15th Certificate Training Group Begins Summer 2011

photos from the different sessions:

story apron lap puppetry, and color and light puppetry scene from Sweet Porridge

Here is a picture of a Mother Rod Puppet and her baby….a big part of the therapeutic session.  Nothing makes a child feel safer than a Mother!

In the third session we work with fairy tales and folk tales and the art of the marionette.  Here is a scene from Snow White and Rose Red!

Dear Puppetry Friends,

The NEW FORMAT one-year part time certificate training consists of 3 sessions over one year.  The 2011 dates are almost in place.

July 29 – August 10  2011

April – 5 days 2012 (this will be close to Easter break time TBA)

July/August 2012

2011 Location: Boulder, CO

The 3 focus themes are:

1. Pedagogical puppetry – primarily early childhood with a look at grade school and high school
2. Therapeutic puppetry – Transformation and the four virtues of puppetry, the 12 senses – focus on the Mother rod puppet and color and light shadow puppetry.
3. Artistic/performance in puppet theater– concentrating on archetypes of movement and gesture in the healing art of the marionettes and fairy tales.

The three themes weave together throughout the concentrated one-year course.  It has the healing possibilities at the forefront.   The artistic is a fundamental part of it being meaningful.

This is a serious intensive training working with the inner transformative archetypal elements that are our guides in the awakening of the ensoulment process in puppetry.  How do we begin to truly enliven the puppet with gesture, soul warmth, and true movement?

This course welcomes those ready to work inwardly and outwardly with joy, enthusiasm, and will.  There is a full year commitment. The process of unfolding the artistic and therapeutic ability is a time process and requires practicing the skills from each intensive during the year in between our meetings.  Each participant designs a puppet project for each focus that is suited to their life situation and interests.  It allows for a practice and deepening of each session’s focus.  When participants do this, the steps forward in depth of skill and healing quality is profound.  We have individual reviews at the end of each session.

Part one focus: Pedagogical

We will explore the fundamentals of enlivening simple puppets with artistry and healing qualities.  There is an early childhood focus, working with many types of puppets and presentation approaches most suitable for this age.  We will work on storytelling voice, music and puppetry, puppet making, movement, gesture, staging.  We will explore presenting puppet plays with finger puppets, wool roving and felt table puppets, storytelling with hand-made felted storyscapes, small rod puppets, and the story apron.  Stories, poems, and songs suitable for this age will be looked at, as well as the wisdom of the nursery rhyme. We will look at ways to expand puppet work into the grades and high school

Part two focus: Therapeutic Puppetry

In this focus we will be going deeper into the understanding of the therapeutic aspects of the human being through the wisdom of the four poles of humanness, the four virtues of puppetry, the 12 senses and more, and how this can guide us and inspire the exploration of our therapeutic puppetry.  We will focus on the Mother Rod Puppet – the heart puppet, as well as review all puppet types in a therapeutic light.  We will explore the therapeutic fundamentals of color and light puppetry through practical exercises to give us insight and inspiration for developing our understanding of color and healing.

Part three focus: Artistic/Performance

We will work on the performance and artistic process from beginning to end, focusing on the fairy tales and the marionette.  We will work deeply with the archetypes, which enliven the marionettes with meaning – physical activities, age, character, soul moods, temperaments etc.  These guide us in the process of ensouling the puppets in a healthy way.  We will work with storytelling, story ritual, staging, color, music, simple lighting.  We will dye silk in a multicolor method and make a 5-string marionette for an all age audience.

Visioning the directions to take your puppetry, expanding goals and possibilities, and the practical business aspects of puppetry such as creating flyers, brochures, proposal writing, grant sources, etc. is worked with throughout the training.

Please contact Suzanne at suzanne@junipertreepuppets.com for application and payment information and options.

Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts

www.junipertreepuppets.com suzanne@junipertreepuppets.com

Dear Regional Early Childhood Friends,

I am happy to announce I will be offering a 6 weekend school year (Sat. 9-4, sun. 9-1) puppetry training in Boulder, CO.  This will be the equivalent of Part one of the 3 part Certificate Puppetry Training. It is the pedagogical, early childhood focus of the training.

The 6 weekends will be held once a month form Jan. to June 2011. This is a training commitment, not a drop-in program.

