Storytelling Workshops: Word and Music

Traditional Storytelling through Song, Rhythm and Voice

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble and Peralta Hacienda Historical Park partner to present storytelling workshops, led by master storyteller Susan Strauss and teacher/speaker of Paiute & Ichiskin Native languages, Jefferson Greene, assisted by Left Coast Chamber Ensemble flutist, Stacey Pelinka.

Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1

Storytelling Workshop in the Peralta House: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm (Saturday and Sunday - register for either day, or both!)

Public Storytelling with Susan Strauss in the Peralta nature area: 2:30 - 3:15 pm (Saturday and Sunday)

Location: Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave, Oakland, CA 94601

Revitalizing Native American culture through practice of storytelling skills is both health giving to the teller and the community. In traditional Native culture, storytelling is one of the essential skills for passing on culture and traditional ecological knowledge. Storytelling was badly damaged through historic genocide and ongoing acculturation. This workshop is presented by a storyteller and humanities expert in collaboration with a speaker of Native languages assisted by a professional musician. Participants will be introduced to the practice of telling traditional Paiute and Yokuts stories derived from ethnographic texts, with an introductory experience to Native languages. This is an introductory experience to help participants find a way to work with traditional stories, value working with tribal elders, and how to bring life out of texts to create imaginative retellings using repetition, rhythm and vocal intonation.

Following the workshop, Susan will tell a sampling of Native California stories including her versions of stories from the workshop. This performance is open to the general public as well as workshop attendees. These stories share traditional ecological knowledge of wildlife and the precious value of water. The performance will be followed by a Q and A discussion with Susan and Jefferson Greene.

Entry is free for all events.

Susan Strauss is internationally recognized as a storyteller, keynoter, and for her signature passionate Fact Workshops: Storytelling Science. Performances include: Smithsonian Natural History Museum, US National Park Service, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh, National Geographic Society, National Gallery of Art, Scottish Storytelling Centre, SF Jazz and the Oregon Symphony. She is the author of five books including: Tree With Golden Apples: Botanical and Agricultural Wisdom in World Myth, Coyote Stories For Children, Wolf Stories: Myths and True Life Tales, When Woman Became the Sea: A Costa Rican Creation Myth, and The Passionate Fact: Storytelling in Natural History and Cultural Interpretation, six recordings and original narratives for museum exhibits, a National Forest Service salmon watershed restoration project and a National Park Service film on the wolf in mythology used in Yellowstone NP. She teaches Eurythmy movement at Waldorf School of Bend.
Raised in a time when language and culture was already fading, Jefferson Greene of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation was still being groomed to teach the generations to come. Culturally and Academically educated, Greene has remained involved in several arenas around spirituality, education, entrepreneurship, music, culture, fatherhood, community development, and arts. He is currently an Ichishkín Language & Cultural Liaison serving tribal members both on and off the reservation, incorporating cultural harvesting, song, dance, story, identity, communication, and goal orientation into students' upbringing just as he had from his elders. He currently serves as the Executive Director for the Columbia River Institute for Indigenous Development (CRÍID) Foundation (criid.org).
Stacey Pelinka began performing with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in 1998. She is also a member of the Eco Ensemble, with whom she toured to Venice for the 2014 Biennale. She plays principal flute with San Francisco Opera's Merola Program productions and is a member of the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and the Midsummer Mozart Festival. A certified Feldenkrais Method® practitioner, Stacey enjoys applying principals of the method in teaching and performing. She teaches flute at UC Berkeley and UC Davis, and Feldenkrais at the San Francisco Symphony. Stacey attended Cornell University and the San Francisco Conservatory, where she studied with Timothy Day.

register here

Storytelling Workshop: 11:00 am - 2:00 pm, September 30 and October 1 (Register here)

The Musical Language of Storytelling: Tales from Paiute Country
Participants will learn to tell a traditional Paiute story, with an introductory experience to Paiute and other regional Native languages. Susan will teach the art of storytelling through imaginative retellings of ethnographic texts, finding character voice, and use of musical language patterns. Stacey Pelinka will assist in participant retellings with flute accompaniment.

Public Storytelling: 2:30 - 3:15pm, September 30 and October 1

Tales from Native Country
Susan will tell regional stories that reveal traditional ecological knowledge of wildlife and the precious value of water. The performance will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with the audience.

This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.