Tea and Tales with tea lady Kelly Jones and storyteller Dale Jarvis

Tea and Tales
The Annex,  365 Old Placentia Rd, Mount Pearl

Join tea lady Kelly Jones and storyteller Dale Jarvis as they celebrate their love of tea with stories, tastings, and treats. As you listen to stories of missing eyelids, wise dragons, haunted tea plantations, and the Iron Goddess of Mercy Herself, you will sample four varieties of tea. Learn about proper brewing techniques, and take away tips to make a perfect cup.

Tuesday, July 17th
7:00 p.m.
Tickets: $35.00

Cultural Tourism workshop with Dale Jarvis - Storytelling Your Site

STORYTELLING YOUR SITE

An introduction to crafting storytelling-based guided tours for sites, museums, and historic places, with storyteller Dale Jarvis.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

“Storytelling Your Site” is a cultural tourism workshop for museum, parks, and historic site staff, archivists, docents, and tour guides, designed to help you improve visitor experience through storytelling.

• Why use story in heritage sites?
• How do you search out stories for your site, tell these stories, and make history come alive?
• How do you encourage people to linger and spend more time exploring?

Instructor Dale Jarvis will answer those questions, and demonstrate how he uses archival material and oral history to find his tales and bring them to life. Along with insider secrets, suggestions for project focus, and examples from his own award-winning projects, Dale will show you how to work with what you have, and how to tie those things together to create a consistent theme that links to your site mandate.

The workshop will provide an interactive, relaxed, and supportive environment. Participants will work individually, in pairs, and in groups. If you haven’t done a workshop with Dale before, he encourages talking, laughter, thinking, and doing!

About Dale Jarvis

Dale Jarvis is the proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour and has been storytelling and delivering education sessions for museums and parks for over a decade. As a storyteller, he has worked with venues including Red Bay National Historic Site, Cape Spear National Historic Site, The Rooms, and the Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site, and he has created a popular site-specific storytelling program for Signal Hill National Historic Site. Dale is a trained folklorist, author of six books on the folklore of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the founder of the St. John’s Storytelling Circle. In 2015, the City of St. John’s presented Dale with the Legend Award for outstanding enhancements to the tourism industry.


Thursday, March 15, 2018
Admiralty House Communications Museum
365 Old Placentia Road, Mount Pearl
12:30pm - 4:30 pm

This is a half-day workshop (with snacks!)

Cost: $55

Pre-registration is required, and you can book and pay online at www.dalejarvis.ca. If you are registering on behalf of an organization that requires an invoice to pay by cheque, email dale@dalejarvis.ca directly. Workshop limited to the first 20 participants to register. Free parking on site.


About the venue:

Admiralty House Communications Museum, Mount Pearl, tells the story of the region's past, wireless communication, and the tragedy of the S.S. Florizel. It was originally constructed in 1915 by the Marconi Telegraph Co. during the First World War as the top secret H.M. Wireless Station for the British Royal Navy. This station, now the last standing of the 11 identical stations around the world, was built to intercept German naval transmissions, and to track icebergs and ships in distress.
http://www.admiraltymuseum.ca/

Dale’s Folk Tales - Teaching Heritage Skills at the 2017 youth heritage forum!

Dale Jarvis is a storyteller, author, and folklorist, living and working in Newfoundland, Canada.

By day, he works as the Intangible Cultural Heritage Development Officer for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, helping communities to safeguard traditional culture, the first full-time provincially funded folklorist position in Canada.

By night, Dale is the proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour and raconteur of local tales. As a storyteller, he performs ghost stories, stories of the fairies and little people, tales of phantom ships and superstitions, and legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland, Labrador and beyond. His repertoire includes long-form folk and fairy tales from the island, with a wide-ranging knowledge of local legends, tall tales and myths. Author of several books on Newfoundland and Labrador ghost stories and folklore, he is a tireless promoter of local culture, and has performed at storytelling festivals across Canada, the US, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway. 

The Heritage Tomorrow NL Forum is taking place on Saturday, March 25th at the Lantern, Barnes Road, St. John's, and Dale will be leading the Storytelling Heritage Skill Training! Want to learn how to tell a traditional tale? Dale will show you how, even if you have never told stories before! The Forum is for people between the ages of 18-35 that are passionate about heritage.

Register at http://www.hfnl.ca before March 22nd to let us know you’re coming!

Registration is only $10, which includes lunch, coffee, and amazing Icelandic pastries from Volcano Bakery! If you have questions, please contact: heritagetomorrownl@gmail.com.

photo: Storyteller Dale Jarvis (right) with musician Delf Hohmann.