Dates are: Jan. 15/16 – Feb. 26/27 – March 26/27 – April 9/10 – May 28/29 – June 18/19

Here is a peek at what we will delve into! Part one focus: Pedagogical Puppetry We will explore the fundamentals of enlivening simple puppets with artistry and healing qualities. There is an early childhood focus, working with many types of puppets and presentation approaches most suitable for this age. We will work on enlivening our storytelling voice, music and puppetry, story writing, puppet making, enlivening storytelling, gesture, staging. The wisdom that will inspire this work are the archetypes! We will explore presenting puppet plays with finger puppets, wool roving and felt table puppets,  small rod puppets, children’s marionettes, and the story apron. Stories, poems, and songs suitable for this age will be looked at, as well as the wisdom of the nursery rhyme. We will look at ways to expand puppet work into the grades and high school if participants are interested. I always include time for ‘how to get our work out there’, with some goal setting, proposal writing, flyer designing, etc.

You will have practice time in between each session to go deeper with the weekend themes. Sharing your practice projects with the group is wonderful for everyone. I will need a minimum number of enthusiastic participants to do this school year training. Please share this with your colleagues who might be interested. Email me at <suzanne@juipertreepuppets.com> for complete information package with application and payment options. I hope a group will arise, I am looking forward to sharing with you! best wishes, Suzanne Down 720 438-8344 Suzanne Down Founder/Director Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts www.junipertreepuppets.com http://junipertreepuppets.com/blog/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Juniper-Tree-Puppets/216784173023?ref=ts Sign up for our free monthly story newsletter online

Therapeutic Insights from

Womb to Three Years

A Pro-D 5-Day Course for Teachers, Therapists, Parents

Boulder, CO                                July 5-9

We can look at the time a child develops from womb to three years with awe and wonder.  Virtually all of the vital foundations for a meaningful life are formed in this time….or not!  What are the critical periods of this earliest childhood, and what  can we do to support their healthy development.  Join us for this 5 day pro-d, very practical week where we explore a therapeutic look at this very early child development.

¨The 3 Milestones -  Soul Moods of the Foundational Senses -  Training our Observational Eyes -  Therapeutic Movement -  Story and Puppetry in Support of Speech and Language Development -  Building Morality Through Meaningful Activity

Join Nancy Blanning and Suzanne Down for this Insightful Week

Nancy – Therapeutic Early Childhood Teacher Trainer, WECAN Board Member, 30 Years Teaching in Early Childhood

Suzanne – Director of Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts, Teacher Trainer in Lifeways North America,  Therapeutic Puppetry Pioneer, Experienced Early Years Teacher

***

Course cost $425 plus $50 materials

Contact Suzanne for info and registration at

suzanne@junipertreepuppets.com

www.junipertreepuppets.com

Walkabout Tales

Writing Children’s Stories from Nature

For teachers, children’s writers, children’s librarians, parents, storytellers

Location:       Boulder, CO          June 21-25

Join us for a 5 day immersion in story creation.  When we walk with our muse in nature, our senses enliven, our hearts open, and creativity soars.  In this week we will practice a ‘meditative walking’ with story writing exercises as our guide.  We will walk, write children’s stories, create puppets, practice effective storytelling techniques, and tell our stories.  We will also spend time each day on how to get our stories published!  Come and be supported in a soul renewing creative process.

Suzanne Down is director of Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts.  For over 20 years she has had columns and articles in newspapers and periodicals, including ‘Craft a Story’ in Living Crafts Magazine.  She has written 4 books on children’s stories and puppetry, and has a popular story newsletter and story blog.

Course cost is $425 plus $50 materials.  Contact suzanne@junipertreepuppets.com for more details.

www.junipertreepuppets.com

Here is a related blog post on outdoor puppetry for children, and other summer 2010 training events

The goal was to create a color landscape with layers of tissue paper colors to give depth and interest, one where the eye could flow into the color world.  Characters were then made to move in the color world of a back lighted shadow puppet theater and tell a tale.  Here are just a few of the photos from the week…. remember that these are fixed photos, and the puppet characters are moving to the story being spoken….

I will be offering this course again in the future…we as human beings are a soul rainbow….

to see other upcoming professional development weeks click here, and here is details on a summer program on solo marionette theater that will also immerse us in colors!

getting started in planning the color landscape

using natural  window light to imagine the effect of light on the layers

concentration

creating the layers of the sea

a world with bunny borough below and grass above

land of wee willie winkie

story of sweet porridge…above the forest, below the warm inviting home

the owl and the pussycat went to sea….

close up  of sweet porridge with mother and the magic cooking pot

Here is another blog about the Protection Story with photo – click here

check here for upcoming events – all our workshops and professional development have a therapeutic as well as artistic component

notice the little snail crawling up to the top!

My Easter craft offering this year is coming up this weekend…a truly fun workshop evolving the felted egg into many story kingdoms…I have had a lot of fun designing egg story worlds…come along and join us!   Read all about it here!

