News
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Autumn Season 2010
Vayu Naidu Company announces its Autumn Season. Highlights include Bhakti and the Blues at Kings Place (20 October)Ramayana at the Barbican (3 November) Nine Nights on tour (from 21 October) Licence to Tell (17 September to 10 November) and a Storytelling Masterclass (30 October)
Licence To Tell - Autumn Season
Vayu Naidu Company Storytellers will be bringing Stand Up Storytelling to a Pub near you this Autumn. The season title is Talking Spirits. Catch them at the Freeword Centre (17 September) The Duchess in Battersea (22 September) Amersham Arms in Lewisham (5 October) the Bedford in Balham (14 October) Nehru Centre (1 November) and The Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon (10 November).
Older articles
India Now
Vayu Naidu Company is delighted to be part of INDIA NOW and is performing at various exciting locations. Please see 'current productions' for details.
New Website
VNC is developing a new website. We hope it will go live by the end of September. Please bear with us in the next few weeks, as we are concentrating our efforts on making the new website really visually exciting and user friendly, so we may not have time to update this site.
Listen To Annie Besant's Story On Woman's Hour
Rukhsana Ahmad, author of our new play MISTAKEN.. ANNIE BESANT IN INDIA talks about Annie's life and work on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour on Monday 21st May at 10am.
Final India Now Events!
As part of the Mayor of London's India Now festival, Vayu is performing in some more events this month. Firstly at the Museum in Docklands on Sept 16th at 3pm, and then at the Noble Sage gallery on 21st September. See current productions for more details.
Vayu Naidu Performs At Jerwood Hall, Lso St Lukes On 17th January
Vayu Naidu will be performing as part of the BBC Symphony Orchestra's 2008 January Composer Weekend for Judith Weir in Telling the Tale.
Vayu Naidu weaves traditional stories with British Folk music from North and South of the Border.
Wood and the English Acoustic Collection create a magical blend of storytelling and music created by Judith Weir.
Here Comes The Sun... Tonight!!!
As part of the LICENCE TO TELL series, Vayu Naidu Company Storytellers offer stories to warm your hearts and to lighten your spirits.
8.00pm TODAY! Thursday 19th June 2008
Leather Exchange pub (Upstairs Lounge)15 Leathermarket Street, Bermondsey, London, SE1 3HN.
Come early to enjoy the wide range of food available.
£5 per ticket, £3.50 Students (with a valid student card).
For directions see: www.theleatherexchange.co.uk
Space is limited so booking is advised!
To book tickets call on
* * * * 4 Star Review For Storytelling Workshop!
Invasion Festival: Vayu Naida Company: Storytelling - An Ancient Art -Workshops (Adults)
Vanyu Naida Company
Are you sitting comfortably? The small group attending this workshop sat on the floor with our teacher, the calm but expressive Vayu Naidu. We all like telling stories, don't we? Well, understanding and involving your audience is key, Vayu explains, as she compares and contrasts traditions from around the world. We all told stories, a liberating experience that gave Vayu an opportunity to give us individual advice. I told the sad, true story of being sent to a break-dancing workshop by the sadistic slave-drivers of ThreeWeeks. Though this seminar was short, we were able to get relatively deeply into the heart of the story-teller. I wished it could have gone on longer though. That said, several of the ideas have stayed with me so perhaps it has. The End.
clubWEST @ Quincentenary Hall, dates vary, 1.45pm (3.00pm), £8.00 (£5.00), fpp128.
tw rating 4/5
Cancelled - Hairy Hogs & Vulgar Voles at Trafalgar Studios
Unfortunately, the Hairy Hogs & Vulgar Voles family storytelling event has been cancelled.
Apologies to those who were intending to come along. Please keep checking our website for forthcoming events, and sign up to our mailing list to be kept informed.
Master Classes
VNC is offering a master class for anyone who is interested in learning the skills of storytelling the chance to participate in a three-day workshop in storytelling techniques. The aim is to explore with you the ways in which storytelling as an art-form connects to theatre and personal expression, and develop your technique in oral storytelling which is freshly ‘re-imagined’ in performance and not learned. This workshop will span over three days specialising in storytelling workshop for teachers, students and apprentices with invited artists (Dancer, Director, Musician) looking at the art of storytelling in creating a performance. Each day will have a different artist working with Vayu to look at all the ways and techniques of creating, maintaining and enjoying the art of storytelling. 17th - 20th September - 10.00-4.30. Call for more details and for venue and prices.
Edinburgh Fringe Success!
International Tour: East Europe
Vayu Naidu is set to take her unique storytelling style across the continent, as she performs at a number of storytelling festivals in East Europe.
PRAGUE
Lotus Studio, Dlouha 2 Street, Prague 1, 110 00.
9th November
LOOK ME IN THE EYES AND TELL ME A STORY: A workshop for actors and performers who will engage with the truth and fire of Storytelling. 10.00am,
RAMAYANA- triumph of light over darkness: Asia's greatest epic is re-imagined. 6:00pm,
10th November
A SIMPLE TWIST OF FATE and other stories from the Upanishads. 10am.
WARSAW
III International Storytelling Festival, University of Warsaw
12th-16th November
EPIC TRADITIONS: NINE NIGHTS and THE ONES WHO DARED. 7pm.
