Dvora Liberman is a storyteller, educator, writer and director. She has worked extensively in pre-schools, and primary and secondary schools in England, Australia and India. Dvora performs in schools and facilitates storytelling, writing and drama workshops. She directs students’ to create theatre productions inspired by their life experiences and imaginations. She also facilitates professional development workshops and masterclasses for teachers and parents.In her school storytelling performances, Dvora selects stories from all traditions and cultures, including folk tales, fairytales, fables, myths, and original stories. She encourages audience participation with warmth, compassion and humour.

Dvora also writes, directs and performs for professional theatre. She is a tutor with London-based Shared Experience Theatre’s Education Program and Youth Theatre, and a storyteller with Polka Theatre (2009). She was Writer and Director of interactive music theatre shows for families at the Sydney Opera House (2006-2008). She was Artistic Director of the Aboriginal Life Story Project which involved writing and directing theatre, and publishing books, based on the life stories of Aboriginal Elders (2006-2008), and Artistic Director of Once Upon a Lifetime… which created intergenerational theatre and books inspired by the memories of older people in Sydney’s inner city (2005-2006). Commissioned by Amnesty International (2006), Dvora wrote FLY20, a play based on interviews with refugees and asylum seekers (2006). Other plays include Light Years, Baby Dove, and Mozart Boy Genius.

Dvora has taught at the Australian Theatre for Young People ATYP, National Institute of Dramatic Art, Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne Theatre Company, National Theatre and Mangala Studios of Creative Dance and Yoga. She created and performed a one woman show When Love is the Adventure in England (2005). Dvora was recently funded to undertake residencies with the Culture Project in New York City (2007) and Gruppe 38 in Denmark (2008). Dvora trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art LAMDA, and The School of Storytelling in England. Dvora is a qualified yoga teacher, journalist and primary and secondary school teacher, and she is commencing a Masters Degree in Life Writing at the University of Sussex.

Workshops and Performances
Dvora offers several performances (please see below for specific programs).
She is also very keen to create a new show with a particular theme for a pre-school, primary and secondary school, and adults/teachers. She is happy to perform for an assembly or whole school, as well as smaller groups. Regarding workshops, Dvora likes to work with a maximum of 35 students. All workshops are experiential, fun, and include solo, pair and group work. They aim to inspire and nurture students’ expression, creativity and imagination.

STORYTELLING, WRITING AND DRAMA PROGRAMS

A Pocketful of Magic
For pre-schoolers (three-six year olds), this show includes story, song, music and dance. It is very lively, interactive and entertaining, and celebrates this world of wonder and beauty in which we live.

Me? We!: Cultural Diversity for primary and secondary school levels in light of Britain’s diversity of cultural backgrounds, this performance features a repertoire of story and poetry that spans the world’s traditions and folklore.

The stories encourage empathy and an appreciation of other cultures, through exploring different points of view and experiences. The stories implicitly respond to bullying, prejudice, mistrust, fear of difference, being part of a community, and conflict resolution. This performance highlights both the uniqueness and the common thread that binds together our individual, communal and universal experiences.

Murmuring Trees and an Ear to the Ground: Environmentalism and giving meaning to life for primary and secondary school levels in response to the pressures of commercialism and materialism, this performance gives value to those things we cannot see or hold.

We ask: What is it that makes us truly rich?; What is it that gives us happiness?; and What price do we pay when we ignore these things? Themes raised are ecological awareness, environmentalism, sustainability, inner wealth, responsibility to the earth and future generations.

The Walled Garden, A Time to Speak and a Time to be Silent: Self-preservation and self-protection for primary and secondary school levels, this performance safely and non-didactically gives strategies to deal with abuse, including drug abuse, addictions, family secrets, and friends in crisis.
We explore the time it is appropriate to keep a secret and the time to tell. We delve into shame, how it imprisons and alienates, and how we can set ourselves free.

Meeting the Mirror: Being the best we can be and honouring our true natures for primary and secondary school levels.

“If I am not for myself who will be for me?” The stories for this part of the performance develop the idea that our greatest task is to discover and be true to our essential natures, regardless of the views and actions of those around us, and to take responsibility for the things that we do.

“If I am only for myself, what am I?” We take these ideas further into the realm of service and response to injustice.

“If not now, when?” Finally, we acknowledge that whatever we wish to do for ourselves, or our family, or for the world, begins NOW!

The Wayfarer’s Path: Exploring our own lives as great quests and mythic adventures for secondary school levels. Nearly every story is a ‘quest’ story - where the hero goes in search of truth, justice, freedom or happiness.

With this performance/workshop we create a dialogue between this universal story tradition and our own lives, each informing the other. There is value in sharing personal stories and recognizing ourselves in each other. Seeing our lives in mythic terms can elevate our lives and provide a big picture as a reference point that in turn sustains and enriches all that we do.

Through creative writing, movement and storytelling, students will be encouraged to appreciate the purpose of their lives, and accept the full gamut of life’s experience with curiosity, intention and a sense of adventure.

The Angel of Death: Dealing with loss, grief and the cycle of life, for upper primary and secondary school levels. This performance looks at the inevitability of death and suffering.

We ask: How do we give meaning to the dark times in our lives? How can making friends with death enable us to live a full and joyful life? How can endings inspire fresh beginnings? The performance illuminates hope, courage and a sense of life’s adventure.

The Nature of Intimacy, The Beauty Myth: A program for adolescent girls in response to pressures on women in today’s world, particularly regarding body image and ageing. This collection of stories, poems and songs reflect ideas of - sovereignty over our own lives, being true to ourselves, considering what true beauty is, and exploring the nature of love and sexuality.

As a supplement to this performance, Dvora offers a storytelling performance of women’s wisdom tales, and sharing between mothers and daughters. This event concludes with a light-hearted ceremony that welcomes adolescent girls into womanhood.

Seeds of Peace: Storytelling and Student Drama Performance
Dvora has a particular interest in using storytelling as a tool for peacemaking.
She is currently involved in a peacemaking project with 10 storytellers from around the world who will soon tour Israel and Palestine, offering performances and workshops to create dialogue and engender peace between Israelis and Palestinians (May 2009).

The Seeds of Peace Project in schools (for upper primary and secondary school levels) aims to facilitate students to develop peacemaking, communication and creative skills.

The first phase of the project features an interactive storytelling performance, drawing on peace stories from all continents and religions of the world. The second phase of the project includes a series of workshops using drama, movement and music to recognise and understand the nature of conflict and the seeds of violence in ourselves, and find concrete ways of transforming these into a force for peace and positive social action. The third phase culminates from the workshop series into a performance devised by students, with support and direction from the artist. This performance will spring entirely from the students’ ideas and creative exploration and provide the opportunity to share their ideas with the wider community of friends, families, teachers and peers.

The workshop program is designed around three core questions:
1. Why does conflict so often lead to violence?
2. How can we use conflict to understand ourselves and each other better?
3. What power do our words have to damage and destroy, or heal and empower our relationships?