Roslyn Quin: RAW Garden Storytelling - 7 August 2016

Bubbling extrovert and obvious Scorpio, Roslyn is best known for her sell-out Melbourne Fringe Festival show ‘The Red Bird and Death’, though if you ever catch someone calling her ‘your majesty’ you may have found the rare few people who can pick her out of her chilling prosthetics from the “The Goblin Ball" events.

Inspired by the reflections of the simplest of truths in the most lavish of tales and the ageless ache for wonder, Roslyn uses oral storytelling, performance and mixed media to breath life into the folkloric worlds in her mind and invite the characters within to come out and grasp onlookers by the hands, hearts and minds.

Now found living by a creek in the far east of Melbourne in a small house that looks like Dumbledore and Baba Yaga got drunk and fought over the interior design, Roslyn spends her days enchanting children in early literacy programs.

Where: The RAW Garden 325 South Road East Brighton 

Time: 12.00 - 2.00

Cost: $15.00 at the door

Learn more about the RAW garden HERE

Learn more about Roslyn HERE

Fabled Nights in Newport 15 July 2016

If you missed  the June Fabled Nights  and Stories by the Fire at the Newport Folk Festival, not to worry, we're gathering again for the July get together. Kate Lawrence will be hosting. She'll be traveling all the way from Mt Macedon with a log for the fire and story to get you all inspired!

This is Susan Hall, our Geelong regular,  gracing the stage in June with a terrific tale about canned food!

Fabled Nights is not an open competition, just an open hearted space for all storytellers and story lovers. There will be space for ten people to tell their story of around 7 minutes. 
It is open to any and all genres of story.

COST: $3.00 (Storytelling Vic and Newport Fiddle and Folk Club members)
 $5.00 non members
WHEN:  7:30 pm - 10.00 pm
WHERE: THE NEWPORT SCOUT HALL: Market Street, Newport (opposite the Substation  and squeezed between the RSL and Bowls Club). By the Newport train station.

There will be tea/coffee and biccies/cake.
There are food venues in nearby Mason Street. Or feel free to bring some food and wine and make yourselves comfortable.

'Stories by the Fire': Newport Folk Festival 2016

Storytelling has had a place at the Newport Folk Festival since it all began nine years ago. We used to mix it up with some of Melbourne's finest performance poets and songwriters  and called the event  'WORDS WORDS WORDS'. But for some time now, its been Stories by the Fire with  storytellers from Story Vic gathering around the hearth, telling and inviting guests to share the space.

Teena Hartnett hosting 'Stories by the Fire'

We've enjoyed the warmth of many hosts over the years: Matteo, Niki na Meadhra, Ian McNally and Kate Lawrence and in recent times Teena Hartnett has taken on the task and become a loved and welcome presence at the Newport Festival in the old Scout Hall.

Niki na Meadhra (photo Gerry Nelson)

Friend of Storytelling Vic, Gerry Nelson, was the official Festival photographer and caught some beautiful images of the evening. Alex Kharnam recorded much of it on video and in time we can share some of the results. But for now, here is a glimpse into Stories by the Fire.

Roslyn Quin (photo Gerry Nelson)

These winter story gatherings have been supported since their inception by Claudette D'Cruz and No Worries Curries. Claudette supplies us with the makings and litres of spicy chai are brewed throughout the winter months.

Father and son tandem tellers: Miles and Alex Kharnam  (photo Gerry Nelson)

We thank all the storytellers that rock up to share their art, open up their hearts to newcomers and invite others to see what we are all about.

Father and daughter Simon and Lilly-Anne (photo Gerry Nelson). Lilly-Anne's first story ever!

Storyteller Dee

 

Vege soup around the fire. Please join us next year. It all happens on the Saturday evening in the first week end of July.

And finally a special thanks to Miles and Alex who rigged up some lights so we could actually gather and tell around the hearth.

The Australian Fairy Tale Society: 3rd Annual Conference “Into the Bush - Its Beauty and Its Terror”

The Australian Fairy Tale Society is an interdisciplinary, intercultural, intergenerational, national group that fosters a deepening understanding of fairy tales and their relationship with our evolving contemporary identity. 
The AFTS annual conference was held, this year, as part of the Glen Eira Storytelling Festival - a conference within a festival.

The day-long event included, academic papers, readings and re-tellings of tales, animation and art works.

These beautiful book images were shown as part of Robyn Floyd's paper, Stockwhip Wand and Cabbage Tree Hat: Australia Identity in Australian Fairy Tales.

Themes of identity, transition, sexuality and motifs: animal brides, lost children and mythical creatures  (bunyips) were examined. The patterns of female relationships in fairy tales, isolation, antagonistic sisters, step mothers and collaboration  were laid before us. 

Angie Rega introduced us to her spellbinding tale: The Bush Bride of Badgery Hollow, a dark story of the dangers of taking an animal bride: in this case a Sugar Glider Woman.

This conference is always of a very high standard and rich as a plum pudding. The performances and readings are complimentary to the theme and offer respite from the academic.

The keynote was delivered by Jackie Kerin from Storytelling Australia Victoria, who relished the opportunity to explore, from a personal perspective,  the shifts in the rational mind when confronted with bush myths and 'storied landscape'.

