WORKSHOPS

Workshops vary in length to fit your requirements, from 50 minutes, to all day to two-week residencies. The main theme of all my workshops is to encourage people to view themselves as creators of song and story, as participants in their own entertainment and learning rather than consumers of culture. Being the hero at the center of your own life story is at the heart of the storytelling renaissance going on in our country right now. My hope is to empower participants in my workshops to feel their own experience as valid and precious. 

Recent Workshops Include: 

• "Personal Stories" at the Northern Appalachian Storytelling Festival, Mansfield, PA (for adults)
• "Pre-School Treasures" at the National Storytelling Conference, Providence, RI (for adults) 
• "Storytelling/Writing" at Meadow Hall Elementary School, Rockville, MD (for grades 4 and 5) 
• "Appalachian Folk Arts" at Crow Island and Hubbard Woods Schools, Winnetka, Illinois (for 3rd Graders) 
• "Folk Arts: Dancing and Singing" Woodland School, Woodland, Maine (for grades 3 to 5) 
• "Fiddling and Folk Dancing" Intermountain Suzuki Talent Institute, Sandy, Utah (for ages 6 to 14) 
• "Storytelling" St. Andrews School, Sewanee, Tennessee (for grades 7-8 and 10-11) 
• "Storytelling" Rowe Conference Center, Rowe, Massachusetts (for adults) 

Storytelling/Writing (grades 3 and up) 
Storytelling is a wonderful way to bring our writing to life on the page. Through song writing, movement games, group stories and other methods gathered over the years I've spent working with children, we explore ways of capturing our ideas and feelings and getting them down on paper. 

Poetry (grades 3 and up) 
With limericks, haiku, ballads, songs and free verse we immerse ourselves in the richness of language and revel in words as though they were ripe berries falling plump and juicy into our hands. 

Fiddling (all ages of players) 
I began playing the fiddle when I was eight and now teach Irish and Old-time fiddle tunes at folk music camps and Suzuki Institutes. 

Folk Dancing (all ages) 
Taking hands in a circle and dancing and laughing together is an essential part of being human and the best way to build community that I have ever found. I teach very simple dances and play party games so no prior knowledge is required to have a wonderful time. 

Folk Arts: Song, Story and Dance (all ages) 
Time was, people gathered to share songs and stories and dances rather than sit in front of computer screens miles and miles from one another. The folk arts are about interacting with our families and communities and being seen, heard and touched. A wonderful Sufi creation story says; To hold body and soul together, we sing and we dance and we tell stories. Amen.