Nov, 2011

News Letter

From the editor's desk:

January,2011

Story of the Month

How the ladybeetle got her red back and black spots ...

Story Wood

The first storytelling festival was organised in Gothenberg and it was based on stories from Panchatantra. Vow! And to perform in spaces like the Isle of Bute, Harbour arts centre adn the Scottish Storytelling Centre was fantastic.

Nuremberg gave me an opportunity to peep into the real life stories of Hitler, and to witness first hand the documentaries related to the Nuremberg trials.

While passing by the woods on a snowy evening I reflected on Rainer Maria Rilke in his letter to a young poet and have been with it for a while now...

Be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart

And try to love the questions themselves.

Do not now seek the answers ,which cannot be given to you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything.

Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually,without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answers.

Newsletter

From the editor's desk...

2011 was a year of stories, story festivals and story trails. And storytelling did take me to lands far far away. I had a wonderful experience traveling to the Scandinavian countries and specially enjoyed going through the Fjords in Norway. Fjords are narrow inlets with steep cliffs created in a valley carved by glacial activity. I felt as if I had reached the other side of Tiruvannamalai-Arunachala. ‘Arunachala’ means still light and to me it also means an ancestral home which I frequent very often.


Gudvangen Fjord, Norway	Tiruvannamalai-Arunachala, India

The omnipresent the silent side of the glowing hill. THE MOUNTAINS WERE OVERWHELMING- QUIET & BLACK IN THE SETTING SUN. It was like a visual adaptation of the end or the death as you may wish to call it. The clouds seemed to be in confusion whether to reflect the burnt orange from the sunset or to welcome upon itself the pristine shine from the moonlight. There is pure joy when you experience a new cloud for the first time.

The waters were silent and against the darkish blue and black sky it shimmered as the boat silently stirred through the gaps. With full moon for company, I did not feel the need to talk or acknowledge the presence of anyone but myself. This feeling is perhaps what they refer to when they say ‘I had a spiritual experience.’ The best part of being a storyteller is that while you travel to places sharing stories, you discover your own stories as well as stories of others. And your own stories transform absorbing and growing in the beautiful environs in which these story festivals unravel.

Denmark also made me realize that we could make storytelling much more enriching by adding various storytelling forms from across the world. This way we would be reviving this art by making it relevant to the modern day world.

In 1940 a person named Grundtvig developed learning on the Nordic myths and tales, which was later taken up by someone called Bordings Friskole. In Norway, even now there are schools based on the ‘spoken word’, somewhat akin to the Gurukula system, that is based on the oral tradition of learning. The logo of the school has two ravens called Hugin and Munin.

Legend has it that while one raven looks ahead and is flying across the earth to return and whisper in your ear the things it has seen; the other is looking back at the past. Hugin means Capis, the tough people who travel to the end of the world to explore and conquer new land for the human spirit. . An intelligent visual metaphor for vision and foresight. Munin, on the other hand is looking back and is the bird of memory and past. Both birds are equally significant when it concerns the wisdom of life. But we often tend to forget one for the other. It is possible to lose oneself in memories and in history to the extent that you forget to take active interest in what goes on and is happening. And then on the other hand, you can get so involved in the outside world and in the future (like the Hugin bird) that you despise the past and don”t want to have anything to do with it. Both ways you lose something valuable, you actually are (Intellectually speaking) mutilating yourself thus making yourself unqualified for living....(Translation from Dutch) ---

Fondly

Geeta Ramanujam

The Storytellers trail……

We went on a storyteller’s trail from January 26th-29th in Ahmedabad as part of the kathothsava 2012 festival -a joint collaboration between Redbricks foundation, Ahmedabad and Kathalaya. Three of us from Kathalaya travelled to Ahmedabad to take part in this first ever storytelling festival of the city. There was a story trail on the first day culminating with a performance at Sundarbans park.The second day was a day full of workshops for children and adults. And on the third day we had a festival with performances by Kathalaya’s resource people as well as by some selected participants.

This festival also brought back memories of a similar expedition I had been part of at a place called Innsbruck in Austria last year. After visiting Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany I had reached Austria. Innsbruck is a beautiful city in Austria renowned for its winter sports centre. Here I was surprised to find myself to be the the first Indian speaking English storyteller.But soon realised that it came with certain priviledges and responsibilities.Christine, a beautiful and sensitive storyteller volunteered to take me on this special trail of a little place called Hall in Austria. Other storytellers from Austria took me to their wonderful homes in the Alps where one could see the majestic Alps right from their windows. That day, with Alps for backdrop and beautiful music as accompaniment, I felt as if I was telling ‘the Mountain & the Bird’ story for the first time.

It gave me the time and space to lose myself yet again so as to find a new thread for the year 2012. The trails through the woods in Germany with two great storytellers had done just that. We had walked in silence. Silence resounding from the half frozen lakes and caves and rocks and streams. I could listen to the whisper of the fresh and frosty dew on the leaves beneath and the tall woods as we walked and walked. Feeling, tasting and touching the natural silence of the woods…..