Photo by Chris Hibbs.

The Mermaid Sisters of Beachy Cove, Newfoundland. #folklorethursday

Recently, I got a note from ceramic artist and art teacher Wendy Shirran. In collaboration with designer and illustrator Veselina Tomova, she is working with 22 Grade Three students in Paradise NL to create a series of ceramic relief tile murals based on a traditional Newfoundland folk tale, song, or poem.

Wendy was looking for a story about selkies, mythological creatures who live as seals in the sea but discard their skin to become human on land. While the stories are popular in Irish, Scottish, and Faroese folklore, selkies are not a common part of the folklore of Newfoundland and Labrador, so I suggested a mermaid story instead.

Mermaids have a long history in this part of the world, though the stories often do not end happily ever after. I took a couple different versions of traditional Newfoundland stories and put them together, hopefully in a format to inspire a new generation of young ceramic artists and designers! My story is below, and you can download a pdf version here.

The Mermaid Sisters of Beachy Cove, Newfoundland

Once upon a time, there were two mermaid sisters. They lived in a place called Beachy Cove, in Conception Bay, not far from St. John’s.

The sisters were very beautiful creatures, half woman and half fish. From the waist up, they looked like human women. But from the waist down, they had long tails like fish. Their faces and arms were lovely, and they had long blue hair hanging down their backs.

The mermaids would rest on the beach at night and comb their hair. With one hand they would comb out their long blue hair, all the while admiring themselves in the mirrors they held in their other hands.

One night, a fisherman went for a walk along the beach. As he walked along, he saw two mermaids sitting on a rock as plainly as he ever saw anything in his life. He tried to get closer to get a better look. But as he did, he kicked a pebble and it clattered along the stones, making a noise.

The sisters heard the noise, and were startled. They turned, and saw the fisherman. Then, with a splash of water and a flick of two great fishy tails, the girls dove down to their crystal caves below the sea, and were lost to sight.

From that day on, the fisherman went back to the beach, hoping to see the mermaids. Eventually, the sisters became curious about this man who came every day. When the fisherman would go past in his boat, they would come up by the side of the boat and talk to him.

These mermaids were the daughters of the sea and would bring him both good luck and bad luck. The older sister was bad and would cast magic spells to play tricks on him. But the younger sister was good, and would work her magic to cancel out the evil of her sister.

One day, the older sister used her magic to sing up a great storm. The fisherman’s little boat was caught in huge waves, and was about to crash into the rocks. But just when it looked like the fisherman would die on the rocks, the good mermaid appeared, climbed over the side of the boat, and steered the boat safely through the waves to the shore.

After that, the fisherman never saw the mermaids again. But he lived to be an old man, and told his grandchildren about the two sisters, and how the good sister had saved his life. And now it is your job to go and tell that story to someone else.

Adapted from several traditional Newfoundland mermaid legends by Dale Jarvis.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Bodies, Barrels, and Boxes - Gruesome Tales from Newfoundland

By Dale Jarvis

Around 1835, one of the English clerks at the Newman and Company’s plantation in St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula suffered a rather untimely demise. Embalming of any sort was an impossibility in that far flung fishing station, so the unfortunate man’s body was preserved inside a puncheon of rum until the body, by that point well pickled, could be taken back to Europe for burial. While unusual perhaps by today’s standards, this practise was apparently not uncommon.

The most famous of these pickled corpses was Admiral Horatio Nelson, who himself had a Newfoundland connection. In May of 1782, Nelson, in command of the HMS Abbemarie, spent several days in St. John’s. Nelson was not impressed with St. John’s, and in a letter home to England described it as a most disagreeable place. During his stay he spent most of his time courting the bottle at the historic Ship Inn, close to what is now the Crow’s Nest on Water Street.

Thankfully, the Admiral turned down a post in Provincial Tourism, and left St. John’s. In true heroic fashion he was killed at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805, and was shipped back to England in a barrel of brandy. According to naval legend, when the barrel was finally opened it was found to be drained of its liquor. Apparently sailors unaware of the true contents had tapped it for some illicit tippling.

These tales have a gruesome similarity to another story from the community of St. Lawrence, which apparently had a strange association with disturbing objects inside casks. The event in question shocked the community when the preserved corpse of an African baby was found sealed up inside a puncheon of molasses which had been imported from the West Indies.

