Actress, storyteller, poet, playwright, director and author Gcina Mhlope advised librarians to read books in order for them to be good storytellers, during the storytelling and poetry masterclass session at the Boksburg Customer Care Centre hall, on May 6.
The masterclass session was initiated by the City of Ekurhuleni and led by Mhlope.
During the session, Mhlope said the librarians should mainly focus on training their voices and picking a good story they are comfortable with before reading it out or telling it to people.
“To grab people’s attention, your voice should be loud enough and you need to understand what you are talking about. Learn to use a language you are comfortable with because by doing that you will easily tell authentic stories that your audience will connect with,” said the 64-year-old poet.
She said her grandmother taught her how to read and write because she was also a storyteller. “She used to call me so I can sit with her, then she would recite good stories to me. I loved the way she recited the stories and I decided to read books and write my own books.
“I remember going to a school in Spain and when I was about to leave they said they have a gift for me.
“I discovered that the gift was them reading my book in their own language and that touched my heart because it showed that my books are being read internationally and even at schools for the blind through a braille method.”
The manager of the Perform Arts and interim general manager of Dumisani Masilela Theatre, Pascar Dube, said they have initiated these masterclasses to celebrate the upcoming youth month.
“This is our annual event. We have various masterclasses that will be initiated at the event including the one we are having today. From now up until June, we will have different art activities to celebrate youth month, on June 11 we will have four candidates performing what they have learned in the masterclasses, as we have two more masterclasses which are the vocal masterclass and Deejay masterclass.
“All the masterclasses comprise 20 candidates,” said Dube.
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