Storytellers Bag

The best story I heard was when I spoke about how the bird got sunlight to the earth. Karin, a storyteller from Austria shared a story of how the sun had a dialogue everyday with the king. The king would feel the sunshine in his heart and talk to the sun. But one day the king fell ill and the black dragon entered the palace and hid the sun……..Its a long story and perhaps some day I would be able to share the whole story the way Karin did. It was great to listen to some true stories of storytellers and perhaps these are the best moments you get to experience in a festival or workshop. Sharing and exchanging true life stories of each other, associating myths and legends connected to them, the stories from storytelling and so on. This was a true story told to the participants when Franz, the musician and storyteller did a workshop for us along with Mr. Helmut Whitmann from Austria.

Franz could play the Clarinet and the Bagpipes and almost just any instrument. He taught the participants a little dance and narrated his story of how 21 years ago he heard two people playing the Bagpipes under a tree below the Alps and he saw just this one leaf move in that tree. ‘That’s when I decided to learn the instrument to be able to move people’s hearts’ he said and indeed he does. Some participants went to sleep while he played the enchanting music and his blue eyes reflected the waters of Innsbruck and his heart the purity of the Alps Mountain. It was wonderful to listen to stories from a different land in our sacred little space in India.

Academy news-Intensive Course Batch 30(January 2012).

The January batch was literally a potpourri of people from varied backgrounds. From educators to HR Consultants to advertising professionals to designers to grandmothers. And here at Kathalaya they came together for a common passion- story telling. This was most evident in the final presentations. We were overwhelmed by the sheer range in their stories. The story of the month is one by Christine Lander, a storyteller from Germany who was a participant in our January batch. Don’t miss the Indian nuances she has weaved into the story so effortlessly.

One of the most touching comments from our participants :
Just to share-- I was reading a book called "Conversations with God". The essence of the book is summarized in the beginning as "How God communicates with us human beings". God says that He communicates with us in 3 ways--- FEELINGS, THOUGHTS AND EXPERIENCES, and that we can feel His presence and His messages only when we are truly listening to Him. I feel after being at Kathalaya for 6 days, where only stories of the Universe were being listened to, I can say with all humility that I experienced HIM. What else can bring pure joy to a human?

Upcoming Courses & events at Kathalaya

Intensive Course from Feb 27th –March 3rd: Special guests and storytellers from Germany, Dirk Nowakowski & Martin Ellrodt will conduct the Course along with Geetha Ramanujam. Martin is the German Coordinator for the International Storytelling Network (RIC). Dirk is a Puppeteer and has set up a ‘Puppet Land’ in Heidelberg in Germany. During their stay at Kathalaya, they will be collaborating with Geetha Ramanujam to perform at Max Mueller Bhavan. The performance is scheduled for March 3rd from 6 PM-7.30 PM. Stories will be in both German & English. All are welcome.
Seminar & Workshops for the principals of schools organized by Edify School, Bengaluru on the topics ‘Storytelling & Education’ and ‘Teacher Empowerment’.
Summer Camps for kids in Bengaluru.
Launch of the Diploma Course in Storytelling from April 16th- 28th. The Course will cover 100 hours of storytelling including theory, practicals, projects & presentations.

Please click on Academy for a detailed list of courses, activities & events.

Kathalaya thanks

Our heart warm thanks to…

International support:

The Vastra Gotaland Region –Sweden, Folkhouse theatre at Norway, The international storytelling coordinators at Innsbruck, Austria, Svend Erik from Copenhagen.
Beatriz Montero and Enrique Paez the International storytelling Network coordinators who visited us in October and traveled to Madurai and Bangalore with workshops for teachers and children.
Red Cuentcuentos-The International Storytelling Network for their inclusion of India as part of the Network and for their strong support.
Special thanks Dr. Donald smith of the Scottish storytelling Centre- Edinburg for the affiliation and support for the Diploma course to begin in April 2012.

Organizational support:

The Barbaras from the Global Pathways school, Karnataka Ministry of Culture, the APS and the NCFE group of Institutions, Bangalore.

Special Mention: :

Varalakshmi Vijaykumar –counselor who helps us with the Analysis of childhood stories at every Academy session.
Mayuri Parameshwaran who is ready to assess and interact cordially with our Academy students during all their presentations.
Swetha Prakash who maintains our blog and updates for our Story Research centre and lab.
Radhakrishna Pendyala who quietly updates our programs from time to time and maintains our website.
Bhuvana lakshminarayana & her husband Lakshminarayana, Shreya Biswas, Jyothi Vasanthaiah & Deivanayaki for volunteering.
Sir Jameshedji Tata Trust for their support.

Our staff, Trustees and auditors.

All the children, parents, teachers and academy participants who supported Storytelling and are helping us to continue the tradition…

Click on January 2012 Newsletter to download it in pdf format.