Here is the link to the how to video of a very cute bunny finger puppet card from Martha Stewart….click here

These wonderful puppets can also tell simpler tales, nursery rhymes, nature stories, and bring to life song and poem.  The upcoming Professional Development summer workshops for teachers, therapists, parents, and other enthusiasts, will focus on building skills to present solo shows that are simpler than the complex fairy tales, but include other fairy and folk tales that one person can do on their own.  We will also work with song and nursery rhymes, and sweet seasonal stories.  I love the marionettes, and realize for many they seem hard to use.  This workshop will prove them wrong, and all those who join us will leave the week jumping for joy, and ready to bring this healing art form to many children!  Scroll down to view the flyer!

To check on all upcoming 2010 summer event listing click here.

The Healing Art of

Solo Marionette Theater

A  5-Day Pro-D Course for ECE Teachers and Caregivers

Location

August 2-6   Fair Oaks, CA

Join us to explore the healing and artistry of the Silk Marionette Theater.  This is the puppet we can ensoul to most represent the upright human being in gesture, movement, and soul qualities.  We will focus on developing skills in presenting beautiful, meaningful, and delightful Solo Shows of simple stories, songs, poems, and fairy tales.  We will take the ‘daunting’ out of this style of puppetry!  We will also dye silk, and create beautiful 5-string marionette characters that will move and gesture with ease.  We will work on manipulation exercises based on archetypes of physical movement, age ranges, character, temperament, and soul gesture.  Then we will put these skills towards developing our simple solo story presentations.  You will leave the week confident and enthusiastic about sharing marionette theater with children!

Suzanne Down, longtime Director of Juniper Tree School of Story and Puppetry Arts

www.junipertreepuppets.com

Cost $425 plus $50. materials fee, contact Suzanne for registration and further information

suzanne@junipertreepuppets.com

Coming up soon is a workshop in Boulder, CO on March 27th, on the Incredible Story Egg – all about creating an array of really cool story vessels all from the shape of an egg…a cradle with a baby, a pond with a fish, a nest with baby birds.. join us!

Here are some photos from the workshop to enjoy.

our baker stirring the bowl

creating the farmer who harvests carrots

a fine farmer with his satchel full of carrots

the fisherman catching his dinner

trying them out!

the worker hands creating a worker character

]]> http://junipertreepuppets.com/the-worker-character-workshop-photos/feed/ 1 http://junipertreepuppets.com/spring-story-the-snowdrop/ http://junipertreepuppets.com/spring-story-the-snowdrop/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:15:53 +0000 Suzanne http://junipertreepuppets.com/?p=847
By now most of the country is weary of snow – so here is a story of hope and spring’s beginnings…my favorite story of the first brave flower of spring.

You can find many other sweet spring stories in our Spring Tales collection of poems and stories for children.

You might also enjoy a spring workshop we are giving in Boulder CO – The Incredible Story Egg

Contact Suzanne for ordering books or registration for the workshop

The Snowdrop By Hans Christian Andersen (Adapted)

The snow lay deep, for it was winter time. The winter winds blew cold, but there was one house where all was snug and warm. And in the house lay a little flower – in its bulb it lay, under the earth and the snow. One day the rain fell and it trickled through the ice and snow down into the ground. And presently a sunbeam, pointed and slender, pierced down through the earth, and tapped on the bulb. “Come in,” said the flower. “I can’t do that,” said the sunbeam – “I’m not strong enough to lift the latch. I shall be stronger when springtime comes.” “When will it be spring?” asked the flower of every little sunbeam that rapped on its door. But for a long time it was winter.

The ground was still covered with snow, and every night there was ice in the water. The flower grew quite tired of waiting. “How long it is!” it said. “I feel quite cramped. I must stretch myself and rise up a little. I must lift the latch, and look out, and say ‘good morning’ to the spring.” So the flower pushed and pushed. The walls were softened by the rain and warmed by the little sunbeams, so the flower shot up from under the snow, with a pale green bud on its stalk and some long narrow leaves on either side. It was biting cold. “You are a little too early,” said the wind and the weather – but every sunbeam sang, “Welcome,” and the flower raised its head from the snow and unfolded itself – pure and white, and decked with green stripes. It was weather to freeze it to pieces – such a delicate little flower, but it was stronger than any one knew.

It stood in its white dress in the white snow, bowing its head when the snowflakes fell, and raising it again to smile at the sunbeams, and every day it grew sweeter. “Oh!” shouted the children, as they ran into the garden, “see the snowdrop! There it stands so pretty, so beautiful – the first, the only one!”