Stories Untold: Tell your Tall Tales

Everyone has at least one great story.

The art of creation is the one distinguishing feature that sets humans apart from the rest of the species. Technology, architecture, art – all are representations of the creating nature of humans. In the midst of the constant creation-destruction dynamic there exists a tension within every human which holds the potential for all forms of art to emerge.

Art and architecture preserve the cultural heritage and the history of civilizations across time. Another medium of preservation is the art of story keeping and storytelling which imbue the society with its own cultural motifs and symbols that travel through generations.

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Cantadoras or the story keepers strive to pass on their stories to future cantadoras who would in turn transfer them further. What adds to their art is not just the keeping of stories but the re-telling of the old fables, retaining the magic and experience of the times they encase. There is something about the way certain stories are told which enraptures the listeners. And then, there are those which never manage to hold one’s attention or fancy. Why does that happen? Is it just the content of those stories or the way in which they are presented?

We all have a great story inside of us. But few of us manage to weave the story into a powerful narrative that makes the readers/listeners feel a part of the experience. Tall Tales, Mumbai’s premier live storytelling event series, holds workshops to cater to those who want to either hone the writing skills they have or to bring out the latent storyteller in them.

Michael Burns, the conductor of the workshop and the Director of Tall Tales, is an avid curator of stories himself and believes that each one of us has a great story to share. In the workshop that I attended he presented to us the evolution and the anatomy of a story. Here he deftly articulated that the elements that make up a story are known by all of us intuitively, however, when expressed in structures we begin to see the patterns that help us build our story better.

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The workshop began in the morning at 10, at the Fursat-Se Café, a multifaceted cultural hub frequented by the intellectual and creative populace. The six-hour workshop, was an interactive one where the participants voiced their opinions on what they believe is a story and why they feel the need to attend a storytelling workshop such as this. Through a number of interesting activities that the participants were made to do, and the examples that Michael used to emphasize the structures of a story, the workshop instilled in the participants a feeling of confidence and a renewal of the story within each one of them.

The workshop also introduced the concept of the “arc” which emphasized the shape of a story that makes it interesting. For example, how to begin a story? How should the plot be revealed? How to build a solid foundation for the story?

The arc also comprised of many levels of storytelling, like the kind of conflicts a story portrays; how the events of the story are revealed; and how the personal feelings and emotions of the author are essential for the story to have a connection with the reader/listener. An emphasis was made on honesty being a key element to good storytelling and how one can be in touch with one’s true emotional states.

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The workshop initiated a process within each participant at the end where each uncovered part of a story or stories within them. The first layer of self-doubt that clouds one’s expression was removed. What begins as a consequence is a quest to uncover the other hidden parts of the story and as a result of one’s self.

For all those of you who feel intimidated by the tall orders that you have to meet in order to tell your story, Tall Tales offer the perfect respite and brings the art of storytelling to you. The next upcoming workshops would take place in Mumbai and Bangalore. Sign up and put a spin to your tale.