The delight of finding a body sealed up inside a container of one sort or another is reflected in a popular ghost story from downtown St. John's. Sometime around the 1870's, a married couple by the name of Packerson moved into St. John’s from a settlement in Conception Bay, and rented the house for two pounds four shillings a month. Mrs. Packerson always felt that she was being followed through the house and this made her feel very uneasy.

The months slipped by and Mr. Packerson was offered a berth on a sailing vessel. It was barely a week after his departure when his wife had the horrifying experience of coming face to face with the house’s paranormal inhabitant. On that day, Mrs. Packerson had three times attempted to light the gas burner in the kitchen, and three times someone beside her blew out the flame. In a state of frenzy she turned to run from the kitchen but she was unable to move one inch.

Directly in front of her, in what she was using a closet, she saw the figure of a woman standing in the doorway, illuminated with a dazzling brightness from the crown of her head to the very soles of her feet. Mrs. Packerson stared at the amazing spectacle for a few moments before realizing that she was actually gazing upon the figure of a ghost. When she realized what she was witnessing, she instinctively put her hands to cover her eyes and fell into a state of unconsciousness.

When she revived, she ran to her neighbours, who informed her that a former owner had killed his wife, placed her body in a box, walled it up inside the closet, and had fled the country before the murder was uncovered. By the time the Packersons entered the story, they had been able to rent the house so cheaply only because the place was known to be haunted by the unhappy spectre of the murdered bride.

Dale Jarvis is an author, storyteller, and professional folklorist who splits his time between St. John’s and Clarke’s Beach, Newfoundland, Canada. The proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour, Dale tells ghost stories, supernatural stories, legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland, Labrador and beyond. The Haunted Hike runs every Sunday to Thursday during the summer, and is online at www.hauntedhike.com. You can like us on Facebook, or better yet, come along and let us tell you a tale!

Meet the storyteller behind Shakespeare's Fairytales. #storytelling

Opening at Leaside Manor in St. John's on Thursday, April 28th, Shakespeare's Fairytales marks the launch of a new style of performance in Newfoundland that marries traditional storytelling with classical theatre.  The project is the brainchild of local director Danielle Irvine and storyteller Dale Jarvis.

Jarvis is a storyteller, author, and folklorist, living and working between St. John's and Clarke's Beach. By night, Dale is the proprietor of the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour and raconteur of local tales. As a storyteller, he performs ghost stories, stories of the fairies and little people, tales of phantom ships and superstitions, and legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland and Labrador, and beyond. His repertoire includes long-form folk and fairy tales from the island, and he has a wide-ranging knowledge of local legends, tall tales and myths.

Jarvis regularly teaches workshops for beginning storytellers, and has taught workshops across Canada and the United States on storytelling for historic site, museum and park interpreters. In the past, his clients have included Parks Canada, the Alberta League Encouraging Storytelling, and the Association of Nova Scotian Museums. Working on Shakespeare's Fairytales, however, has allowed him to turn his experience teaching storytelling skills to a much more local audience.

"This is the first time in a long while that I have had the opportunity to teach storytelling techniques to adults here in St. Johns," says Jarvis. "It has been a great thrill for me as a mentor to work with skilled actors, and introduce them to a world of performance they haven't before experienced."

Jarvis has been working with the actors in the show, introducing them to some of Shakespeare's source material, and coaching them in storytelling arts, before the actors worked with director Danielle Irvine.

"I'm exceptionally proud of the work the actors have done with their tales," says Jarvis, "and I hope that from now on they consider themselves storytellers as well."

Shakespeare's Fairytales: Owl Was a Baker's Daughter

Thursday, 28th April 2016 - SOLD OUT
Friday, 29th April 2016 - SOLD OUT

 EXTRA NIGHT ADDED Saturday, 30th April 2016 - TICKETS AVAILABLE

Leaside Manor

39 Topsail Rd, St. John's, NL 

Cash Bar opens at 6:30pm; Show starts promptly at 7pm.

It’s a show you will love, more than fresh meat loves salt.

Limited run, limited seating! Get your tickets now through Eventbrite.

Photo by Chris Hibbs.

Shakespeare's Fairytales: Notes on our storytelling process

For several years, theatre director Danielle Irvine and I have been talking about about working on some kind of collaborative storytelling exploring the link between our two loves, theatre for her, and storytelling for me. As some of you will know, we’ve finally stopped talking about it, and are actually working on it, alongside a fabulous group of women, on our new project for Sweetline Theatre Company called “Shakespeare’s Fairytales: Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter.”

