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The art of telling stories

About 300 people are spreading tales in Tampa through a yearly storytellers convention.

By JANET ZINK
Published November 10, 2005

	[Times photos: Ken Helle]
	Who wants to hear a story? Linda Gorham involves kids in the telling of the "Happy Shark Family," getting them to act out the character Aunti Shark.
	Ronell James, 4, left, Ja'Quez Anderson, 4, center, and Sasha Estera, 4, right, listen intently with their school mates Wednesday as storyteller Linda Gorham tells about "Tacky the Penguin" and the hunters looking for his fellow penguins.

TAMPA - Linda Gorham leaned back, thrust her thumbs up and hung her tongue out of the side of her mouth.

"What's goin' on?" she drawled.

It wasn't the most dignified position for a 52-year-old woman. But the first- and second-graders at Booker T. Washington Elementary School imitated her with delighted grins and excited laughter during a performance Wednesday.

Gorham told the students the tale of Tacky the Penguin who rescued his friends Lovely, Neatly, Goodly, Angel and Perfect from hunters, showing that even the oddest among us may have a good heart and be a worthy friend.

Gorham is one of about 300 storytellers in Tampa this week for the 23rd Annual National Association of Black Storytellers Conference and Festival. Performers from throughout the country are attending workshops and spreading their tales in local schools and community centers.

This weekend, they'll offer public performances at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

The National Association of Black Storytellers was created in 1982 in an effort to preserve African oral traditions.

A different city hosts its conference each year. This is the first time it has been in Tampa.

"We could sit around and tell stories to ourselves, but we recognize how important it is to tell our stories to the community," said festival director Valerie Tutson, a performer from Providence, R.I.

Storytelling, particularly in the black tradition, is about interaction and audience participation, Tutson said.

"It's a rich vibrant culture that includes music and dance, and call and response," Tutson said.

Plus, she said, too many images of black people aren't presented by blacks.

"It's important for African people and African-descended people to tell their own stories," she said.

Scheduled performers this weekend include Lamont Dixon, a poet from Philadelphia who infuses jazz, hip-hop and blues into his performances; Queen Nur, who is accompanied by a percussionist; and Antonio Rocha, a Brazilian who uses mime during his presentations.

Some of the stories come from African folklore, others are about modern life.

Saturday at 2:30, audience members can take part in the Liar's Contest. Gorham, a festival participant from Aurora, Ill., has been a storyteller for 16 years. She began her professional life as an executive at Prudential Insurance.

"My goal was to be in the corner office," she said. But after she got married and had children, she changed her focus to family life. She saw a storyteller perform, and thought she might try it herself as a way to get involved in her children's schools.

Then she learned she could actually get paid for it.

"The demand created my career," she said.

The reactions and hugs from the children keep her going.

"Who wouldn't want that?" she said.

Second-grader Lakeithia Lindsey said she laughed plenty and learned a lesson about common sense while listening Wednesday morning to Gorham's story about Anansi the Spider, a character from African folklore.

"There was so much motion, and I was moving, and there was noise," Lindsey said. "It was funny."

Janet Zink can be reached at 813 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com

The 23rd Annual National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N MacInnes Place, includes performances and an African marketplace from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Admission is $20. Admission to concerts at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday is $15. A performance and breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Sunday costs $35. For information, call 813 229-7827 or visit www.nabsinc.org

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:20:16]