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The meeting on 23 Nov 2011, the last for the year, started on a promising note. New members Chitra Pandey and Tang Puay Keng as well as guest Patrick Boo came bearing goodies and stories. Kiran Shah, one of the founders of the STC, started us off with a familiar, but wonderful, warm up. Everyone present was to given a time limit of one minute to provide the story of their names. It is always interesting to see many valuable bits of social and cultural history are revealed in this exercise and the process is enriching both for the listener as well as the storyteller.
Then, Patrick Boo told his story of ‘Dragons’ with passion and conviction. He spoke of the mystery and power of dragons and wove in elements of contemporary Singapore society. Deborah Wong did a very natural telling of an urban legend about ‘Sharing My Snack’, weaving her story into her holiday in London. Chitra told her delightful story, ‘Monkeys Go on Fast’. A natural storyteller, Chitra’s animated telling revealed the power of the pause. It is no surprise to discover that Chitra has been working with preschoolers for years. I was particularly excited to hear the story as there is a similar but different version of the story in the part of the world where I grew up in which the protagonist is a little squirrel. Heather retold Margaret Mahy’s ‘The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate’ and Fei Mee, appropriately enough, presented the Thanksgiving story of ‘Tom Turkey’ using props. We were reminded of last year’s story with a similar invitation to a party and the play on words. Dolly brought the storytelling to a close with her story of one who wanted to be a fairy godfather and amusing anecdotes of her parrot.
Before the meeting came to an end, we enjoyed the delicious cake that Puay Keng had brought for the STC.
The STC would like to wish all members a wonderful holiday season! As usual, there will be no meeting in December.
The next STC meeting is on Friday, 27 Jan 2012 at The Council Room, The Arts House at Old Parliament, from 7.30 – 9.30pm. Please email feimee.lim@gmail.com if you plan to attend. Guests are welcome for their first meeting. Regular attendees are expected to be members of the SRL. Forms may be downloaded from www.srl.org.sg
See you at the Circle!
Rosemarie Somaiah
Chair: The Storytellers’ Circle
Note: If you would like to attend more storytelling courses, performances and other community events, keep an eye out also for events organized by the Storytelling Association, (Singapore) (SAS) www.storytellingsingapore.com. Most professional members of the SAS began with the regular meeting and performances here at the Storytellers’ Circle (STC) of SRL and have built up their expertise in storytelling with its links to performance, personal development, education and community involvement over the year. We are very grateful for their continued support. The website usually has a comprehensive list of storytelling events in Singapore.
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