About
Storytelling Australia (SA) is a not for profit group who love to tell and be told stories.
As members, we do this at our meetings by:
- practising the art of ORAL storytelling live,
- cultivating our appreciation as story listeners,
- discerning what makes effective and timely stories to tell.
- positively and compassionately supporting new tellers
- enjoying each other's company, efforts, talents and needs
We also promote the art of ORAL storytelling in the wider community
How do we vary as storytellers ?
As oral storytellers, we vary in:
- the types of story we tell – folk tales, literary & crafted personal stories and more!
- our purposes of why we tell – entertain, convey insight, express ourselves, creativity, self development, fun etc.
- the occasions and settings where we tell – regular story sharing meetings, concerts, festivals.
- how we tell - each has their own individual style, be it enthusiastically, with restraint, daringly, animatedly, seriously, irreverently, cheekily, loudly, gently, bold, shy ... etc.
Our members who tell professionally and also the wider community of professional storytellers may vary even more in these aspects.
What is our take on storytelling ?
We view telling stories orally as both an art and a craft.
It's an art all people possess to some degree, by virtue of possessing speech or access to its alternatives. Accordingly, we acknowledge that storytelling can range from a hesitant recount of an anecdote over a family meal to a full blown solo concert performance requiring sustained preparation, and underpinned by great artistry and crafting skill.
While we recognise the value of using notes in public speaking our standard practice at meetings is NOT to use notes for storytelling. Similarly, while we value reading aloud from a book as a skill and art in its own right, we do NOT promote reading aloud as oral storytelling.