Gather round and hear the stories as the Kearney Storytelling Festival celebrates the healing art of storytelling with Winter Tales 2007 which will be held January 15 - 20 in Kearney. The Kearney Storytelling Festival will showcase national tellers Donald Davis and Changaris at Winter Tales 2007. Mary Henning, Lonnie Kellogg, Val Scott, and Laya Salumbides are this years regional tellers. Festival Highlights Winter Tales 2007 is community celebration of the healing art of storytelling bringing tellers into a variety of venues including area schools, retirement communities and churches, addition to programs the Museum of Nebraska Art. On Saturday, January 20, The Museum of Nebraska Art will showcase the festival's main events with storytelling for preschoolers at 11:15 a.m. Storytelling for families at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and storytelling for adults at 7:30 p.m. All events are free except for the 7:30 p.m. performance, which is $6. National Teller Biographies Donald Davis was born in a Southern Appalachian mountain world rich in stories. "I didn't learn stories, I just absorbed them," he says as he recounts tales and more tales learned from a family of traditional storytellers who have lived on the same Western North Carolina land since 1781. Davis grew up hearing gentle fairy tales, simple and silly Jack tales, scary mountain lore, ancient Welsh and Scottish folktales, and-most importantly-nourishing true-to-life stories of his own neighbors and kin. It was Uncle Frank, a man who "talked in stories," who helped Donald capture the real and daily adventures of life...and it was Uncle Frank who gave him the creative courage to tell about them. Davis remembers, "I discovered that in a story I could safely dream any dream, hope any hope, go anywhere I pleased, fight any foe, win or lose, live or die. My stories created a safe experimental learning place. That is the way that Donald Davis has approached all of his learning places...as a student at Davidson Collage; as a graduate of Duke University Divinity School; as a retired Methodist minister; as former Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the National Storytelling Association; as featured teller at the Smithsonian Institution, the World's Fair, festivals and concerts throughout the United States and the world; as prolific author and producer of books and tapes of his works; as master teacher of workshops and storytelling courses; as a guest host for the National Public Radio Program "Good Evening"; and as father of four sons. For Donald Davis, storytelling is a way of giving and living life. He invites each listener to come along, to pull deep inside for one's own stories, to personally share and co-create the common experiences that celebrate the creative spirit. For Donald Davis storytelling, "...is not what I do for a living... it is how I do all that I do while I am living." Cynthia Changaris, an award winning storyteller, and has been telling stories to children and adults for the past 18 years. She has performed at such National Sites as the Nebraska Festival and the New Mexico Festival. She has taught storytelling at Nebraska University, at the National Storytelling Conference and the Kentucky Center of Arts, to name a just few examples of her work. She uses storytelling, music and instruments, including the guitar, the Native American flute and the dulcimer. She actively tells folk tales, personal tales and fairy tales and draws the audience in. People leave her performances feeling refreshed, entranced and thoroughly connected to the stories they have heard. She performs for all ages and stages of people and has a wide repertoire. Cynthia is a skilled teacher, using "ah ha" methods to help students of story to delve into the work and learn from doing. She plans workshops and individualizes the workshops she leads by working with those who are hiring her. She leads them through the process to establish firm goals for the learning and to establish firm techniques for the teaching. She has led workshops for people ages 4 years old to adulthood, and has led family workshops. Her adaptable, active, hands-on techniques involve and excite her students as they participate in the learning process. She uses auditory, visual, kinesthetic and auditory techniques to teach and work with story. More Information For more information regarding the Kearney Storytelling Festival, contact: Gail Lindekugel (308)468-6476 levi4ever@charter.net