A storyteller’s tale

Deepa Kiran, who founded ‘Story Arts India’ to introduce the art of storytelling, was the first representative from India to participate in the ongoing 30th International Storytelling Festival (26 May-18 June) in Austria. Speaking with The Hans India, Deepa shares her story.

“I worked as an English teacher (on contract basis) for Class X and XII in Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in the year 2000. At that time I found that storytelling was the best way to get children’s attention and that helped me in teaching English.

Soon I realised it is a beautiful way of expressing myself and communicating with the world and it brought together all my inherent talent and interests like teaching, writing, music, dance and sharing of love and laughter,” Deepa says.

Speaking about the importance of storytelling in this fast-paced generation, Deepa shares, “Storytelling and listening to stories have always held deep meaning in our lives. Lifestyle today is faster, gadget-inundated, and a little more stressful.

Storytelling and listening to stories offer a space for slowing down, relaxing, unwinding, finding joy in the simple pleasure of creating with words and the mind and connecting with each other.”

Recently Deepa has won the National Award for ‘E-Content Program of the Year’. “I’m happy for the award. In that video, I did video lessons for BEd students for UGC’s Gyan Darshan National Television Channel.

It has recreated classroom sessions where children learn through storytelling and the presenter is explaining to the BEd students (teacher trainees) how to use storytelling for language development in the classroom.

The award was announced by Consortium of Educational Communication, New Delhi for the competition for best video lessons produced in 2015-16.”

Deepa is also a trained Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dancer. Asking about whether her dance influences storytelling, she informs, “Absolutely! I dance in my stories and other sequences directly from my training in Indian classical dance.

Also because I have been an integral part of many dance ballets right from the conception to the performance, I bring in my understanding of creating a dance ballet, when I create my long musical storytelling productions.”

“In my experience, people anywhere in the world and any age and any background, have always loved storytelling and will continue to do so, as long as you find the right stories and the right way of telling to bring the connect for that specific audience,” Deepa concludes.