Site Logo

Orcas Island storytellers teach yarn spinning in China

Published 10:02 am Friday, December 30, 2011

Nancy Wang (far right
Nancy Wang (far right

Orcas Island storytellers Nancy Wang and Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo just returned from a month-long adventure in China. The couple taught storytelling theater to hundreds of middle school students at the International School of Beijing.

“It was incredible – the people, the food, the everyday street life,” said Kikuchi-Yngojo.

They taught storytelling skills, movement, gesture and vocal tricks and coached the kids on final projects.

Wang and Kikuchi-Yngojo split their time between Orcas and San Francisco, where they spend the winter months. They founded the artistic group Eth-Noh-Tec and held their fourth annual Orcas Storyfest this summer.

“Winter time at the close of a year is a time for reflection, introspection, a time to see our personal lives in the context of the greater picture,”  Kikuchi-Yngojo said. “Perhaps it is a time to ask ourselves: ‘How have our lives made an impact in the world? What story are we willing to create that will make an impact in a world of so many stories?’”

To read a blog from their trip, go to http://www.ethnohtec.org/.