During the spring semester, I spent the last Friday of each month inside the doors of the Cafritz Theatre in the Clarice Performing Arts Center where I, along with 13 others, participated in an advanced Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) seminar titled "True Storytelling and Cultural Identity". The seminar was co-taught by Laurie Frederik Meer, an associate professor in TDPS, and Stephanie Garibaldi, a trainer from SpeakeasyDC. The course pedagogy derives from SpeakeasyDC's unique method of teaching the art of contemporary autobiographical storytelling. Throughout the semester, we were taught the nuts and bolts of oral narrative and discussed how the construction and interpretation of stories are used in expressions of cultural identity. Our three-and-a-half hour sessions were never short of laughter, connection, and performance pedagogy all of which are necessary ingredients to spicing up an otherwise normative graduate school semester where reading and writing and more reading take center stage. "True Storytelling" was a joyous boost to my monthly schedule. While our class only gathered five times, I enjoyed each moment learning the art of storytelling, constructing my own cultural story, and building connections along the way.
In my early 20s I gravitated to spoken word and slam poetry venues in search of a space where artistic expression merged with conversations on intersecting systems of oppression. My performance pieces were deep, heavy, and dismal. Now a full-time graduate student in my mid-20s, I thought I'd dabble in a different style of personal narrative. Where spoken word is often accompanied with dim lights, souls etched on folded papers or smart-phones, and ubiquitous snaps, storytelling is traditionally more light. However, my particular affiliation with SpeakeasyDC was one laced with stories that consciously pushed the boundaries of cultural expression. "Named the “gold standard” in storytelling by the Washington Post, voted one of the top 3 open mics in DC by the Washington City Paper, and nominated for the 2012 DC Mayor's Arts Awards for Innovation in the Arts, SpeakeasyDC has been selling out concert halls and theaters and blazing a trail for contemporary autobiographical storytelling in the DC area since 1997"[1]. The SpeakeasyDC aesthetic presents a standard open-mic act where a performer stands rigidly upright in front of a mic. Is storytelling, then, doomed to be disembodied? How much leverage do words have over bodily performance? How might performers incorporate aspects of embodied performance without distracting away from the SpeakeasyDC genre? Throughout the semester, our class contested bodily inflexibility and experimented with interactive storytelling styles.
On the night of May 11th, 14 students gathered to debut their first SpeakeasyDC storytelling performance. After a busy spring semester learning the tactics, rules, and styles of the SpeakeasyDC genre, our class confidently took the stage and entertained the audience with stories about citizenship, childhood, love, sports, travel and cultural identity. I was nuzzled in the middle of the show, right before intermission. My story threaded the concept of defense to overarching themes of mixedness, harassment, and ambiguity. It was a blast!
In my early 20s I gravitated to spoken word and slam poetry venues in search of a space where artistic expression merged with conversations on intersecting systems of oppression. My performance pieces were deep, heavy, and dismal. Now a full-time graduate student in my mid-20s, I thought I'd dabble in a different style of personal narrative. Where spoken word is often accompanied with dim lights, souls etched on folded papers or smart-phones, and ubiquitous snaps, storytelling is traditionally more light. However, my particular affiliation with SpeakeasyDC was one laced with stories that consciously pushed the boundaries of cultural expression. "Named the “gold standard” in storytelling by the Washington Post, voted one of the top 3 open mics in DC by the Washington City Paper, and nominated for the 2012 DC Mayor's Arts Awards for Innovation in the Arts, SpeakeasyDC has been selling out concert halls and theaters and blazing a trail for contemporary autobiographical storytelling in the DC area since 1997"[1]. The SpeakeasyDC aesthetic presents a standard open-mic act where a performer stands rigidly upright in front of a mic. Is storytelling, then, doomed to be disembodied? How much leverage do words have over bodily performance? How might performers incorporate aspects of embodied performance without distracting away from the SpeakeasyDC genre? Throughout the semester, our class contested bodily inflexibility and experimented with interactive storytelling styles.
On the night of May 11th, 14 students gathered to debut their first SpeakeasyDC storytelling performance. After a busy spring semester learning the tactics, rules, and styles of the SpeakeasyDC genre, our class confidently took the stage and entertained the audience with stories about citizenship, childhood, love, sports, travel and cultural identity. I was nuzzled in the middle of the show, right before intermission. My story threaded the concept of defense to overarching themes of mixedness, harassment, and ambiguity. It was a blast!
I now find myself infatuated with the art of storytelling. Storytelling is not only vital to feminist pedagogy, but offers a method of displaying the multiplicity of cultural experience as well as contesting the essentialism often attached to cultural narrative. Simultaneously bringing the individual to the forefront while also connecting individualized experiences to complex global dynamics, storytelling requires deep thought, organization, and clarity as well as the ability to juggle vulnerability, nerves, and excitement. Despite the jitters associated with a first-time performance, the experience on stage is exhilarating and offers a unique form of connecting with strangers and friends alike. Storytelling brings the performer closer to their own personal story and presents a nugget of laughter, relation, and political conviction to the audience. While my experience on our humble Cafritz Theatre stage was just over five minutes, I find myself craving another whack at it. You can find me at Town Danceboutique on August 11th performing under the theme "Emotional Overload: Stories About Being Drunk with Power, Mad with Love, or High on Life".
[1] http://speakeasydc.com/about
[1] http://speakeasydc.com/about
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