Remembering Helen Wise

by Julie Pasqual

Helen with students

One of the reasons I love storytelling is that there is such a respect for the past – for the stories that our forefathers told around fires to explain, entertain, and build community.  And also for the tellers of these tales.  Storytelling is one profession where elders are not pushed aside – there is a respect for those who have come before us, a knowledge that we are, as they say, standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us. 

         When I first came to Storytelling Arts, I was a new teller.  I had been a professional performer from the age of 17, so I knew how to stand before an audience and tell a tale, but what I didn’t know was how to make a story less about my “performance”, and more about the shared experience that storytelling is.  And I certainly had no idea how to tell stories to children as young as 3 or 4.  But luckily I had some wonderful shoulders to stand upon. One of those people that helped me find my way passed away today – her name was Helen Wise.

         I remember the first time I saw Helen tell – I will be honest here, as someone coming from musical theatre and clown – I was all about big, loud – and as the song says, “Give them the old razzle dazzle!”  So, Helen’s slow, gentle, intimate style left me skeptical.  “The kids are not going to like this!”, my inside voice my screamed.  But soon, I saw the wisdom in her work.  Instead of my instinct to “go after the children’s attention” – I watched as they came to her – they pulled closer – feeling safe in her presence, filling in the words that she masterfully left space for.  There was no separation between performer and audience – it was a joint effort, a communion, if you will.

      While I don’t tell anything like Helen, really, what I learned from her was that storytelling, especially for the littlest listeners was not about trying to control them, but to ride their wave. Throw the bait out to them, see what they take, encourage them, empower them to be participants in the story, and make it about them, as opposed to me.

          I am forever grateful to Helen, and to all the wonderful tellers upon whose shoulders I place my size 7 wides on every time I tell a tale,  and peak into the magic that storytelling can be.