AUTHENTICITY
The students of the MSS will be required to search for the connection between the stories they will choose to tell to their own personal life.
By asking the questions, why?
What does it mean to me?
We will aim to create a deeper emotional relationship with the stories.
By engaging in this process we hope that the individual personality of the performer will shine through the told story.
We will be looking of how “a story” can become “Your Story”.
RELEVANCE
We believe that the art of storytelling cannot be isolated from what is happening around us.
Like any other art form it needs to communicate with the outside world.
It needs to investigate and challenge situations in our reality.
At the MSS we will look for the connection between the storytelling works to relevant themes that exists in today’s current world affairs.
The Student will have to ask himself: What is happening in the world that I care about? What is truly meaningful for me? What do I find unbearable? What would I change?
Dealing with these questions will create the foundation and inspiration for an Individual storytelling piece that the student will create and perform at the end of the course.
PROFESSIONALITY
We at the MSS take the art of storytelling very seriously.
We believe that like any other art form, to become a professional requires dedication, ambition and courage to face challenging processes within oneself.
The same thing applies for storytelling.
In the MSS the students will be constantly challenged in their artistic development.
IS THIS FOR ME?
WE ARE LOOKING FOR …
… artists who don’t just like stories, but have a burning desire to find and tell the ones that are relevant. Storytellers, who will dig into their lives to find meaningful material, look at the world with open eyes and see the stories out there and investigate how they can appeal to audiences.
WE BELIEVE …
… that every person is potentially a storyteller, but we also believe there’s a few special ones out there who will change the face of storytelling. Artists who don’t just want to dabble with a hobby, but want to create a professional way of life involving storytelling.IF YOU’RE WILLING TO INVEST …
… the time and energy to become a daring storyteller, we are willing to guide you on this exciting path. We will work within a small group of maximum eight students to ensure every student receives the most possible benefit and individual attention.
OUR COURSES
THE INTRODUCTION WEEKEND COURSE IN MEZRAB
The Mezrab Storytelling School offers a three days introduction course to cover the basics of storytelling. In these three days we will work with you on basic storytelling techniques and give you a taste of how to craft a short story and share it with the audience in an engaging way.
For those interested in the professional course or Next Step course, the 3 days might give you the opportunity to get an insight of the way we work in the school and to get to know our teachers and their approach.
Dates in 2023:
September 1, 2, 3 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
September 22, 23, 24 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
October 20, 21, 22 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
November 24, 25, 26 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
December 8, 9, 10 OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS!
December 15, 16, 17 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
Dates in 2024:
January 12, 13, 14 OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS!
February 9, 10, 11 OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS!
March 8, 9, 10 OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS!
More dates will be announced later in the year!
Time: 11 AM until 4.30 PM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Location: Mezrab, Amsterdam
Price: € 295,-
Language: English
Teacher: Sahand Sahebdivani or Raphael Rodan
Info & subscription: email to info@mezrabstorytellingschool.nl with a few words about yourself and for which dates you would like to sign up.
THE NEXT STEP COURSE
So, you’ve done an intro course.
You’ve already started telling stories or are using the techniques we taught you in other fields. Maybe you haven’t been active since the course, but all the knowledge is still sloshing around in your subconscious and now you’re ready for another challenge.
Have a look at The Next Step weekend.
During the weekend we will focus in a deeper way on these two main elements from the craft of storytelling:
– The form and structure of a Story.
– The authentic expression of the Teller.
Upcoming dates in 2023:
November 17, 18, 19 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
Upcoming dates in 2024:
January 19, 20, 21 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
February 16, 17, 18 OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS!
Time: 11:00 to 16:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Language: English
Price: € 295,-
Teacher: Sahand Sahebdivani or Raphael Rodan
This course is suitable to anyone that has completed the introduction weekend.
Info & subscription: send an email to info@mezrabstorytellingschool.nl
Voice and Breath Techniques for performers
We’ve asked the voice teacher of our professional Storytelling Course, Yinske Silva, to develop a 3 day workshop on using your voice, your breathing and your movement on stage, tailor-made for storytellers and performers.
In this course, you will learn practical techniques on how to work on your reach, projection and tone of voice. You will learn how to actively work with your breath, so you sound better. Besides voice and breathing, you will learn how to use your body, your posture and movement, in many different ways to improve your stage presence.
LEARN ABOUT THE TEACHER:
Yinske Silva’s work is all about voice, in many ways. On stage she’s a singer, improvisor, presenter and moderator. Off stage she works as a (provocative) coach, voice coach and socio-cultural innovator: www.yinskesilva.nl.
As a vocal coach Yinske has over 15 years of experience and trained in many different vocal techniques and approaches to voice. She combines the physical with the psychological when teaching voice. Her style is warm, sharp, humorous and she knows how to bring everyone a step further in their voice work. She recently founded the Roy Hart Centre NL, the Dutch home for this unique and profound approach to voice work: www.roy-hart-theatre.com
UPCOMING COURSE: TBA
Time: 12:00 – 17:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Location: Mezrab, Amsterdam
Price: € 275 (including VAT)
To subscribe, send an email to info@mezrabstorytellingschool.nl
FEAR
In ancient stories the hero is often told: don’t open that door. And yet, the moment he is alone, he grabs the key and rushes to unlock it, unleashing a terrifying dragon…
Mezrab Storytelling School presents a new course!
A good storyteller knows how to channel their emotions and embed them into a story, but not all emotions are equally easy to tame. In this course, we will focus on the feeling that most performers try to suppress whenever it arises — fear.
But is there a way to use fear on stage instead of keeping it hidden behind the door, which actually cannot stay locked anyway?
We will use an old story, analyse the symbolism in it and relate it to our personal experiences. Through this process, you will gain a better understanding of what fear is, how it manifests itself in the body and how to work with it.
