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ISN homepage Indian Storytelling Network Kolkata
1) Kavita Gupta 3) Nidhi Gujral
/ Pip &
Squeak
1 Kavita
Gupta is a theatre artist and storyteller.
She directs Mirror Workshops,
which provides theatre training for children.
Mirror Workshops' tagline
is, "Discovery of the inner being". Kavita uses theatre techniques
to help children increase their self-confidence and develop their
personalities. She tries to create
out-of-the-box experiences for workshop participants, so the participants can
come out of their shells and perform expressively and spontaneously.
Kavita's background in the study of Mass Communication and the
Montessori teaching method helps her to interact with young people. A voracious reader, she carries written tales
everywhere she goes. She combines her
theatre experience with the storytelling art to not just tell stories, but to
perform them, bringing the characters to life. Kavita
regularly performs in bookstores and schools.
She acts in other directors' stage productions. And, of course, she herself often directs
children in stage productions.
Storytelling and acting are the needs of the hour, as digitization is
taking over many children. We need to
give children the experience of their own imaginations, because their lives
and thought processes have in many cases become too structured from the
outside. Contact info: 91630 43709 mirrorworkshops@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/mirrorworkshops 2 Priyanka Chatterjee. Priyanka
is a Performance Storyteller, Art Curator, and Theatre Maker with special interests
in Storytelling in Education, Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA), Theatre in
Education (TIE), and Theatre for Social Change. She runs "Wild Strawberry," a
company that helps everyone "Explore his/her own Wild Strawberry patch
... the underrated gem of a place within each of us." Wild Strawberry creates experiences through
Art, Theatre for Young Audiences, and Performance Storytelling. Priyanka coaches Professional
Storytellers, Teachers, Parents, Corporates, and others regarding ways to use
Storytelling as effective communication.
She tickles the curious minds of children, showing them ways: 1) to
make up their own stories from daily events, 2) to tell stories using
Dramatised Storytelling techniques, and 3) to add twists to age-old stories and
re-tell them from new perspectives.
She has been instrumental in assisting a fund-raising endeavour for
the Penang International Kids
Storytelling Festival, Malaysia; and has been selected as an
International Storyteller for this Festival.
Her latest achievements are paper presentations on "Theatre for
Social Change," at Cradle of Creativity, Cape Town, South Africa; and
the 19th Assitej World Congress for Theatre for Young Audiences. She regularly performs at venues in Kolkata
such as Oxford Bookstore, Starmark Quest, and Starmark Mani Square. She also conducts regular sessions on
Speech and Drama techniques, and on Reading and Storytelling, for children in
schools and other organisations. She
does Hospital Storytelling, using stories for healing and reconciliation,
especially for disabled and terminally ill patients. Priyanka is an Electronics and
Instrumentation Engineer, has earned an MBA, and has spent long tenures at
TCS, and Cognizant Technology Solutions.
As a Business Analyst she used to "tell stories" about
products while working with one of the leading newspapers in eastern India, Anandabazar Patrika. That is when she realised, "If stories
about inanimate things could be this interesting -- just imagine how engaging
stories about animate characters could be!" This is how she started telling stories
about animals and nature; human beings and their bondings; and dragons and
fairies. She is devoted to helping to
provide a safe and respected space for Storytelling in India, and to spreading
understanding about ways Storytelling can have positive influences on
people. One of her current projects
is, "Global Stories, shared locally," which involves inviting
International Tellers to come to India to share their cultures and
traditional tales, enhancing cross-cultural exchange. Photos of Priyanka are at, Contact
info: 98304
72605 wildstrawberry.arts@gmail.com https://m.facebook.com/WildStrawberry.Arts 3 Nidhi Gujral / Pip & Squeak Nidhi is a finance professional
by qualification, but the storytelling bug in her was always struggling to
surface having grown up among books and stories. It finally (and thankfully) had its way
once motherhood happened to her and she started enjoying going back to her
own childhood tales with her son.
That's when she decided to venture into storytelling as a profession
and discovered her natural affinity towards children. Thus, in the year 2019 Pip & Squeak was
born. As Pip & Squeak, she uses her
stories to facilitate literacy, encourage thinking, incite creativity, and
make learning fun by often coupling them with stories, and engaging crafts and
other activities -- all to provide an experience that delights kids and
parents alike. Pip & Squeak has since
performed (online and offline) in numerous renowned schools, libraries, and
children's carnivals. Nidhi has also collaborated with
some publication houses where she retells folktales and even lends her voice
to their audio libraries. Her self-developed STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) module has appealed to and helped
several children. Here she brings an
element of fun to these important subjects by emphasising their applications
in everyday life through stories and hands-on activities. The results being, the children often don't
even realise when the knowledge and skills are etched in their minds! Recently conducted programmes
include: "But why?" This series of 12 workshops
mostly consisted of "Pourquoi stories" ("Why?
stories"). The series is conducted
with an intent to bust some myths and to educate children on the fun facts of
the selected animal. Each story
session is combined with an activity and the children are invited to exhibit
their creativity, all of which reiterates the learnings of the session. STEM workshops These Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics workshops are perfect blends of stories, and
activities based on stories, that teach age-specific concepts in order to
ensure long-term retention. A photo is here. Videos -- https://youtube.com/c/PipSqueakstories Contact 98300 21457 pipandsqueak19@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/pipnsqueak https://www.instagram.com/pip_nd_squeak 4 Shreya is a trained storyteller,
a story lover, and a firm believer in the power of stories. She is
the founder and director of Katharangam. Contact 99002 34613 katharangam.storytelling@gmail.com 5 Sristi Sengupta. Sristi is a young and emerging performance artist trained in
on-stage categories such as dance, drama, storytelling and
recitation. Besides the phenomenal skill of engrossing her audience
in classical as well as modern performances, she is a healer up-close and
personal. She is a certified listener at the ‘Mood Cafe’, an
offline and online centre for conversational counselling in Ahmedabad. Her biggest achievement in
storytelling is securing the position of the top 10th finalist in India Film
Project’s 9th season of storytelling challenge. The finalists had
to compete among 15,000+ participants. The event was held in Mehboob
Studios, Mumbai in October 2019. Sristi has also performed at
other prestigious stages in Mumbai and Kolkata. She is also a
certified BharatNatyam dancer trained under the ‘Pracheen Kalakendra’. Her passion for storytelling and
recitation currently has her interested in studying the therapeutic
implication of words, stories and poems on people, especially on the ones
suffering from trauma, stress or other mental
complications. ‘Consolation is an art, motivation its canvas’, are
the words Sristi is living by while performing before audiences from all
spheres of time and space. It is believed that humans always look
for familiarity everywhere, therefore she aims at telling stories or reciting
poems in the language most acceptable to the audience. This sparks
an instant connection. The stories are told in Hindi, English and
Bengali as per the audience’s convenience. Sristi aims at working with
charity programs, schools, orphanages and old-age homes to promote a
de-stressed atmosphere. She is also interested in performing at
literary events or shows as well as in providing individual support via
one-on-one conversations both online and offline, motivational speaking
sessions and conversational trainings. The services can be availed
from all over India and the world because guess what, she is a travel buff
too! Experience – 10+ years of stage
performing, including 4+ years of storytelling and recitation. Contact info 80130 09009 sristisgofficial@gmail.com Website -- https://msha.ke/cicada7.poetry Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/cicada7.poetry/?hl=en
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