Meet The Storytellers: Kavitha Thyagarajan of Once Upon A Time

It’s hard to resist the call of a good story, and it’s hard to resist a good storyteller. And one such storyteller is Chennai based Kavitha Thyagarajan, Founder of Once Upon a Time … Tells a Tale, who can leave her audiences – kids and grown-ups alike spellbound with her stories. Kavitha enjoys telling interactive stories to young children, especially between the ages of 3 and 10 years. She has given storytelling performances in many activity centers, such as Chennai Hippocampus, Oyster Kids, Kart Wheel, Odyssey book store; and for some leading schools. She also conducts regular storytelling sessions at her space in RA Puram, Chennai – Kavitha’s Storytelling Space.

Team Tell-A-Tale spoke to Kavitha about her experiences with stories and storytelling. Here are excerpts from that interview. 

What defines the storyteller in you?

I love telling stories to children. I like to see them listening to a story with their mouths agape. I get a high when a story is well received and they remember me for that particular story. Then I know my job is done. It makes me happy that I am an instrument in taking these stories to children as I believe stories kindle imagination, increase attention span and teaches valuable life-lessons.

Tell us about the story of Once Upon A Time…. What motivated you to start it?

A fellow storyteller Ms. Debjani Bhaduri and I, both fresh out of Dr. Eric Miller’s workshop decided to start a storytelling venture to reach out to a lot of children and to do what we love doing the best – telling stories to children. And thus was born, ‘Once Upon A Time… tells a tale’.

What influenced you to become a storyteller?

I became a storyteller by chance.  I have never taken to stage before nor have I held a microphone much. All that changed when my first born turned 1. I am a voracious reader and love stories. I wanted to inculcate that in my son, too. However, I realized I didn’t know how to tell a story.  I went online to look for some Youtube videos to learn from. That’s when I chanced upon Dr. Eric Miller’s (Director, World Storytelling Institute) Storytelling Workshop. I signed up for the course and at the end of the session when I was undecided how to take it forward, Dr. Eric Miller encouraged me to take to Professional Storytelling by giving me a chance to tell a story wherever he deemed fit. So in short, my son was the reason I took to storytelling.

How have the stories in your life influenced your style of storytelling and the way you use stories?

Since I tell folktales to children I am not influenced much by the stories in my  life. But my children definitely influence my sessions. All stories are run through them first. If they like it, it goes as is, otherwise I have to work on it or change it.

Tell us more about ‘Once Upon A Time…’ and the audiences it works with.

‘Once Upon a Time…tells a tale’ tells stories to young children in the age group of 3-9 years. I use props, stick puppets and also sing in my sessions. I find kids enjoy more if a session is interactive.

What is your favourite audience and why?

So far, I enjoy telling stories to children between the age group 4-7 years. They understand the stories and enjoy it better and are very responsive.

You frequently use art and craft in your storytelling sessions. What is the motive behind it?

Art and craft helps them retain the stories better in their head and serves as a prop when they go back home and use it to narrate the stories to their parents/grandparents! And children that age love messing their hands with anything fun and creative. It also gives a break from just listening to a story.

Any particular incident/anecdote from your workshops/sessions that is special to you?

I guess it is when they keeping coming back to my sessions and they imitate me at home when they tell stories to their family… those are the special moments.

Any suggestions to our readers how they can help in keeping stories alive?

Yes, I urge parents and grandparents to tell stories to their children/grandchildren, read out loud and also to send them to storytelling sessions near your place. It is a great way of keeping boredom at bay and restricting their screen time.

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Don’t Miss: We love storytellers as much as we love storytelling. On Tell-a-Tale, we’ve featured a lot of talented storytellers, in the past.

Are you a Storyteller? If you’re a storyteller who is actively pursuing storytelling and would like to be featured in this column, drop us a mail at contact AT tell-a-tale.com or reach out to us via Facebook.