Published Work
ON VAYU NAIDU'S WORK:
Performance Storytelling
PERFORMANCE PRACTICE AND PROCESS
contemporary (women) practitioners
Edited by Elaine Aston & Geraldine Harris, Palgrave: Macmillan, 2008
BY VAYU NAIDU:
New Directions in Storytelling Theatre: SOUTH by Vayu Naidu Company
STAGING NEW BRITAIN: Aspects of Black and South Asian British Theatre Practice, by G.Davis, A.Fuchs, PIE, PETER LANG, 2008
FORTHCOMING WORK:
Call-Response: Migration as Methaphor in Theatre.
Details of publication will be confirmed on this site.
Vayu Naidu Company Celebrate The News Of Barrack Obama's Election As President Of The United States Of America. It's A Time For Change, For Good, And For All.
'Following the Civil Rights movement, I studied in Woodrow Wilson Sr. High School in Washington DC- and we are proud to have the First Black Principal of any High School in the US. I remember Mrs. LLyod my Black, American History teacher commenting on the Vietnam war where her sons had been conscripted saying:
'And will there be a day when a Black president sits in the White House?'
It is a dream realised, even if the road is long ahead. It IS a time for change, for us all'
-Vayu Naidu-
Storytelling Masterclass At The Nehru Centre
Vayu Naidu Company will be holding its annual Masterclass for its Guild of Apprentices at the Nehru Centre on September 2nd and 3rd. The Guild is composed of storytellers who have worked with Vayu, absorbing her particular methodology of storytelling performance practice, with the aim of working for the Company in education projects and as performers. They regularly perform in our Licence to Tell series of events. VNC is delighted to be hosted by the Nehru Centre in South Audley Street for this event.
If you are interested in taking part in a storytelling masterclass with Vayu, please contact us via this website as we are planning a Masterclass for new participants in late October/early November in London.
Storytelling Masterclass
This year's Presence in Performance Masterclass will be held on Mon 26th and Tues 27th October at the Rag Factory, Heanage Street. The workshop will be led by Vayu as an introduction to her unique methodology of storytelling based on traditional techniques. The 2 days will be suitable for both experienced storytellers wishing to develop or refresh their technique, and performers from other disciplines wishing to add storytelling technique to their repertoire.
On Mon 26th there should be the chance to attend an informal performance at the same venue by VNC's Guild of Apprentices, for participants to be inspired by the range of their voices and stories.
The cost of the workshop is £200 for the two days, including the performance.
To book please phone Jenny Campbell or email jenny.campbell@vayunaiducompany.org.uk
Licence To Tell At Leather Exchange Cancelled
Please note tonight's performance of TALKING SPIRITS in the Licence to Tell series at the Leather Exchange pub is CANCELLED due to a change of pub management. The show will be performed on 15th Nov at Theatre503 - see other news
Exciting New Venue For Licence To Tell!
Due to a change of management at the Leather Exchange pub in Bermondsey we can no longer perform there, but are excited to be appearing at Theatre 503 at the Latchmere Battersea for the first time on November 15th 2009. The performance is TALKING SPIRITS - please see future productions for details or go to www.theatre503.com to book.
Vayu Performs At Cleveland Watkiss' 50th Birthday Party!
Vayu has been invited to perform as part of 'Cleveland Watkiss at 50' at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the Southbank Centre on Thurs 19th November. This follows on from their successful collaboration on BHAKTI AND THE BLUES at the Edinburgh Festival 2008. The performance is part of the London Jazz Festival in association with Radio 3. Vayu and Cleveland will be performing BHAKTI AND THE BLUES in Spring 2009 again... watch this website for tour news! See past productions for more about the show.
Vayu Naidu Company Seeks New General Manager
VNC is recruiting a new General Manager to start as soon as possible after January 15th 2010. Applicants should have some previous arts management experience for this busy 4/5ths post in a small, diverse company. This contract is initially fixed term, to end March 2011. Salary £27,500 pro rata.
For a full job description, more about VNC and its work and an application form please download the Application Pack via the link below. (ZIP 2.7 MB).
Http://www.vayunaiducompany.org.uk/site_assets/downloads/zip/application_pack.zip
If you have problems doing so please email jenny.campbell@vayunaiducompany.org.uk or ring 0207 720 0707.
Closing date for applications is midday on 7.12.09. Interviews will be held in the week of 4.1.2010.
New GM For VNC!
Helen Winning joins VNC as our new General Manager, as Jenny Campbell is leaving on 12th Feb at the end of her maternity cover contract.
Helen comes to VNC from MakeBelieve Arts.
Storytelling Carnival 1st May
Vayu Naidu Company presents an exciting Storytelling Carnival event as part of the Wandsworth Arts Festival. The culmination of a project with Battersea Park School, A Story in Search of an Audience is a promenade/processional performance by Vayu Naidu Company Artists and pupils from the School, led by a giant 14ft high Storyteller (Craig Jenkins) with colourful carnival costumes and props. Vayu Naidu Company has worked with Carnival specialists Kinetika on the carnival design elements of the production, and with some Older People from the Katherine Low Centre who have helped to make the props. A truly cross- generational community project. The story unfolds using dance created by choreographer Shane Shambu, and features music by composer Orphy Robinson with live dhol drummers. There are two performances on Saturday 1st May at 2pm and 3.30pm in Battersea Park. Come and bring the whole family for a spectacular storytelling event.
Supported by
Website sponsors
The De Haan Trust
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Vayu Naidu Company. Unit C5, Old Imperial Laundry, 71 Warriner Gardens, Battersea, London SW11 4XW.
Telephone: +44 (0)020 7720 0707