mark the way for travellers.
Cross border touring became the Cross Border Cairn / Varda / Mojón / τύμβος / monte de pedras / Kairo / kőhalom / sírhalom / kopiec / steenhoop /
This group will work to build a cairn, a pile of stones to mark the way for each teller as they seek to leave their country and bring their skills and talents to new climes and vistas. This cairn is comprised of the following stones:
Multilingualism
International touring
Funding knowledge
Cross border projects
Network of information and communication
Translation
Transmission of knowledge
Recommendation and Promotion of tellers
NEW INTEREST GROUPS
Standards and criteria for evaluation
No contact
Ethics of storytelling (including solidarity/rivalry of the community)
No contact.
Storytelling as business
No contact
Spontaneous storytelling
Regina Sommer – reginasommer@aol.com
Alexander Mackenzie
Deirdre Foster
Storytelling and old people
Coralia Rodrigues – mulatacoral@hotmail.com
Storytelling Immigration and Integration
Coralia Rodrigues – HYPERLINK "mailto:mulatacoral@hotmail.com" mulatacoral@hotmail.com
National Organisations (societies and networks)
Contact:
Nicholas Rochette – info@conte-quebec.com
Deirdre Foster- info@swisstales.ch
Across Borders
Contacts:
Maritha Nieson – ma9el@online.no
Deirdre Foster – deirdre@swisstales.ch
Nicholas Rochette – info@conte-quebec.com
Abbi Patrix – patrix@campaignieducercle.fr
Jean Guillon – ass.ganesh@free.fr
Kasper Sørenson – kasper@fotaellekunsten
Graham Langley – HYPERLINK "mailto:graham@storytelling.uk.net" graham@storytelling.uk.net
Co-operation in Training and Development of Storytellers working with Traditional Storytelling NOW
Contact
Kristin Wardetzky – Kristen. HYPERLINK "mailto:wardetsky@gnx.de" wardetsky@gnx.de
Nuala Hayes – HYPERLINK "mailto:twochairs@eircon.net" twochairs@eircon.net
Research
Contact:
Jitka Olàh – olah@gmail.com
Development of European Projects
No contact
Storytelling with Gipsies in Europe and Worldwide
No contact
Living Stories
No contact
Storytelling in Kilts
No contact
Storytelling Outside Europe (outreach, promotion, connections)
No contact
The Art of Storytelling – researching, transmission and new creations
Camile Bierensde Haan – camile.bdh@sunrise.ch
Patrick Mohr – bollus189@hotmail.com
Abbi Patrix - patrix@campaignieducercle.fr
Nicolas Rochette – info@contre-quebec.com
Celine Jantet – cantinmotivee@gmail.co
Storytelling and Politics, mediation and conflict work
No contact
Diversity: social inclusion and marginalised peoples
Contacts:
Nicola Grove – drnicolagrove@fastmail.net
Regina Sommer – reginasommer@aol.com
Clare Muireann Murphy – clare@storytellersunlimited.com
Kasper Sørenson – kasper@fotaellekunsten
Deirdre Foster-deirdre@swisstales.ch
Storytelling in Eastern Europe
Contacts:
Jitka Olàh – olah@gmail.com
Birgit Lehner – birgetl250@gmail.com
Zalka Czange Viràg – macsek_mesemondo@yahoo.com
Historical Storytelling
Zalka Czange Viràg – macsek_mesemondo@yahoo.com
