STORY TELLING

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Stories weave the web of life, they are all around us, in us and between us, they shape our world and our thinking, but often we are not aware of this. The art of storytelling used to be well known and respected, in fact in ancient Celtic times you had to study nine years to become a storyteller! The oral tradition, where we tell stories by heart with our clear voice, almost disappeared. But luckily it was remembered before it got lost and now people all over the world are picking it up again, discovering the many beautiful gifts that lay hidden in it and experience the power of a story told - be it to a child, at a campfire, to an audience in a theater or cafe, to a friend in need, as a healing art for those who are suffering or to bring hope in dark times…. Hopefully this bright flame can be carried onward through many generations to come so that our imagination may be enlivened and spaces for community can be created. If you feel curious, interested and inspired to learn how to tell a good story, come along and join us in this workshop that will have elements of the craft, games, songs and many opportunities to hear your voice!​

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Ianthe Lauwaert

She is 29 and was born in Belgium. When she was in 12th grade, in 2007, she went to Connect in Dornach. Meeting all the young people from all over the world, and feeling reverence for the Goetheanum and the work that was happening there, she was certain that this network of people and this work with youth would be a part of her life. Soon after she started studying social cultural work In Gent, and during her studies she co-organised many youth projects with friends in Belgium. After graduating from college she felt that she needed to come back to herself a bit - college did not give her the depth of life she was yearning for and she co-founded a self-directed study with her sister and a friend in Sweden, called “The Art Of I-Skulpture”. It was during this year that she had her first storytelling experience in Israel-Palestine, working one month around the theme of peace. She traveled a lot that year and met some wonderful and inspiring people from the States, who told her about the projects they were involved with. Upon hearing their stories Ianthe decided to go study at the Free Columbia Art Course in upstate New York. There she met Melody and ever since they have been traveling, living and working together. They currently work and live in the UK, at Emerson College, where the International School of Storytelling is. This is also where Ianthe and Melody trained as storytellers. Ianthe participated in a 6 week long course around stories in support of the child’s development, called “The Right Story at the Right Time”. Then the teachers at the school asked her if they could train her to become a teacher. Since then, Ianthe has interned in different courses, including the flagship course of three months. She also developed her own course called “Healing with Stories”. Besides teaching storytelling, Ianthe is also a storytelling artist who performs at conferences and gatherings and loves telling for children too! Ianthe believes very strongly in the power of the imagination and considers her work to be bringing an experience of our essence, our striving, the world’s evolution, deep questions and wonder, through telling stories - wondertales, myths, biographical stories, … She loves working with the inspiration to always find the story that wants to be told.

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Melody Brink

After leaving high school Melody spent a year at Kroka, which is an educational organization that offers various outdoor programs for youth. There she did two different semesters, one being in Ecuador and the other in Vermont. She met many strong and inspiring people (including a storyteller!), she closely observed the landscapes that she traveled through, she learned many songs that she still loves to sing today and she met her own will. After completing her year with Kroka, Melody wished to re-visit the fine arts, which she had so loved when she was younger. So after that adventurous year she moved to upstate New York where she studied at Free Columbia, a year-long course weaving together painting, anthroposophy and puppetry. After spending a second year in that area, assisting in a Waldorf school, doing a foundation year in anthroposophy, singing in a choir, continuing to paint and cleaning houses and doing elder care for work, Melody moved to the UK to study the art of storytelling at the International School of Storytelling. She wanted to deepen her understanding of the imagination as well as to find her own voice’s strength. Over the last five years Melody has done many things here and there. She completed her Masters in Social Sculpture at Oxford Brookes University, learned how to spin wool and became an intern at the International School of Storytelling where she is learning to teach the craft of storytelling. She considers herself a social artist and with her every step she holds the question: How can change and transformation come about for the sake of world healing?