Children and adults found it to be a treat to be introduced to the fun, high energy and creative story telling style of Kevin Mackenzie when he entertained at Norquay, Pelly, Sturgis and Preeceville on November 26 and 27.
Parents, caregivers and educators were encouraged to attend a workshop with Mackenzie to learn how to become better storyteller.
Mackenzie tells a wide variety of stories to an even wider range of people (all ages).
Group sizes vary, and the program can be tailored to fit the needs of the audience, Mackenzie said. He has left a trail of stories at festivals, conferences, residencies, retreats, libraries, schools, prisons, colleges and countless events across Canada and in Brazil, Great Britain, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and the USA, according to his biography.
As an experienced teacher of storytelling, he served as the storyteller in residence for the Regina Public Library, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild and the Regina Board of Education. For five years, Mackenzie shared his stories on a weekly basis with vulnerable youth for the Ranch Ehrlo Society. His experience with teens is matched by his expertise with younger children, as Mackenzie is an early childhood educator, and the author of a DVD of 23 original fingerplays called Fingersplay: Fingerplays and Action Rhymes for Children. This unique collection garnered a place on the Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s “Our Choice” list in 2003.
As a dedicated listener Mackenzie has volunteered since 1998 in planning and organizing dozens of concerts, tours, festivals and literacy events in Vancouver and Saskatchewan. He tells a wide variety of stories to a wider variety of ages. Group sizes vary, and the program can be tailored to fit the needs of the audience.
He describes his stories as: traditional stories, fairy tales, folk tales, ghost stories, myths and legends of the world, student-powered improv stories, original stories, fingerplays, multilingual tongue-twisters and family tales.
For the experience to work, stories are selected on the spot according to the age, stage, interests and the reactions of the students, Mackenzie said. Storytelling is a dance between the subtle feedback of the audience and the teller. The students, through their reaction and interaction, determine the direction of the presentation.
