Skype Stories
I had a skype conversation with Eric Miller and a group of his students from The Storytelling Institute in Chennai, South India.
Eric and his team are working in diverse and creative ways to keep South Indian storytelling traditions alive, and develop new storytellers. They lead workshops to help storytellers extend their skills, and to encourage parents and grandparents to tell stories. They are trying to introduce the creative processes of storytelling into education and the teaching of English. And they put on performances and conferences, to give value to local storytellers, and bring them to a wider audience.
This kind of international exchange is very inspiring. Our conversation ranged from: the kind of venues where storytelling is happening in the UK and India; to what types of stories we are all telling, and if a teller should use dialogue and become a character, or not. The Institute’s aims and achievements, with minimal resources, are something for us all to live up to.
Being able to see the students’ faces meant that I could make a relationship with them very quickly. We could have a proper dialogue, that went beyond what is possible on the phone, or in written chat form. At the end of the conversation I said that I felt as if I had been in India. They all agreed, and felt that they had been in Britain!
Listen to a bit of our conversation … I am talking with Poorvbi about whether it is possible to tell the Grimm’s fairytale Mother Holle in Tamil.
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