Storytelling is one of the most ancient art forms, stretching back for as long as humans have had speech.
Each person will hear something different as the story is created in the space between the teller and the listener.
Our aim is to take the children on a journey of the imagination.
Who Are Our Storytellers
Our storytellers are both professionally trained performers and teachers for various performance related schools here in the UAE.
Recently we have been working alongside various schools in Abu Dhabi and Dubai by coming into schools and taking short sessions with the children and teachers.
Our storytellers tell a story differently each time they tell it, interacting with their audience, choosing stories and images to communicate with them, sometimes with the aid of music, dance, pictures or puppets.
Our Storytellers may tell traditional folk tales, written tales, anecdotes, urban myths, stories from history, religious or moral tales, stories we have created ourselves or which can been created for a specific event.
What Can We Do For Your School
Inviting people into school creates a special atmosphere whoever they are. Storytellers provide excitement and stimulation.
It can improve concentration, listening skills and help develop and enrich spoken and written language. It can also help to stimulate the imagination, contributing to Speaking and Listening as well as Creative Writing, Poetry, Drama, Music and Art.
Hearing and retelling traditional tales can provide scaffolding for children’s own imaginative stories, giving the child a variety of frameworks to work from and encouraging a questioning attitude.
We can create excitement and enthusiasm for History, Geography and Religious Studies as well as English language, literature and Drama.
Storytelling can widen the range of children’s emotional, cultural and moral responses.
Our storytellers can teach storytelling skills to pupils, raising their self confidence. This has been proved especially effective with ‘low achievers’. Older children can tell to younger, benefiting both groups by building the self esteem of the older children and providing positive role models to the younger.
Some of our storytellers can provide other types of workshop sessions. These can help inspire children’s creativity through a range of follow-up activities – see Dance and Drama workshops.
Things To Consider When Booking Your Storyteller
Whatever event you are planning, give yourself plenty of time for organising.
Many of our popular storytellers are booked up months in advance.
Have a clear idea of the sort of event you want:
Is this to be a one-off event or a residency?
A residency would be a long term show (perhaps over week or two) and a one off event would be one or two days.
Do you want a performance or a workshop?
A performance is our show being performed by actresses and interactive staff at the front. A workshop would involve the show and then the children get to create small stories in groups to perform to the other children.
Please note that a workshop is 2.5 hours in length.
What age groups will be involved? Will the ages be mixed?
It is best to have smaller children together than mixing older children with them.
Do any of the children have any special needs the storyteller should be aware of?
We like to be aware of all children with special needs so we can cater accordingly for them.
Are you looking for stories on a particular theme, or from a specific culture?
We have some pre recorded and pre written stories, but we work alot with schools curriculum and what the children are learning in class, we can prerecord this in advance if you let us know what you require. All shows can be in English and Arabic.
Will it be formal or relaxed, a performance in front of the whole school or working with smaller groups?
We supply interactive staff to encourage the children to join in, if you dont want this and want them to have a more formal structure then do let us know.
How many sessions will there be?
We normally fit in around 4 sessions in a morning between the hours of 8am – 12pm.
How long do you want sessions to be?
The sessions normally last 25 mins – this is the recommended length of time to ensure the children do not get bored or loose focus.
How much audience participation do you want?
As mentioned above we provide interactive staff to encourage the children to dance and sing along with the show… sometimes this involves standing, if this is something you do not want please inform us before we arrive at the venue.
What venue are you planning to use?
In the past we have done shows in a gym, school assembly hall and a large classroom. we have also told stories in stores around the UAE. we need a good area for the children to be able to move around freely.
Do you require the storyteller to work outside?
Storytelling shows do work outside as well as inside… we will just need to be aware of power supply and obviously not in a noisy area.