Sunday, October 10, 2010

Week 3


On stage
The power of words
It's not a surprise, but the power of words is getting more and more obvious here at the International School of Storytelling.
This week's theme was animal stories, and I got to tell a story about some animals that were afraid of a new, unknown sound. Very soon they had turned it into a monster in their imagination, and their anxiety grew, untill the lion came and revealed the fact, that 'the monster' was a fat old frog'.

In my work as a therapist I often meet people who have turned little things into 'monsters'.  It is so easy to just imagine and let your imagination do the work. But often it is better to face the 'monster' and find out what it really is that is frightening and limiting our freedom.

We have worked with beginnings and endings a lot this week. Some have felt the urge to alter a 'bad ending' into a 'good ending'. Because the ending or the content in the story was too cruel, too difficult to cope with or other reasons.
Our teacher in 'creative writing', Paul Mathews, said last week; 'Don't alter a story to be nice' Let the story speak for itself.'
I really agree with that. In my opinion the storyeller must do the inner work that is connected with working with the story. The story is  a mirror for the person, and sometimes he doesn't like the shadows of himself, that he finds in it. But changing it not the way out, I think.
In stead the storyteller must choose whether he wants to meet these sides of himself, if he wants to tell the story or not.
What I really like about storytelling is, that it mirrors the listener in unique ways, and every listener finds himself in the story in different ways.
A storyteller can never know what hits who.

Many of us have - very strangely - experienced some resistance towards working with the stories. We love being here, the teachers are very, very good, so it feels odd.
I personally had a wonderful breakthrough this Thursday, when I finally found a feeling in myself saying YES to all the work that is connected to learning and rehearsing a story for performance.
And I was happy to tell my story on stage Thursday evening. I did my best, used my body naturally, I was myself. I'm still strugling with the language, but it is the NOW of storytelling, so it is ok.
I felt so happy afterwards and enjoyed the applause.

The nature around this place is wonderful, all the time changing. For new inspiration and energy a visit to the vegetable garden is awesome, so I go there every now and then.

I miss my friends at home very much, so I'm grateful for Skype and Facebook to stay connected.


The kitchen is always crowded with happy people


The vegetable garden is amazing


One sun smiles to another


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