What some modern audiences may not know is that playwright William Shakespeare was influenced by the storytelling tradition, and that many of Shakespeare’s plays derive their plots directly or indirectly from folktales. “Shakespeare’s Fairytales” explores this, shining a light on these older stories.

In order to do this, Danielle and I have developed a way of working with the source material that we are very excited about. We auditioned for four performers, asking applicants to prepare both a Shakespearean monologue, and a version of one of Aesop’s fables, told in their own words. We wanted to find performers who were comfortable with classical theatre, but who could also spin a good yarn on their own, and who we might be able to train in as storytellers.

From that, we cast four great women -- Elizabeth Hicks, Lynn Panting, Lauren Shepherd, and Alanah Whiteway (along with stage manager Kelly Jones) -- and then we started working with four plays: The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and King Lear. Each performer was given different versions of the folktale or source material which had inspired or influenced their play. They started off working with that folktale material, storyboarding it, finding in the midst of the variants their own personal version of that story. They worked with me to start, exploring the world of storytelling.

Then, once they had embraced the story, and made it their own, Danielle stepped in, and re-introduced the language of Shakespeare, pulling quotes, phrases, and passages from Shakespeare’s texts that fit the contexts of the stories. The results, so far, are lovely and unique. I’ve been to a lot of storytelling festivals in North America and Europe, and I have listened over the past 25 years to a LOT of storytellers, but I have never seen a performance quite like the one we are crafting now.

The work that we are doing is made possible in part with World Storytelling Day grant through Storytellers of Canada-Conteurs du Canada. Each year, the theme of World Storytelling Day is identified by and agreed upon by storytellers from around the world, and for 2016, the theme is “Strong Women.” It is a perfect fit for our show, as this is a project about strong women and transformation, on many levels; this project is much about mentorship as it is about the performance itself.

I am very proud of the work that we are witnessing come from these four emerging Newfoundland storytellers. We are less than a month away from our opening night, and I would love you to come see this show. We are partnering with Leaside Manor on the production, and performing it in their premises, which will make this a very intimate and special performance. Performing it at Leaside Manor does mean that seating is limited, so if you want to join us for our two-night-only run, you should get your tickets quickly!

Shakespeare's Fairytales: Owl Was a Baker's Daughter

April 28th-29th, 2016

Leaside Manor

39 Topsail Rd, St. John's, NL 

Cash Bar opens at 6:30pm; Show starts promptly at 7pm.

Tickets available through Eventbrite.

If you want to see the show, and enjoy a special getaway, a special room rate with two tickets is available from Leaside Manor. $209 for Thursday night and $259.00 for Friday night, both include hot breakfast in the morning. Tickets can be purchased online when booking your reservation at www.leasidemanor.com or call 722-0387.

Away: An Afternoon with the Faerie Folk at The Rooms, March 17th

In Newfoundland, the fairies are still here, and everyone from Adam and Eve to Aunt Sadie Currie has a tale to tell... Join storyteller Dale Jarvis for a special St. Patrick's Day exploration of the magical and at times eerie realms of the Good People, with stories of the fairy folk from Newfoundland, Ireland, Scotland and beyond.

The tradition of fairy stories in Newfoundland is most likely as old as European settlement on the island. The hidden people of Norway and Iceland, the gentry of Ireland, the little fellows of West Country England, the lutin of Normandy, and the bogles of Scotland all came together in Newfoundland to create a new fairy race, similar to their European ancestors, but very much their own people, with their own stories and their own way of interacting with us larger, clumsier folk.

Many of the older generation of Newfoundlanders, whose faith in the fairy folk was strong, were (and are) reluctant to talk about them, or even name them directly. This gave rise to a host of local names: the little people, the good people, the little fellers. But the choice to not speak, either out of respect or fear, has always been tempered by a love for stories of the fairy folk and the strength of Newfoundland’s oral tradition.

Put some bread in your pockets (just to be safe) and come join us!

St. Patrick's Day

Thursday, March 17th, 2016
The Rooms, St. John's
2:30pm
Event included with price of admission to The Rooms.

• Facebook event listing

*image credit: Morgan MacDonald

Save the Date - Shakespeare's Fairytales coming April 28th-29th

Sweetline Theatre Company presents

Shakespeare's Fairytales: Owl Was a Baker's Daughter

Tales of princesses turned outlaws, poisoned apples, Amazon warriors, gods and goddesses, monsters and mayhem: come with us on a journey into the fairytale beginnings of classical theatre.

