Telling Stories

ROBERTA: Today's guest is a blast from my past--a woman I went to college with some (cough, cough) years ago. She has sworn in blood not to tell embarrassing tales. Since our graduation, Susan Danoff has become a storyteller, teacher, and writer, the author of The Golden Thread: Storytelling in Teaching and Learning and a CD, Women of Vision. She's most interested in bringing storytelling to children and teachers. From 1996 - 2007 Susan founded and ran a nonprofit corporation which served low-income and special needs school children through long-term storytelling programs. Susan has just begun a new project - The Story House Retreat Center in southern New Hampshire - where she will hold residential workshops in storytelling and creativity.

She's here today to tell us about her most unusual career. Welcome Susan! Let's start with the obvious questions. What exactly does a storyteller do and how did you get into this business?

SUSAN: It was because of this initial experience in Trenton that I decided to form a nonprofit corporation to bring storytelling to more children in low-income schools where literacy scores are low and drop out rates are high. For twelve years I worked with nine storytelling colleagues, and we found that wherever we went - whether it was a Head Start program or a Detention Center - once the story began, the attention was immediate, even among children who have attention issues. Because of this, it has been one of my career goals to bring storytelling to as many teachers as I can.

Storytellers “tell” stories to live audiences. Since we don't read from a book, the presentation of the material is shaped, not only by language, but by nonverbal expression and direct and immediate connection with the audience. Listening to an effective storyteller should be a transporting experience. You float off into the world of the story, forgetting where you are. In that way it is like reading a book you love, but it's also different. There's an intensity that is created by the energy generated from the story, the storyteller, and the audience response.

I heard my first storyteller almost thirty years ago and fell in love with the art form immediately. I set out to become a storyteller though I had no idea this would be a lifelong journey for me. I tell mostly international folktales and some literary stories. If you read a folk story, chances are it will feel very flat on the page. That's because folktales need the voice of the storyteller to make them come alive. I love the folk and fairytales because of their wisdom, humor, and enchantment. For thousands of years they survived because people wanted and needed to tell them to someone else. They still carry that immediacy today.

ROBERTA: Do you write any of the stories you tell? If so, please tell us how you go about that.

SUSAN: When I work with a folktale, I try to understand it through movement and visualization. When I think I have a handle on it, I write my own version. This continues to change as I tell it. I also write what are called literary fairytales. These are original stories that have the literary conventions of folk and fairytales. The most famous writer of literary fairytales is Hans Christian Andersen, but others are Oscar Wilde, James Thurber, and Jane Yolen.

ROBERTA: Please tell us about the experience of getting your disadvantaged students excited about writing their own stories.

SUSAN: Around 1985 I was working as a visiting storyteller/writer for the NJ State Council on the Arts, and I was placed in an elementary school in Trenton. This was an urban school with many problems associated with poverty - one of which was literacy. I was amazed by the children's response. When I told stories, it was as if light bulbs were turning on inside the children. They couldn't wait to hear the stories, and their listening was highly focused. Once I had their attention, I found that I could follow up easily with writing. Over the years I have created many writing activities to help children to visualize, articulate what they imagine, tap memories, and create stories and poetry.

ROBERTA: thanks for stopping by JRW today! Now the floor is open for questions, comments, or votes on your favorite stories of all time.