Workshops and Classes |
Below is a general description of the Story Play workshops. See the Calendar for dates and times for specific upcoming workshops and shows.
In a world of snappy comebacks and rushed communication, Story Play workshops help you to slow down and allow your true, creative self to come out to play.
Learn to take the time to discover and express the details of a memory or a wish or a moment you have lived or would like to live. Play with capturing the essence of a moment through metaphor, gesture, and sound.
New students sometimes fear they have "no story worth telling ”. Without exception, these students are brimming with memories, snapshots, and mini-stories awakened by delicious warm-ups and exercises in this safe, playful, creative learning and playing environment. Many tell me their fiction, poetry and song-writing has improved and they are much more prolific since taking my workshops.Classes begin with relaxing and grounding warm-ups designed to release tiredness, tension and the busy-brain of overly critical thinking. As a group, participants are gently led through easy theater-based exercises designed to relax and open up the creative spirit to ourselves and to each other.
As the group becomes more comfortable and free, we begin to experiment with vocal and verbal play, physical expression and easy free-association in small groups. We use words, phrases, nonsense words, sounds and gesture to unlock and express memories and true-ish tales from our lives. The more we share the more we connect and the more freeing and comfortable the sharing becomes.
Through small group exercises, participants gradually find more ease with sharing and enjoying each other's stories. Through witnessing and performing, the group creates a welcoming community for the creative play that emerges. Workshops are not a place for critique. An atmosphere of acceptance and mutual support is developed and nurtured. (Some advanced students may request critique, but only when they are totally ready to grow to another level and then the critique is more like side-coaching.)
We learn, bit by bit, that we all have stories to tell and that we can learn to share them, playfully to very appreciative witnesses, and have more fun than is usually legal.
For more information on workshops and classes:
(608) 886-2700 nellwax@yahoo.com
Want to know what the workshops are like?
Read what workshop participants have said...
No matter how I felt before class, by the end . . . I was inspired, grounded, connected to my heart, joyful, creatively free, energized, open, excited, more at home, and more fully alive.
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Story Play fulfills so many things — I am always wanting more time for reflection, grounding, creative expression, spiritual practice, and community.
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I have noticed improved self confidence and feeling more connected to myself and to the class. I have had a good deal of fear around moving and speaking in front of others, and it has been exciting and liberating to bust through my own barriers with such relative ease and support. Most important . . . this class helped me to learn, stretchhhh myself (in lots of ways) and laugh!!!
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The Story Play process takes you out of your present body-mind state, and allows exploration in a creative mode that leaves you feeling just all-around better . . . physically, emotionally and spiritually better.
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[Story Play] opens one up more fully to the creative flow. It stretches one’s confidence and inner resources. It helps one get more in touch with their own stories. I continue to tell people what a great teacher you are. You are very vigilant and open to meeting each individual's needs.
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THANK YOU!!! Thank you for offering such a ‘container’ with which community can experience each other – be witness and be witnessed. I think that you are a fantastic facilitator and I have really, genuinely enjoyed working with you (and also observing how you respond to the group “animal”).
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I feel that, before Story Play, I was a young sugar maple all the good stuff has been pretty much kept inside . . . no one ever knew about the real me . . . Story Play tapped me!!
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I have experienced an expansion in my levels of confidence and creativity. I see this in my interactions with friends and clients.
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How you can take a group of people and create a safe arena for this kind of expression is truly wonderful. Thank you. I’m sure I speak for our whole class one that one.
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I so enjoyed your class-it was truly a remarkable experience . . . some things started happening when I started your class – I found myself taking more risks when I talk to people outside – allowing myself to tell my own emotional truths not just in story form but also in my life. It was amazing.
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I honestly feel that a very important part of me has been validated, as both a performer and human being. It seems that in all my journeys as a student and teacher within the fields of mental health, spirituality, and the arts that something has been missing. But until I began doing this kind of storytelling and movement, I might never have known just how large that piece was!
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After every class I feel as though i could run 10 miles. This type of improv is a natural high – I feel completely charged with creative energy.
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My improvisational freedom and courage had improved ten fold. My use of words as stream of consciousness has been tuned. I also feel that my general understanding of the relationship between audience and performer has been deepened.
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[Story Play] definitely helped me trust my instincts more and open up in front of people. And I will be talking it up to my friends.
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I am excited to walk through this newly opened door and continue exploring all the corners, closets, windows, and other passageways. Thanks for co-creating an atmosphere so nurturing and safe. . . . The class was great, can’t wait to do more!
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I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. It is a type of communication and sharing of which we are deprived in everyday life. Through this medium, one can share one’s deepest personal stories and they are perfectly and beautifully concealed through abstract words and movement.
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I’ve referred many bodies to you and your class because I think you’re amazing and what you teach is amazing and I am thrilled to have it existing and thriving in this town!
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I have gained new ideas about ways to move and convey information through movement. And more skill verbalizing while moving – as a dancer, I’m used to someone else providing the sound, so this was a new experience for me.
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I would recommend this class to people who need to connect with themselves . . . I feel like this is not therapy but it is definitely a way to process. When I leave class, I feel like a burden has been lifted off of my shoulders and I often have major revelations about things (whether it be sparked by a simple exercise, a performance done by someone else or by me).
Nell Weatherwax has been teaching story-based creativity for over 25 years. More about Nell.
To receive an occasional email about future classes and performances, just email Nell at nellwax@yahoo.com. We promise to never share your email with anyone.
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