“Shakespeare’s Fairytales” shines a light on the origins of playwright William Shakespeare’s most beloved stories, including The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, The Winter’s Tale, As You Like It, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Directed by Danielle Irvine with story coaching by Dale Jarvis, “Shakespeare’s Fairytales” stars Elizabeth Hicks, Lynn Panting, Lauren Shepherd, and Alanah Whiteway, spinning the tales that inspired theatre’s greatest stories.

It’s a show you will love, more than fresh meat loves salt.

April 28th-29th, 2016
Leaside Manor
39 Topsail Rd, St. John's, NL A1E 2A6

Limited run, limited seating! Get your tickets now through Eventbrite.

A special room rate with two tickets is available from Leaside Manor. $209 for Thursday night and $259.00 for Friday night, both include hot breakfast in the morning. Tickets can be purchased online when booking your reservation at www.leasidemanor.com or call 722-0387.

Presented by Sweetline Theatre Company, with assistance from Storytellers of Canada/Conteurs du Canada, in recognition of the 2016 World Storytelling Day theme of "Strong Women."

Get Ready For World Storytelling Day 2016! #WorldStory16 #storytelling

We are a couple months away from World Storytelling Day 2016 (March 20), with the theme of "Strong Women." This is an invite for you to start adding your events to the WSD web calendar on the WSD website:

http://www.freewebs.com/worldstorytellingday/

Any website member can add an event. Put your COUNTRY (in capital letters) first in the title of the event, so that everyone can tell easily where the event is. Email me, Dale Jarvis, if you have difficulties, at dale@dalejarvis.ca

If you are promoting your events on social media, use the hashtag #WorldStory16.

Thanks all, and have fun!

Dale
Volunteer World Storytelling Day Webmaster

Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Folk Tales That Inspired Shakespeare

In a continuation of the ancient practice of storytelling, playwright William Shakespeare adapted tales he had heard as a child for theatre audiences, and many of Shakespeare’s plays derive their plots directly from folktales. The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Merchant of Venice, All’s Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, the play-within-a-play of A Midsummer Night's Dream: they all have folktales as a source. In this way, Shakespeare engaged his audience on common ground, retelling stories which were familiar to many, even the illiterate.

Today’s theatre audiences are perhaps more distant from the storytelling tradition, making Shakespeare’s use of allusion less immediately recognizable. When Ophelia (Hamlet Act 4 Scene 5) remarks, “They say the owl was a baker's daughter.  Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be,” Shakespeare’s audiences would have known the story: Christ in disguise entered a baker's shop, asking for some bread, and, when the baker put a large piece of dough into the oven to bake for Him, his daughter rebuked him, and for her unkindness was changed into an owl. For modern audiences, it is difficult to provide the context of that allusion within the staging of the play. This project is meant to provide the audience with some of that background information, and to shine a light on the folk origins of these beloved stories.

“Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Folk Tales That Inspired Shakespeare” is a project inspired both in content and in execution by the 2016 World Storytelling Day Theme of “Strong Women.” In terms of content, the show will focus on the women at the heart of these plays -- Ophelia, Cymbeline, Cordelia, Lavinia, and Thisbe -- and allow them to tell their own stories. In terms of execution, the production will see storytelling lead Dale Jarvis work with Shakespeare theatre director Danielle Irvine to coach and guide four emerging young Newfoundland female storytellers for the final performance. It is a project about strong women and transformation, on many levels; it is about mentorship as much as it is about performance.

Project lead is storyteller Dale Jarvis. Dale tells ghost stories, legends and traditional tales from Newfoundland and beyond. Founder of the St. John's Storytelling Circle, and co-founder of the St. John’s Storytelling Festival, Dale is the volunteer webmaster for World Storytelling Day. Since 1997, Dale has been the host of the St. John's Haunted Hike, named "Event of the Year" by the City of St. John's. He has told stories in Canada, the US, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, and England. Author of several books on Newfoundland folklore, Dale has also taught workshops across North America on historical storytelling. He has helped hundreds of people to tell their stories, and is committed to spreading his passion for storytelling and oral traditions.

Dale will be working on this project with Danielle Irvine, who will be providing dramaturgy and overseeing Shakespearean textual work with the storytellers.  A nationally-acclaimed director and teacher, Danielle Irvine is the artistic director of Perchance Theatre Company, a Newfoundland-based professional Shakespeare company.  She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland and is one of four professional directors who graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada's Directing Program (English) in 1996.  She has won the Canada Council for the Arts prestigious John Hirsch Prize for Directing and the Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Protégée Prize.  In addition to co-founding two other successful theatre companies (including the popular Shakespeare-by-the-Sea Festival)  she is also the current founding Artistic Director of Sweetline Theatre.  When not in theatre, Danielle is busy in film and television, most recently as the NL Casting Director for Republic of Doyle.

“Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Folk Tales That Inspired Shakespeare” will open in April 2016.

• Audition notice

Call for Auditions - Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Folk Tales That Inspired Shakespeare

Call for Auditions

Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Folk Tales That Inspired Shakespeare

Sweetline Theatre Company

Award-winning director Danielle Irvine and noted storyteller Dale Jarvis are joining forces to develop a new work combining theatre and storytelling traditions. The show is inspired both by the 2016 World Storytelling Day theme of “Strong Women” and the 400th anniversary of the death of Shakespeare.

In a continuation of the ancient practice of storytelling, playwright William Shakespeare adapted tales he had heard as a child for theatre audiences, and many of Shakespeare’s plays derive their plots directly from folktales.

“Owl Was a Baker's Daughter: Folk Tales That Inspired Shakespeare” will mentor four emerging female performers through a creative process merging classical theatre and traditional storytelling.

We are look for four female performers, aged approximately 18-35 with a background in either theatre or storytelling.

Auditions will be held Sunday, January 24th. Location will be sent with confirmation of audition time.

Performers are asked to prepare one Aesop’s Fable (www.aesopfables.com) told in their own words, and one Shakespeare monologue.

This is a profit-share production, opening in April.

To book an audition time, please contact stage manager Kelly L. Jones at kellly@sweetlinetheatre.ca

What I've learned in cultural tourism: Seven storytelling tips.

I’ve been running the St. John’s Haunted Hike ghost tour and working as a professional storyteller since 1997, and along the way, I have trained many other storytellers, guides, museum workers and interpreters, volunteers, and docents about telling stories in museums, historic sites, and parks. I was recently asked for a list of things I have learning in a cultural tourism context.

So, in no particular order, here are seven of my tips for anyone in the cultural tourism sector. We are all storytellers, in one way or another!

1. People want to hear good stories, well told. Take the time to find and invest in good, engaging storytellers. These might be local experts or tradition bearers who know more than anyone about their particular topic. Or they might be professional storytellers, cultural interpreters, or actors. Find and use the best!

2. Tourists want to feel like they are in on something local, or something secret. I have had many people say “I would never have gone down that alleyway by myself.” Even locals have told me, “I’ve lived here all my life, and I never knew that place existed.” People love to explore and discover things and places that are new to them. Be their guide into a new realm!

3.  Tell real stories about real people. Don’t fake a story, or make up a lie about a place, when there are so many real historical stories, or honest expressions of local folklore, begging to be told. These can be stories from archival accounts, from newspaper clippings, or from interviews conducted with living residents. Local tall tales and legends are great, too, if they are part of a living oral tradition. Stories need to be true, even when they aren’t!

4.  Tell a story you love, and your audience will love it too. We have all been stuck on that tour (you know the one) with a guide who has memorized information they care nothing about, and who are almost as bored as you are in the telling of it. Find the story that speaks to you, one that you are passionate about, and share your love!

5.  Don’t be afraid of difficult stories. They need to be told, and people want to hear them. When people come to Newfoundland, as an example, they want to know about the collapse of the cod fishery from people who have lived it, they want to know about the seal hunt. Sometimes painful stories need and deserve to be told, just as much as the fun stories.

6.  Stories are a living thing. Stories need to be told in order to be stories! Dances need to be danced, songs need to be sung. Stories can not just live in a book, or on a signboard or museum panel. They are meant to be told in person, in the words of an old Scottish proverb, “eye to eye, mind to mind, heart to heart.” Storytelling is a participatory art, and people love to feel like they are involved in the telling.

7.  Be mindful of whose stories you are telling, and whose stories are not being told. Certain stories are sacred, and you should be careful about expropriating someone else’s voice. At the same time, all voices and experiences need to be heard. Pay attention to which stories are silent, and find ways to help share them.

Got a question? Or want a workshop? Email me at dale@dalejarvis.ca.

Help pick the themes for World Storytelling Day 2016-2017

Having problems seeing this form? Follow this link for an alternate version.

Sea Monsters! - Dale Jarvis in the parlour of Cape Spear Lighthouse

Sea Monsters!

From the creator of the award-winning St. John's Haunted Hike, storyteller and folklorist Dale Jarvis, comes an evening of stories of sea monsters and ghost ships, told within the (relative) safety of the lighthouse parlour at Cape Spear Lighthouse National Historic Site. 

