Short description
Many believe that tales are meant for children only. In reality the opposite is true. It is adults who need to be re-acquainted to the imaginary aspects of life and who need the connection to their childhood self and the playfulness of mythic/ fairy tale/ symbolic spoken word. As such, the particular workshop is meant for adults who would like to deepen their skills in story-telling and story-making.
The education offered is experiential, which means that those who participate will experiment in practice with story-telling and the making of stories through individual and group exercises while often using other media or techniques, for instance movement or the expressive arts in general: not as an end in its own self, but rather as means of exploring the narration process. Also, each group member follows his or her own rhythm in learning.
Basic teaching unities include among others the different folk tale types and forms, different techniques of story-making (with or without the use of words), the relationship between written and spoken word, story-telling techniques (and their relationship to the body or surrounding space), narration structure, the inclusion of story-telling/ -making in other activities (educational, social etc), the relationship between folk tales and oral history, but between tales and self-awareness (including our relationship to the world).
Aim of the workshop is a deeper association of story-telling/ -making to the daily activities of everyday life, a better comprehension of oral traditions and the spoken/ narrated word, the broadening of imagination, but also the understanding of folk-tales as expressions of collective living.
To whom it is addressed
This workshop primarily seeks to address adults who love folk tales and wish to experiment with the art of story-telling, while learning to make their own stories. It seeks to address parents (but also aunts and uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers) who would like to include story-telling in their relationship with their children, nieces and nephews or grandchildren. Finally it seeks to address people who work with other people – teachers, social workers and psychotherapists – who happen to believe that folk tales and story-making can support their clients and work in a creative manner.
Workshop duration
Two hours each Tuesday, from 19:30 to 21:30 for the duration of a year (October to early June). Following consultation among team members, a half an hour extension of each meeting would also be possible (without a corresponding increase of participation fees).
We are commencing on the 29th of October!
Fees
55 EUR per month, which also include materials. Fees should be paid on a monthly basis, regardless of possible participants’ absences during the month.
Few words about the workshop instructor
Tina Lygdopoulou has initially studied social sciences and subsequently completed an MSc in applied psychology. She was taught the art of story-telling by the traditional story-teller Sassa Voulgari.
She has been using story-telling in her work since 2003, often as an aspect of social intervention projects and educational activities. For instance in the context of the Programme for the Education of Muslim Children of the University of Athens (in different villages and cities of Thrace), with groups of Roma adolescents in Metaxourgeio area of Athens, the drop-in centre “Off Club” of Exelixis project of KETHEA-Centre for the Therapy of Addicted Persons, the youthwork/ empowerment programme of AKMA-Athenian Institute of Anthropos, the youthwork experiential training offered by the Centre for Psychological Applications, Museum for Children’s Emotions, the Support Centre for Adolescent Asylum Seekers in Lesvos, the architecture department of the University of Thessaly and the Centre for Systemic Therapy and Counseling in Ioannina.
As a traditional story-teller she has also collaborated with the music stage “Makari” and the “Periplaniseis” Bookstore in Athens, she told stories at the Centre for Embodied Expression “Pura Gana”, the 3rd Story-Telling Festival of Pilio and the Mandra “Seeds” Festival in Xanthi, in Liondari village of Arcadia, the Michael Kakoyiannis Foundation, for different cooperative cafes in Athens, the Day Centre for Migrants and Refugees “Babel” in Athens, the Children’s Hospital Oncology Department in a project run by the NGO “Elpida”, the “Angry Portrait” bar in Ioannina and elsewhere.
At the time she is practicing the art of story-telling for the Garden and in collaboration with the Performing Arts School “Lamba” in the city of Xanthi.
