welcome to the prototype of SHARING GOOD MANNERS
You don’t have to be a sage and know everything.
Be the wild secret song you are.
Play. Play. and Play some more. Come play with me.
INTRO
here is a video that I made recently “what is it?”
I have prettier videos that we filmed last week - a whole YouTube channel of them!…
…but somehow it mattered that your first impression is of the story unadorned. With laughter. And a toque of nerves. And lots of metaphors. I’m the go to girl for metaphors. (also fear)
email me at info at shebanacoelho dot com
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
CREATIVITY IS A LIFEFORCE
That’s the core belief at the heart of Sharing Good Manners.
SHARING GOOD MANNERS is guided workshop experience that invites you into your own healing journey through creativity.
Drawing on my play, The Good Manners of Colonized Subjects, and over five sessions, you create storypoems that excavate what stops the stories and express and embody what liberates.
Like the play’s journey, we’ll travel through our own histories, imagined or real, truths and fictions, to unearth colonizations - emotional cultural, historical - and share them in words, sounds, silence and movement. We go through names, history, everyday, myths, fear and art, to arrive into a new origin, a place to begin again in the storydark.
WHO IS IT FOR, you ask. For everyone who feels the story on the tip of her tongue, the edge of his teeth, the soft of their skin and wants to get it out, on a page, or just spoken, or on a stage or all of these places.
If you identify as a woman of color, I especially encourage you to join the journey - and if the fee is beyond your means, please be in touch as I am hoping to have more scholarship spots.
PS: WHAT IS A STORYPOEM? I call it a mix of storytelling and poetry. Like telling an anecdote with a poetic sensibility. Or a poem with a story telling sensibility. Like that. Another variation is a choreo-poem which is adding small movements, gestures, to our storypoems. We’ll create some of those too.
ABOUT THE PLAY
The Good Manners of Colonized Subjects is my solo play about a human animal, fragmented by colonization, who journeys through history, memory and imagination to confront fear and reclaim what was lost.
The play runs 70 minutes and mixes poetry, storytelling and dance inspired by flamenco and Indian dance.
It has been performed in Spain, New Mexico, Los Angeles, New York, Hawaii, American Samoa at places like the University of Cadiz, the Pan Asian Repertory Theater’s NuWorks Festival, the Arts at Mark Garage, and more.
PS: It sounds very serious and it is. AND it is also very playful, funny, cathartic. See this new YouTube channel for clips. Ah, finally you get to see the pretty…
- Regina Meredith Fitiao, MFA Local Artist, Amerika Samoa
It's not often that we get to experience a masterpiece but yesterday it was so quiet in the auditorium--you had us all enthralled!. So here is my testimonial: Shebana's performance was so touching that it felt like I was with her in every moment. She has an amazing way of telling a poetic story through gestures postures and movements that makes the audience feel every word, practically taste every word, anticipating what is to come next. Brilliantly crafted, suitable for any age, and mesmerizing to be sure."
~ Joan Logghe, Santa Fe Poet Laureate 2010-2012
Writing teacher for over thirty years
Shebana Coelho is one of those people whose natural grace and intelligence can't help but inspire the rest of us to shine brighter. Her natural voice in writing and open heart mixed with imaginative powers make her a fine teacher of writing.
play
journey
embody
WORKHOP FORMAT
In the Sharing Good Manners workshop, we PLAY!
We write, journey, and embody using LANGUAGE OF THE SENSES, figurative language - see, touch, taste, smell, hear. Because for potent journeys such as the one we are going on, expressing yourself in this way (for eg, a rock that sinks in the sea, or the wings of a very small bird) - such language protects our soft places, our vulnerabilities even as it liberates us into sharing the fullness of who we are.
In a tangible way, you’ll leave with
new prose and lyric writing
a series of small movement phrases, gestures unique to your body, that you could use as ritual, as performance, as solace.
how to create something out of nothing! well, a feeling is not nothing, but you’ll live the process of starting with what feels amorphous and then shaping it through poetic words, stories, anecdotes, histories, choreopoems and movements.
a bellyfull of writing prompts, creative resources, tips, inspirations, to keep you creating!
In an in-tangible way, you’ll have gone on a healing journey to nurture a felt body sense of inspiration. Also, your story will have been SEEN, not just by the other participants but also through two one-on-one sessions with me.
DATES & DETAILS
FIVE SESSIONS over FIVE TUESDAYS - ONLINE via ZOOM
September 12, 19, 26, October 3 & 10
at 9 am MT US Mountain Time/ 6pm SPAIN&Western Europe / 8:30pm INDIA
If you miss one or two sessions, a video recording will be provided.
If you can’t be there for more than 2 sessions, best to wait for another time to do it.
FIVE seventy five minute sessions + TWO 60 minute one-on-one sessions with me, one before/during the first week of the workshop and one after the end of the workshop.
SESSION ONE: THIS PERSON, THAT HISTORY. A song of self and deconstructing history to see how colonization arrived in the place where you live and also, inside you.
SESSION TWO: REAL MYTHS. Personal anecdotes about everyday colonizations in your life and finding and embodying a myth that resonates through you.
SESSION THREE: WHO vs. WHAT. The human fragmented, in conflict between creativity and fear, self expression and fear, you name it and fear.
SESSION FOUR: ORIGIN STORY. One that reclaims you, the place from which you begin again.
SESSION FIVE: SHARING GOOD MANNERS READING. Just for participants, so we can hear and honor each other’s voices telling the stories only we can tell.
Shebana is engaging and generous...She has a magical way of guiding the body, mind and soul of people who work with her in a way that opens them to deep levels of themselves and the story they want to tell.
~ Caroline LeBlanc, Albuquerque
PRICING
PHOTO BY HU RONG
Because I am prototyping this experience for the first time, I am limiting it to 9 people and offering it for about a third of what it may be priced in the future:
$650 usd dollars
**Enrollment ends by August 31** extended through September 9
Payments via paypal, zelle, bank transfer, bizum. Payment plans over 2 months available, if needed.
ONE SCHOLARSHIP SPOT FOR A PERSON WHO IDENTIFIES AS A WOMAN OF COLOR (read about the process for applying for it in the PDF download below)
READ & LISTEN option
HERE IS a simple text PDF TO READ with all the nitty gritty details, dates, fees, sessions.
if you prefer to hear me tell you all about it
CLICK HERE FOR A SERIES OF VIDEOS
I hold forth with my cup of chai on a sunny day in Sevilla! Each video runs @ 3-4 min
OR IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS!
info at shebanacoelho dot com
want even more? here you go…
THE WEB PAGE:
& Youtube Channel for the Play
HAVE A LISTEN:
On the the Island, a series of story poems
PODCAST:
Faraway is Close: a podcast from Shebana Coelho