Another Storytelling Contest

Ooops. I did it again. I judged another storytelling contest. This one was sponsored by Lampara Books in partnership with PETA. It was held during the 2014 MIBF.

I'm sharing a comment I posted on Jack Javier's FB post regarding a photo of the winner in Category A. Apparently, his mother was the coach of Chelsea, the student who won first place. Chelsea is studying in Comembo Elementary School.

Chelsea, was my 1st choice. 

She has a solid and comforting voice. I hope she learns how to control it as she grows up and become a good storyteller, performer or a public speaker in the future. She appeared relaxed and comfortable telling the story. Thus, her actions were not a nuisance to her performance, rather, it enriched the telling. 

She can do a lot with her voice. I closed my eyes for a few mins during her performance and I could see an image  of Nanay, haggard but happy being superhuman. This is one way of telling how effective the storytelling is- when listening to a storyteller would elicit images that connects the listener to the story being told. We've grown too accustomed to visual images when in fact, before TV and the Internet, we had the radio. And before that, we had oral literature. And in this tradition, storytelling is meant to make people LISTEN. When we listen, we are SILENT for a while so that, we can use our brains to imagine, to see images using our minds and to allow another person, in this instance, the storyteller to affect us. 

I hope teachers and coaches of storytelling remember this value of storytelling as an oral and aural tradition. And lastly, when we allow another person to affect us, we learn to trust. We build compassion. See how powerful storytelling can be? 

Where It All Began

 

Back in 1997, when I was a preschool librarian in Xavier School, I joined the first storytelling contest of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People. This is how I remembered it to be.

The elimination rounds were held at the Filipinas Heritage Library which was then located at the historic Nielsen Tower in Ayala, Makati. I wore my peach blouse and black pants. My hubby was my companion and cheer leader. I read aloud Ompong Remigio's Bruhaha! Bruhihi. I made it through the final round. The judges of the contests were Letti Sala and Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz. There was a third judge, but I could not remember who that person is. Sorry.

During the final round, there was no book to hold or read aloud. Contestants were asked to read the story and deliver on the spot. I was racked with nerves. It didn't help that I was the first contestant. To make the long story short, I didn't win the top spot. In fact, I ranked the lowest.

Yes, I was disappointed with myself. But, a few weeks after the National Children's Book Day, I got a call from Rose Gonzales, who was then programs coordinator for National Bookstore, to do a storytelling session in one of the store's branches. You see, all seven contestants of the Storytelling contest were "required" to do a session or two. Early on, I knew my advocacy to promote books and reading was off to a start. I said yes, of course, but Rose Gonzales sounded snotty and strict on the phone that I was a bit annoyed. Little did I know that we'll be good friends in the years to come. How that happened is another story I will reserve for another day.

The long and short of it, I never looked back. That storytelling contest paved the way for more storytelling opportunities that helped me improve my craft in the art of storytelling. After all these years, I am still telling stories. 

While I am grateful for PBBY for the storytelling contest it set up in 1997, I hope that one of these days, it can organize a festival where storytellers are not pitted against each other; where stories are teh stars of the show; where the skill and craft of storytelling is the highlight in making a story a powerful medium to heal people and to build and empower communities.

Storytelling Contest at the NLP

The Philippine Librarians Association is gearing up for the celebration of National Library and Information Services Month in November. Its officers and committee members are all a-buzz, moving about and around on activities that will culminate on November 25-30, 2013. One of these activities is the annual Storytelling Contest for Kids. Marion Jude Gorospe, the librarian in charge for the storytelling activity, invited me to judge the contest.

It was a joy to watch grade school students do a book based telling of MJ Tumamac's Ngumiti si Andoy. More than winning the prize and award, it is the performance itself that counts. To stand in front of an audience and read aloud a story with emotions and movements is a brave thing to do. Despite my misgivings on judging storytelling contests, this particular contest made me eat my words. Again. But, I still believe that we should do more storytelling festivals, presentations and performances because, really, the story is the star of the session.

From L-R: Ann Dominique Noda of Hizon Elementary School; Aimeline Jean Garcia of Hulo Elementary School; Gerri Eunice Tubio of Santulan Elementary School; and Princess Kyla Balidiso of Ilugin Elementary School.

The contest was held at the Children's Library section of the National Library of the Philippines. Librarian in charge is Melai Ramirez, my co-judge along with Prof. Badong Biglaen of Miriam College. The Children's Library looked spacious, more inviting with its decorations and newly acquired books on display. It's well lighted too. What an improvement! Here's hoping that more kids would go to the NLP.

Reading Aloud and Storytelling

When I got the invite to judge in the Inquirer Read Along Contest, I knew I had to break a personal belief and a promise. And once more, I was confronted with an issue many teachers and Filipino storytellers grapple with -- reading aloud and storytelling.

I will not discuss what it is and what it is not. Rather, I'll post links of videos on reading aloud and storytelling as well as videos of Mr. Jay Menes' read aloud session. Now here's a link to Just Stories an online place where storytellers gather just to tell stories. No fanfare. Stories are the stars of the show and the teller is the willing medium who keeps them alive.

My read aloud video of Lizard's Song, by George Shannon and illustrations by Jose Aruego and Arianne Dewey.

Story Knifing Sampler

Jay Menes reading aloud to preschoolers during Read Aloud Day 2011. He read aloud an Adarna book classic, When Color Comes to Town

Since storytelling is an art form and reading aloud is reeking of educative values, as well as literacy development merits, the two can be combined. The result is a hybrid technique known as book-based storytelling. Is this right? Is this wrong? Is there a proper way of delivery? There really are no answers to the questions. Art is subjective but an artist need to constantly practice his or her craft to grow and continuously develop. One needs to be a reflective artist too to see areas of improvement in choice of stories, in technique and purpose. Why tell stories? Why reading aloud? What stories to tell for Filipino children to enjoy and learn from? What cultural legacies can surface in the process of telling or reading aloud?

Sometimes, contests hamper this growth and development as it focus on the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd prize winners and not at stories shared and the audience who listened to the stories read or told.

I did enjoy my time at the Inquirer Read Along last month and I send them my congratulations for a meaningful and well thought out advocacy and CRS activity. But, I'm hoping to see and hear news of more storytelling and read aloud festivals instead of contests.