Yesterday was the first day of a grad class I am teaching this summer.  It is called “Learning Through the Creative Arts: A Look into the Creative Process”.  Of course we started by getting to know each other and instead of having the class participants create a piece of artwork or dramatize their introduction as one may think we would have started such a class that focuses on the arts, I had no trouble beginning with the traditional introductions – good old fashioned talking.

But as I listened to each person’s intro, I realized we were starting with an artform – storytelling.  Each person, in turn, told their story as it pertained to that specific audience.  Given 2-5 minutes, each person automatically picked out relevant information and presented it in an enjoyable, entertaining way.  We smiled and laughed as each spoke, showed concern and genuine interest – all because of the way each told the story.

I found it interesting how each person picked something specific to embellish amidst other pieces of quickly relayed information.  And each embellishment was accompanied by details which brought that scene to life, eliciting more emotion or interest.  That is one element of storytelling that I remember when taking a class in it: amidst the action in your story, place scenes that you really describe with all your senses so that there is an ebb and flow to your story.

It fascinated me how the storytelling was a natural way to introduce each personality to the group.  Yet again, the arts prove to be a powerful tool. 😉

~EMP