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Prelacy Holds Armenian Folktales Workshop  Under the Auspices of His Eminence Archbishop Khajag Hagopian, Prelate, a workshop on Armenian folktales for the family and community
was held at the Armenian Prelacy of Canada on the afternoon of February 21, 2009.
Organized by the Prelacy's Armenian National Education Council (ANEC), this exclusive workshop featured a distinguished guest, Ms Alidz Agbabian, story teller and children's author especially invited for this occasion from Los Angeles, California. The Prelacy's Executive Council co-chairperson, Dr. Garbis Harboyan, presented a short biography of the noteworthy guest, who in turn explained the importance of storytelling and Armenian folktales, not only to preserve and propagate this part of Armenian culture, but also to help children "create their own imaginative world," away from today's often violent, technological distractions. More than 70 adults attended this workshop to learn firsthand from Mrs. Agbabian the art of storytelling, which she gladly in an interactive manner and covered a wide range of the art form, from the proper tone and voices to use to the facial expressions and gestures to make, from the ancient symbolisms found in old tales to the differences in the reactions of children. Ms. Agbabian also used a variety of props to bring forth examples of classic fairy tales and showed how to adapt events from our daily lives into stories for kids or even adults. The attendants participated with great enthusiasm in the workshop, which surpassed its scheduled period. As an author of children's books, Ms. Agbabian has established her own publication house, and for the past dozen years, has issued high-quality, bilingual story books inspired from traditional Armenian folktales for readers of all ages. |
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