Borneo Post Online (Kota Kinabalu, Borneo) , December 4, 2012
Summary:
The few adults in the room couldn’t imagine themselves scaling mountains with their hands or flapping like peacocks alongside their young companions during yesterday’s storytelling session, but that was the effect Cassandra Wye had on her audience.
Before long, the storyteller from United Kingdom had everyone slithering, snapping, pecking and stomping along to a tale from the foot of Mount Kinabalu.
Wye is a performer, educator and director who inspires adults and children around the world to tell their stories.
In a one-day event called ‘International Storytelling with Cassandra Wye’ at the Sarawak State Library, her mixed audience of children and adults were entertained by her rendition of ‘The Snooty Elephant’.
Her methods were interactive and encouraged audience participation. There were instances in the story when Wye surged into the nearly packed auditorium with a puppet of a friendly snake or crocodile who wanted to say hello to giggling preschoolers and their smiling parents.
Later on that morning, Wye ran a workshop for parents and teachers on how to use storytelling to enrich learning in school and at home. In the afternoon, she gave a talk on ‘The Magic of Storytelling’, which is an interactive presentation that inspire everyone to tell their stories.
Cassandra Wye have been travelling the world and telling stories for over 20 years, spinning them from Barbados to Borneo, from temples to train stations, from the heart of the rainforest to the roof of the world.
She has worked with every level of the education spectrum from nurseries to universities, as well as with marginalised communities such as children in care, orphans, refugees, street children, and disabled adults and children.
Wye has also worked with disability and health agencies, social educational and environmental organisations around the globe.
Subjects Covered: education, personal storytelling