Date: July 31 and August 28, 7:00pm
Cost: $15 ($10 for kids 12 and under) – cash sale only

Note: Seating is limited! Tickets available at the lighthouse door. Not responsible for kraken attack.

Free family storytelling in Bowring Park on Sunday with Kathy Jessup

Bowring Park is turning 100 and is going to celebrate! On Sunday, July 13 from noon to 4:30 p.m. the Bowring Park Foundation is hosting a birthday party with free events for everyone.

See the list of events here.

One of the events is the next in our family storytelling series. Every Sunday afternoon for the rest of the summer, there will be free family-friendly storytelling at the Peter Pan statue, with a variety of local and visiting storyteller. For this Sunday only, the action will shift up to the Bungalow as all the 100th birthday activities are taking place up in that end of the park.

Sunday's storyteller is Kathy Jessup, a professional storyteller visiting from Alberta. Over the years she’s performed her original tales in countless schools, libraries, concerts and festivals across Canada — from Inuvik to Regina, and from Vancouver to Halifax, and now in St. John's. Kathy’s stories and articles have appeared in various publications including the children’s magazine chickaDEE, and the Alberta Centennial anthology Under the WideBlue Sky: Alberta Stories to Read and Tell published by Red Deer Press.

All other storytelling sessions for the rest of the summer are still scheduled at the Peter Pan Statue. Next week: Mary Fearon!

A postcard from Wisconsin - Ghosts, Gygax, and Grrrrr!

Hello, Wisconsin!

It has been several years since I’ve been here, but I’m back at the Northlands Storytelling Conference. The conference this year in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, famous as the home of the late Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons & Dragons. I’ll head out to try and find a dragon later, and so far, the conference hotel seems relatively free of halfling thieves. Nasty hobbitses…

I flew in to Chicago yesterday, and was met at the airport by storyteller Camille Born and her husband, who drove me to Lake Geneva, where we had a great chat and lunch of pulled lamb at a lakeside restaurant. Then they dropped me off at the Geneva Ridge Resort, where I had a moment to rest before two events to kick off the conference - the story slam and the ghost story swap.

I didn’t have a story to tell at the swap, hosted by friend Katie Knutson, so I ended up as a judge. The theme for the night was GRRRR! and we had stories of bears, trips through swamps, dogs of various sizes, bobcats in suitcases, New York City thieves, and (to my personal delight) a visit from a clever fellow named Jack.

Afterwards, the ghost story swap, hosted by Maureen Korte, whom I had met at the Story City festival (a place that loves giving free money to Canadians, if you are in the neighbourhood). There were lots of great ghost stories of every sort and description, and I told one of my favourites, the story of the SS Regulus.

Then off to bed! Today, day two, and more stories!

Stamppot, Stories, Fire and Clay. Hello Amsterdam!

I took the train from Brussels to Amsterdam today, and made my way to the boat hotel on the harbour where I'll be staying for the last few days of my European storytelling adventure. I arrived in time to catch a water taxi and take in the very end of the Storytelling Festival Amsterdam's expert meeting on the power of storytelling. The meeting was in Dutch, but it ended with words in English from Canadian storyteller Joe Osawabine, with the Debajehmujig Theatre Group from Manitoulin Island.

There was a dinner for storytellers after, with a surprise for me, a meet-up with my long-distance storytelling friend Melanie Plag. Melanie and I met online years ago, and we seem to have emerged as the online volunteers for World Storytelling Day. We met in person in Zwolle a few years ago, but hadn't seen each other since, so it was great to share a meal and share stories.

And a great meal it was, a traditional Dutch stamppot (what my friend Veva in Flanders would call stoemp) - a traditional Dutch dish made from a combination of potatoes mashed with one or several other vegetables. For us, they had four kinds of stamppot, including one with sauerkraut, along with meatballs, sausage, and fish. So we sat and laughed and talked about all kinds of storytelling-related things: the work of the Federation for European Storytelling (FEST), story trails, kamishibai, the use of costume in storytelling, St. George, and local legends and miracles - the kind of conversation storytellers absolutely love to have.

After dinner, a remarkable treat. The festival organizers had tickets for us to see the more-than-sold-out performance of "Iran vs Israel - Kingdom of Fire and Clay"- simply one of the best storytelling shows I've seen in ages.

Here is the description from the festival program:

Two young artists meet in Amsterdam. One's an Israeli, the other an Iranian. Sworn enemies, or possible best friends? After performing two separate but highly successful shows at the International Storytelling Festival Amsterdam, they decide to combine forces and make a show that dives into their pasts, their cultures and the source of their countries' enmity.

