zebras

Zebra Crossings

Zebra crossings are great! Designated paths for safe passage, getting from one side to the other, crossing over and journeying onward… [You know – like the Abbey Road one with George, Paul, Ringo and John…!]

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YouTube “Storytelling”…?

It can be wonderful to see recorded examples of storytelling… But storytelling on YouTube is only a “report” of a storytelling experience – very different from the live experience itself. Just like… A lovely photograph of a location may be beautiful all on its own. It might motivate you to go to that place. If […]

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EXcellence – Brief Note about Professional Storytellers

I love finding the storyteller in everyone! And nurturing it, and celebrating it! We’ve ALL got it! Much of my most satisfying work over the years has been in teaching and coaching others to find and celebrate their own storytelling capabilities. And I love, love, love story swaps – everyone has a story to tell! […]

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Elizabeth Ellis

Week…Just 1 Until the Rocky Mountain Storytelling Conference

The Rocky Mountain Storytelling 2014 Conference is one week away! Storytelling conferences are always a fantastic opportunity to connect, to learn from others (previous blog post!), to learn by doing, to network – and of course to have fun! Rocky Mountain Storytelling holds its annual Colorado conference, “Storytelling: Craft & Connection,” next weekend in Denver on Friday […]

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grain

Story Versions

Being able to deliver different versions of a story to different audiences… This is an important and valuable ability – both in terms of “stretching your repertoire,” and of respecting and responding to your audiences! As an example: There is a beautiful story from Israel I like to tell, that lends itself to some nice […]

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colored pencils

Upper Elementary School Grades (4-6)

I’m afraid I’m out of time, and so I’m kind of cheating for “U”… I’ll be at a school most of the day, leading workshops with 4th, 5th and 6th graders, 

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Titanic

Titanic Connections

Titanic: “of exceptional strength, size or power.” My friend Richard and I were enjoying a rare visit together, sharing breakfast in my home, me happily hosting him as he was in Boulder for a professional visit. The coffee was hot, the bread made great toast, especially covered as it was in luscious butter + beautiful […]

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Stance – for Storytellers and Other Speakers!

Sometimes one of the biggest challenges for novice storytellers, it seems, is to learn to stand on their own two feet!    😉 Seriously – whether it’s nervousness, uncertainty about how to begin the story, or an established posture-habit – very often there’s a tendency to stand uncertainly, even awkwardly, with the weight on one […]

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Dog in yard

Respond in Real-Time (Reprising a favorite blog post from March)

Responding to your audience, to the real-time circumstances around you – – this is one of storytelling’s most distinguishing characteristics. (This is what especially differentiates storytelling from theater, such as a monologue or “one-person play.”)

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Roman pathway

Questions – Ask Questions; They Will Lead You Forward

Questions are KEY to the story-choosing/ story-preparation / storytelling process! To really explore “questions” in storytelling would make a very long post indeed – which I’m going to avoid. To that end, for today I’m going to just list here a few of the questions that can be so useful.

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