The true meaning of Once Upon a Time: Storytellers as Witnesses
Festival interculturel du conte de Montréal presents

The true meaning of Once Upon a Time: Storytellers as Witnesses

In-person Event
October 25th 2025
1:30 pm – 4:30 pm / Doors: 1:15 pm
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For more info about this event, please contact the event organizer, Festival interculturel du conte de Montréal, at prod@festival-conte.qc.ca.

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Before telling a story, storytellers must ask themselves the question: Why do I want to tell this story? Do I want to be seen and heard? Do I want to impart the wisdom that this story holds for me? Or do I want to tell it because what I witnessed in my mind’s eye is so compelling that I am obliged to tell it?  

Jan Blake, one of the world’s leading storytellers, believes that to tell a story, you must allow yourself to experience the story in a physical and nonjudgemental way. You must love every character, even the bad ones; you must have smelled and tasted and touched and heard and seen every moment in your story, viscerally. This utter engagement with the story is what makes it come truly alive. 

In this three-hour workshop, Jan will invite the participants to walk the landscape of a story told by Jan, experience their favorite part of that story and then share it with the group, having lived it so profoundly that their words and their body will communicate with passion and aliveness the true essence of the story.  

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Before telling a story, storytellers must ask themselves the question: Why do I want to tell this story? Do I want to be seen and heard? Do I want to impart the wisdom that this story holds for me? Or do I want to tell it because what I witnessed in my mind’s eye is so compelling that I am obliged to tell it?  

Jan Blake, one of the world’s leading storytellers, believes that to tell a story, you must allow yourself to experience the story in a physical and nonjudgemental way. You must love every character, even the bad ones; you must have smelled and tasted and touched and heard and seen every moment in your story, viscerally. This utter engagement with the story is what makes it come truly alive. 

In this three-hour workshop, Jan will invite the participants to walk the landscape of a story told by Jan, experience their favorite part of that story and then share it with the group, having lived it so profoundly that their words and their body will communicate with passion and aliveness the true essence of the story.  

Jan Blake

Jan Blake is one of Europe's leading storytellers who has been performing world-wide since 1986. She was born in Manchester, of Jamaican parentage. Specialising in stories from Africa, the Caribbean, and Arabia, she has a well-earned reputation for dynamic janand generous storytelling. Recent highlights include Hay Festival, where she was storyteller in-residence, the Viljandi Harvest Festival in Estonia and TEDx Warsaw.  

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