The first week

It has already been one week!
Luckily there are 12 more weeks to go.

Thursday evening is our performance night. Each week two hosts vounteer to take care of setting the stage for the evening, coordinating the storytellers, arranging the room etc.
I volunteered to host the first evening with another participant.
On the 21st of September it was Peace One Day, and earlier this year Karsten Mathiasen form Denmark suggested, that we made that day into an international storytelling for peace-day.

In agreement with the class we chose that theme for the evening. It was great to feel connected to all other storytellers who had celebrated the day last Tuesday, two days earlier.
We had a wonderful evening, and the power of words shone beatifully through. Even though the told stories were not specifically about peace, knowing that this was the theme, they came to be about peace in a special way.
We started the evening by lighting a candle for peace within and around us, and we ended the evening by sending thougths to all people in the world who need a little peace.

Creation myths 
All week we have worked with creation myths and the power of words.
We have a lot of fun here. We play with words, play games and exercise different possibilities of telling.
The work goes very deep. We connect not only to our own lives but also to our ancestors, to the old old time where the myths come from.
It is difficult for me to imagine how life has been 'in the beginning' when there was nothing!
Working with the myths, listening to them, give a strong feeling of belonging to something bigger. To be part of something that is much bigger than us.

We have worked with being aware of our backspace. Many times as a storyteller, one is aware of what is in front. So working with what is behind us is very strong and powerful. I think of all my ancestors without whom I wouldn't have been here.

In class
Already we can see how different our telling styles are. We are individuals, and this is The Now of Storytelling.
I was 'complaining' about not having enough English words to tell my story as well as I might have been able to in Danish.
Roi, one of our teachers said:
- We can tell the stories with what we have right now. We must not try to be what we are not. You tell the story with whatever words you have in the language you have right now.
This is very comforting.

The atmosphere in the class and from the teachers is very warm, loving and safe.
Ashley Ramsden and Roi Gal-Or work together in a wonderful way that really holds us, so there is plenty of room for everone to grow at their own pace.

I am so much looking forward to growing more myself as a storyteller, and to see my classsmates grow.
We all travel on our own path, and for 13 weeks we travel together.

From the Storytelling evening, that we celebrated for peace.
PACE = PEACE