The course is recommended for people with (some) stage experience, but it is not necessary to be a professional. Get in touch and tell us about yourself!
The teacher for this three day course is Raphael Rodan.
UPCOMING COURSE:
Dates: September 29 — October 1 WAITLIST IS AVAILABLE
Time: 11:00 – 16:00 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Location: Mezrab, Amsterdam
Price: € 295 (including VAT)
To subscribe, send an email to info@mezrabstorytellingschool.nl
new online masterclass
HOW TO CREATE PERSONAL STORIES
If you’re interested in learning how to tell powerful personal stories, crafted from out of your memory, but you want to do this in your own time, in your own pace, here’s the solution: the Mezrab Storytelling School now offers an online masterclass thought by Raphael Rodan. In 8 short video’s he will guide you through the steps to take a memory, and craft it into a powerful, engaging personal story.
You can do the exercises in your own pace, but if you do them all after each other, this course will take approximately 4 hours. You’ll end up having a short 5 minute story. When you have mastered this technique, you can make your stories as long as you like, with any topic you’d like to talk about.
Price masterclass: € 49
THE PROFESSIONAL COURSE 2024-25
In this challenging course will work with you for 5 months on the foundations of storytelling as a performance art.
Dates: September 2nd, 2024 to January 27th, 2025
– 3 days a week (Mon, Tue, Wed, 10 AM- 3 PM)
From 2024 onwards, we will teach this course anually, from September until January.
WE ARE OPEN FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS!
We will work in two fundamental ways:
from the inside out, finding the personal relevance and the emotional connection between the teller and the stories being told, and from the outside in, using techniques such as structure of a story and the use of language. How do these two approaches complement each other? Imagine a river. It needs a shape to keep from water spreading and disappearing into the ground. That is the outside in. But it also needs the stream of the water otherwise the shape will remain dry. That is the inside out.
The same goes for storytelling; if both movements exists, the art becomes alive.
Here are some of the elements and methods we will cover during the course:
– Story structure.
– Building imagery.
– Working with language.
– Saying more with fewer words.
– Working on body language and voice.
– Emotional freedom.
– Humanly understanding the core of the story.
– Developing the flexibility to work in different stages and circumstances without losing the power and essence of the story.
– Creating truthful contact with the audience.
At the course we will also dedicate some time to work with voice coach Yinske Silva, director Titus Tiel Groenestege and dramaturg Katja Hieminga, in order to investigate connections between storytelling and the theatre world.
Another element of the course will be being your own producer. How do you find new audiences? What does it mean to do the PR for your own shows? How can you initiate new opportunities and create your own work?
You will create several presentations on different stages and a final presentation in the main hall of theatre Podium Mozaïek
Course info: September 2nd, 2024 to January 27th, 2025.
This course will be 3 days a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 10 AM to 3 PM + some extra hours for private coaching and on presentation days.
Course location: Mezrab (Veemkade 576, Amsterdam).
The school is closed for fall break (2 weeks) and Christmas holiday (2 weeks).
Course fee:
Price for this 5 months intensive course: € 1950,- excluding VAT (which is € 2359,50 including VAT)
Language: English
Interested?
Please send an email to info@mezrabstorytellingschool.nl with answers to the following questions:
1 Tell us a bit about yourself (age, cultural and artistic background, etc)
2 Tell us about your experience in the performing arts.
3 Can you describe for us your latest project and your role in it?
4 What brings you to do a professional course in storytelling?
Thank you! We will contact you.
Work session:
After reading your apllication email, we could invite you for a work session which will take 2 hours. For this session, we will ask you to prepare a short story.
The work sessions will be planned on one of these dates:
– Beginning of December 2023
– End of March 2024
– End of June 2024
Of course, the session dates will be planned with you.
SAHANDSAHEBDIVANI
Storyteller
Sahand was born in Iran but fled at the age of three to the Netherlands with his parents. He was trained as a storyteller in the Dutch Royal Institute of the Tropics. In 2004 he opened the Mezrab Cultural Center, which has since grown to be one of the most important stages of storytelling in the world. In 2014 the Dutch storytelling community awarded him the title Storyteller of the Year. He currently tours Europe and outside with the hit storytelling show Kingdom of Fire and Clay (which he performs with Raphael) as well as his solo shows.
FARNOOSHFARNIA
Theatre & Performing Arts
Farnoosh was born in Iran and fled to the Netherlands with her family at the age of five. She was trained as a storyteller for children and in telling stories in Dutch Sign Language. Her passion is to tell multidisciplinary stories; storytelling mixed with theatre, dance, music and Sign Language. She’s one of the founders of the Amsterdam based youth theatre group DEGASTEN. Farnoosh currently works as a programmer for the location theatre festival Oerol and as artistic director of the Amsterdam Fringe Festival.
RAPHAELRODAN
Storyteller
Raphael Rodan is an award winning theatre maker and Storyteller. He graduated in 2008 from the School of Speech and Drama in Harduf in his country of birth Israel. He continued his actor training at the Actors Temple in London. He worked in Israel as a theatre director for Arab and Jewish young actors, using theatre as a bridge for communication. Since his move to Europe he runs storytelling workshops and performs all over the continent. At 2018, Together with Sahand Sahebdivani, he became the Artistic Director of the Amsterdam Storytelling Festival.
V.O.F. MEZRAB STORYTELLING SCHOOL
Located in Mezrab: Veemkade 576, 1019 BL Amsterdam
Postal address: Nicolaas Maesstraat 70-2, 1071 RC Amsterdam
RSIN NR: 859687818
KVK NR: 73856002
The MSS has a cultural ANBI, which allows donors to donate tax free