As part of the conference the  Society's AGM was held and can now proudly introduce the new committee.

L-R: Catherine Snell (president), Thanh Luong, Jo Henwood, Penelope  Clay (secretary), Louis John- Krol (vice president) and absent but there in spirit,  is Gypsy Thornton.

The AFS thanked the hard-working out-going president, Dr Belinda Calderone  who was also a superlative conference MC.

If you would like to explore more deeply the activities of the AFTS, you might like to consider joining The Victorian Fairy Ring led by Louisa John-Krol and the Monash Fairy Tale Salon led by Dr Rebecca-Ann Do Rosario and Dr Belinda Calderone.

Kate Lawrence: Story Wise gets wiser…

Jackie has asked (thank you Jackie) and I have provided. 

Here is a bit of an update from me and Story Wise, from here in the Macedon Ranges, (and pushing down into the big smoke).

Story Door, Woodend’s True Storytelling Night

Story Door on the first Friday of the month, has settled in and is steadily growing. No, a more accurate description would be that its growing in fits and starts – one-month full house, next month numbers drop, next month numbers are up again.

We started with 20 being a minimal crowd, and now that would be 30.  Full house about 50.  The tellers too have been increasing in number, with one night seeing us break the barrier and hear 11 tellers. 

A few things have helped Story Door grow: the support and excitement of the community, social media, regularity, the pub environment where people can eat and have a drink, and a separate room for the stories, where we can focus. 

But one of the biggest things that has contributed to the event’s success is the support of the experienced storytelling community. 

It’s been such a relief to me to have Jackie Kerin, Teena Hartnett, Peter Fernon and Cassis Lumb as regular storytellers.  I can, and do rely on these tellers to tell a great story and to really lift the standard of the night.  They show the audience and other tellers what to aspire to and aim for. 

But there are always a few spots left on the board when we get started, (sometimes as many as five) and so we see others having a go, planned and unplanned, repeat tellers who have caught the bug and others telling their first story.  And every month we have ripper stories.

Blogging

As well as Story Door, I’ve  been blogging weekly with reflections, stories, tips and tricks for personal storytelling (you can sign up here). 

Workshops

I’ve been running introductory storytelling workshops in Woodend, with more scheduled for Riddells Creek in July and I’ve also been building connections with true story lovers and learners in Melbourne with Melbourne’s True Storytelling Meet Up.  I had lots of fun giving a workshop at the NSW International Storytelling Festival, and the Willi Lit Festival, and I was a voice for oral storytelling on a panel at the Emerging Writers Festival.

Storytelling Projects:  Running Story Door has helped me to develop my storytelling MC skills and see how it is another form of holding safe space, in a story kind of way.  Bringing together workshops and performance in a storytelling project would be an amazing way to build community, make sense of life experiences and capture stories.   So I have set my sights, and hope to combine my skills and experiences to serve communities, be they geographical or experience based.  (And here’s a pitch: Any agencies looking for a wonderful community building, story-skill-developing project – I’d love to have a chat.)

Kate Lawrence – Story Wise

Please, if you are a member, follow Kate's example. If you have workshops, shows, reports and reviews or open mic events that you would like to share,  contact us. We spread as much Victorian story news as we can on our Facebook but this blog and our Newsletter is reserved for members and their projects. Jackie K (blog editor)

Newport Folk Festival 1-3 July

 STORIES BY THE FIRE

 As part of the Newport Folk Festival, Story Vic invites you all to Stories by the Fire. This is an open mic for Storytellers and poets. Hosted by the Mistress of story, Teena Hartnett. Come and listen or tell a tale. We welcome stories of all genres - 8 minutes or less.
Come and warm your toes by the fire and enjoy the good company.
NB You will need to be quick if you wish to get your name on the board. It fills up in a flash.
WHEN: Saturday 2 July
WHERE: Newport Scout Hall 6 Market Street Newport
TIME: 6.00 pm

TALES FROM THE FLYWAY 
at the Newport Folk Festival

 Jackie Kerin and Sarah Depasquale will be at the Festival with their Tales from the Flyway.
Together they will take you on a journey following the path of the migratory shore birds, from Hobsons Bay along the East Asian Australasian Flyway to Siberia and back. They pose the question: If we were to fly with the birds and visit some of the wetlands along the way, what stories might we hear?

WHEN: Saturday July 2
WHERE: The Substation
TIME: 2.00 pm

Check the Newport Folk Festival website for all the details, the full program of events and ticketing HERE

Fabled NIghts in Newport: June

 

Our numbers are growing every month and so is the amount of cake!
Stories of all kinds were shared in June: folk tales, personal stories, tall tales and a kamishibai story.

We welcomed Devi Palanisamy. Devi has moved to Melbourne from Singapore where she is part of the Storytelling Association (Singapore). Many of us have storytelling friends across the water to the north on Facebook but rarely do we get to meet and share stories.


Finally Alex and Miles (father and son team) stepped into the light and tandem told a story that traveling Irish storyteller David Doyle left with us on his last night in Australia; a story seed planted by a traveler, quietly nurtured and finally shared.



Next Fabled Nights in Newport is July 15
Time: 7.30 - 10.00
Where: Newport Scout Hall 6 Market Street Newport (opp Substation)
Cost: $5.00/3.00 (members)