The Kingdom of Fire and Clay combined classical Jewish and Iranian tales (with a much appreciated guest appearance by my old friend the Golem of Prague) as well as the personal stories of Raphael Rodan (Israel) and Sahand Sahebdivani (Netherlands/Iran), along with backgammon, traditional and contemporary music on piano, double bass, and a range of other folk and classical instruments, humour, passion, friction, movement and tales obviously told straight from the heart. As far as performances go, it was certainly one of the highlights of my trip, and the type of show I would like to see more of in Canada.

Then, I took the water taxi back across the harbour to my snug berth on The Botel. Tomorrow, more stories, and exploring Amsterdam.  Tot ziens!

Heritage, storytelling, and more food than you can shake a stick at

Today was my final day in the province of Antwerp, and it went out with a bang! I spent part of the morning exploring the city of Lier (the fabulous toothy fish above is part of a public water fountain close to the centre of the town), and then headed to the Urban Academy for Music, Word and Dance, to teach a workshop for a storytelling class taught by Veva Gerard.

Veva's class is part of an impressive program, where storytellers have the option of studying together for six years, allowing for very deep exploration of the art of storytelling. It was fantastic to be a room of people who are so enthusiastic about local stories, dialect, oral tradition and the contemporary art of performance storytelling.

The afternoon was divided into two halves. First, I presented a slideshow on the work that is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador around all kinds of oral traditions, ranging from the work we've been doing documenting oral history and traditions with the Intangible Cultural Heritage program, to the St. John's Storytelling Festival, to the [Here]Say story map, to my own work with the St. John's Haunted Hike, books, iPhone apps, and storytelling programs with children, seniors, new Canadians and everyday people who have stories to share.

After the break, I talked about the work I do training storytellers and museum professionals in historical storytelling. Then we talked about how stories and places are linked, and I had everyone draw memory maps of the places where they grew up, and then got them walking people through their maps and sharing memories, and eventually, telling stories they had learned from their classmates through the experience. It was great fun, and I heard some wonderful local stories.

At the end of the class, they had all prepared a rather amazing gift for me. Veva knows me well enough to know that I love local foods, and exploring a place through it culinary traditions. So each student had brought some kind of traditional or local item, much of it food related. They each got up, gave me a gift, and told me a story about what it meant, the associated legend, or where the tradition came from.

So I left to catch the train to Brussels with a suitcase bulging with troll beer, print-outs of Flemish stories to learn, Maneblussers chocolates from Mechelen, vegetable crackers, Natuurboterwafels, Amandelbrood, hand-shaped biscuits from Antwerpen commemorating the cutting off of a giant's hand, Belgian milk chocolate truffles, Leuvense Fonskes, Advokaat, a hand-made witch, Snaps Antwerpse Jenever, kweeperenbier (quince beer!), Wycam's Echte Oude Borstebollen, Belle-Vue Kriek beer from Brussels, handmade patatjes (marzipan balls),  and a jar of Limburgs lekker peren-appelstroop (pear jam). It is probably the most astonishing gift I've ever been given as a storyteller.

One of the participants was the very funny Mia Verbeelen, a Flemish storyteller I met several years ago at the storytelling festival in Alden Biesen. She recently had an operation on her foot (you can guess which one she is in the photo above).  Mia made for me a slightly disfigured foot, a reasonable facsimile of her own, all out of marzipan, in honour of her hobbling her way to the workshop.  I will let you know how it tastes.

Zus & Zo, and the Ghosts of Brabant

I've been relaxing this week at the home of Fleming storyteller Veva Gerard and her family, but last night she put me to work. Veva and her accordion-playing sister Nele, along with double bassist Pieter Lenaerts, are the trio Zus and Zo, and the four of us put on a show of ghostly and ghoulish tales and music in Brabant, here in Belgium.

It was great fun getting to rehearse with everyone. I've done a few music and storytelling shows with German-Canadian musician Delf Hohmann, and I adore the combination of tales and tunes. Pieter and Nele were experts, and with minimal rehearsal soon decided on the right bits of music and sound for the stories I told.

I told in English, Veva in Dutch, and the audience kept up with it all. I had some great feedback from audience members after the show, and we were tweeted about the next morning.

Thanks, Benny! And thanks to Veva, her family, Nele, Pieter, the owners of the great atelier where we performed, and the sold-out audience!

Tomorrow, I'm teaching a workshop in Lier, then I say farewell to Veva, and head off to Brussels for an intangible cultural heritage symposium. Stay tuned!