H: Hans Christian Andersen (WR)

Hans Christian Andersen

In 1981, when the Middle School, where I had taught 6th grade, asked me to be in their musical play, “Hans Christian Andersen” as the lead character, I was a little hesitant. First, I had never acted in a play before, even as a child,  or performed in front of a large audience. My biggest audiences were usually with my class or grade level. Second, though I still worked in the same district, I was now teaching in a different school, meaning that between rehearsals and performances, it would take a bit of scheduling and a lot of time to accomplish. It would also mean that I had to shave (I had had a beard for 7 years at that point) since Hans Christian Andersen didn’t have a beard or mustache.  But I did like to sing and I really loved the movie “Hans Christian Andersen” that starred Danny Kaye, in the lead role, which was what the play was based on. So I decided to do it.

You can listen to an old recording of me singing part of one of the songs in the play, here (you might want to turn your volume down a little): http://goo.gl/7TBQi4

When I performed for the first time I was enthralled. I could not believe the rapt attention that I received from the audience. My sister was in the audience for my first performance and had someone pass up a bouquet of flowers to me. I took the flowers, because they were handed to me, but couldn’t figure out who they were for. I’ve since learned.

Because of the role I played and the reaction I got, I became fascinated with the art of storytelling and began researching storytelling. I got permission from my district to attend the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the following October, in order to further my research and on my return decided to make storytelling a part of my curriculum. You can read how I started storytelling in my class and its outcome in one of my older blogs (http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=24).

Needless to say I became hooked and have been telling stories ever since. You’ll find a lot of entries throughout this blog about the art of storytelling. Just click on the Categories drop down menu and choose one of the storytelling options.

In looking back, I find it  interesting that in all my storytelling performances both in my class, my school and in the outside world, I have never performed a story by Hans Christian Andersen other than when I performed them in the middle school play in 1981. Someday might add some to my repertoire. After all Hans was the one that started me.