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Monthly Meetings 2006
Annual Festival 2006
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The Festival for 2005-2006 was on Saturday, October 7, 2006.
The theme was "Tales
of the Sea".
Tickets will be available at the door the night of the performance and are available for pick up at:
,331 Brant Ave. in Brantford.
The afternoon Festival is intended for everyone from age 6 and up to Adults. The first performance starts at 1:00PM. Tickets for the afternoon (up to four performances) are $2.00 each or $5.00 for a family.
The evening Concert is planned for Adults and starts at 7:00PM with a cost of $15.00 per person.
Please click here for the Afternoon schedule details
Please click here for the Evening schedule details
This years Festival will once again be emceed by local singer/songwriter Ian Bell with a diverse cross-section of storytellers.
Following are some of presenters that will be attending:
Ian Bell
Brant Taletellers Festival 2006 - Emcee
Ian has performed professionally across Canada and in the United States for over a quarter century. He captivates audiences by introducing some of Canada's seldom-heard musical traditions into his music. As a singer/songwriter and storyteller, Ian Bell has been introducing audiences to themselves, with original words and music rooted in the fields and townscapes of Southwestern Ontario. Ian draws inspiration from his full-time work as the curator of the Port Dover Museum.
Aaron Bell
Ojibway Storyteller, Aaron Bell is an award winning curriculum designer for Native Culture, both internationally and locally. He has appeared in documentaries, film and stage for his engaging storytelling skills. Aaron is celebrating his second Cd release, "Painted Imagination" and is greatly looking forward to coming home to Brantford to share his gifts with those he has grown up with as well as those who are young at heart!
Aaron will be in full REGALIA for the children at the afternoon performance.
Aaron's afternoon children's performance will have two tales.
The first titled, "How The Oceans Became Salty" originating from the Cree in North America. The soft tones of the drum and the words share the teachings weaved between the words of this entertaining story. "At one time there was one great, wide, open lake... so far that you could not see the other shore..."
The second tale will be titled, "How Turtle Got His Shell" from the Anishinabeg in North America. At one time, turtle was the fastest animal upon Turtle Island (North America). Until, he met Nanobush, the Trickster and Coyote!
The evening Adult performance by Aaron will be "How Nanobush Stole Fire" from the Anishinabeg of North America. This favourite story shares the teachings about the selfishness and greed of one man and his daughters.... through the eyes of Nanobush.
Brenda Byers
Brenda discovered storytelling when she moved to Burlington, Ontario and wanted to meet new friends. The Burlington Storytellers' Guild meets monthly and, according to the newspaper, everyone was invited to bring his or her favorite story. Brenda showed up with a picture book in tow hoping she would have the courage to read it. As the storytelling began, she slid her book beneath her chair transfixed. Nobody was reading anything. They were telling stories by heart and her imagination was sparking! Over the next year, Brenda took some workshops and continued to meet with the Guild until finally, one evening, she ventured to tell her first story. In the warmth and camaraderie and generous spirit of the Guild, Brenda continues to hone her craft and seek audiences.
She has appeared on cable television and throughout the community in a variety of settings such as scout and guiding events, schools, libraries, bookstores, churches, festivals, cafés and house concerts.
Brenda's afternoon performance for the children is titled: "Sea Soup of Stories and Songs"
At the evening performance Brenda will tell an English story the story from Cornwall entitled, "Lutey and the Mermaid". Some of this story is taken from: Mystical Birds And Beasts From Many Lands, By: Margaret Mayo.
Bruce Carmody
For thirty-five years Bruce worked as a teacher, vice-principal and principal. Drawn to storytelling by an interest in literacy development, Bruce has shared stories with thousands of children in his own schools and as a guest in other schools. Since retiring from teaching, Bruce has been telling stories in schools and churches across southern Ontario.
Afternoon performance - Bruce will be performing along with Janice Turner in the afternoon. At 2:00 they will share the magic and mystery of some favourite selkie tales. "Those who live by the sea know that things are not always what they seem, for they know the ways of the selkie."
At 4:00 they will perform a set of stories for children. "Be ye a pirate bold or a landlubber in your soul, you'll find hidden treasure in these stories from the sea chosen to delight families."
Evening performance - "Old Thomas - When you live by the sea there are many strange things that wash up on the shore but none so strange as what Old Thomas found one day."
Sandra Carpenter-Davis
Has been telling epics, myths, folktales and family stories to all ages for more than 20 years. She has a special interest in multicultural and womens stories and uses rhymes, songs and stories in programs to enrich parent-child relationships.
For the afternoon, Sandra, along with Donna Dudinsky, will be presenting a children's set, "The Captain Was a Duck" - Rhymes, Songs and Stories for all to join in! They will also present an adult set, "The Pirate Princess & Other Folk & Creatures of The Sea" - Stories and other flotsam and jetsam.
In the evening she will present an adult tale, "Catherine the Wise" - A resourceful young wife sails to distant lands to teach her husband a lesson: a folktale from Palermo,Italy.
Donna Dudinsky
A former documentary television producer, Donna Dudinsky tells old tales to the young at heart. Specializing in folk and fairy tales from around the world, Donna has told at Storytelling Festivals, schools, libraries and concerts
For the afternoon, Donna, along with Sandra Carpenter-Davis, will be presenting a children's set, "The Captain Was a Duck" - Rhymes, Songs and Stories for all to join in! They will also present an adult set, "The Pirate Princess & Other Folk & Creatures of The Sea" - Stories and other flotsam and jetsam.
In the evening she will present a family tale, "The Pincoya Mother," a Chilean folktale about a daughter of the sea and the woman who takes care of her.
Paul Rollinson
Paul graduated from a psychology course at York in 1968. He has worked abroad and traveled extensively through Europe and North America. He opened a used and rare bookshop in 1969. He worked for one of Ontario's premier historic sites on a contract basis and later started his own historic interpretive company which did work in local schools. Currently he is entertaining at resorts around the Georgian Bay area.
Afternoon performance - The Shock Priest Tales - These tales weave together fact, folk tales, and new tales.
Michael Rutledge
Michael is a member of the Brant Taletellers Guild. He started seriously telling stories in 1994 when his son accidentally ran into a tree, prompting the need for an explanation of his injuries to the grade one class. Since then he has told folk tales and original stories at schools, day camps, nursing homes, churches, and festivals. Michael particularity likes to tell tall tales, humorous tales and stories with rhyme and reason.
In the afternoon Michael will be re-telling a story by Oscar Wilde -"The Fisherman and His Soul". It is a story of love and deception, strength and weakness, wisdom and folly, restraint and temptation.
In the evening you can learn what really happened in 1994 as Michael relates the story of "The Scratch" - an original pirate story.
Janice Turner
Janice Turner is a passionate Storyteller and Puppeteer and has been working and playing in both fields since 1991. Janice is a long standing member of The Storytellers School of Toronto and the founder of the Newmarket Storytree.
Afternoon performance - Janice will be performing along with Bruce Carmody in the afternoon. At 2:00 they will share the magic and mystery of some favourite selkie tales. "Those who live by the sea know that things are not always what they seem, for they know the ways of the selkie."
At 4:00 they will perform a set of stories for children. "Be ye a pirate bold or a landlubber in your soul, you'll find hidden treasure in these stories from the sea chosen to delight families."
Evening performance - will be the tale, "Skeleton Woman - a haunting Inuit tale of enduring love."
Brad Woods
Brad is a former Board member of The Storytellers School of Toronto, the recipient of the 2002 Anne Smythe travel Grant for Storytelling, was the 2004 Storyteller in Residence at the Guelph Civic Museum, and was a featured performer at the 2005 Yukon International Storytelling Festival in White Horse. The week before the event in Brantford he will be performing in New York City and at the beginning of November he will be featured at a festival in LA!
At our afternnoon performance Brad will be relating stories titled, "In Search of Dry Land" - After growing up near water then moving inland, Brad discovered his need to be near water...it is not the only thing he discovered needing. Come hear what he needed and how he got it through a patchwork collection of legends, folktales and personal stories.
In the evening Brad will be telling a reflective piece called "Mermaids". Brad says, "It is a personal story about my daughter and I and how, it turns out, she knows better than me".
Honorary Patron:
Miss Mary B. Stedman
Board of Directors:
President:
David Lewis
Past President:
Maureen Henry
Treasurer:
Michael Rutledge
Secretary:
Barbara Sisson
Member At-Large
Vyrt Sisson
Sponsored by:
Last Updated: 21 January 2007 - David Lewis
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