Live storytelling is an art which creates bridges between East and West, between the European minstrel and the rawi or hakawati of the Arab world, between the Qurtuba which listened to the stories in The Arabian Nights –in tenth-century souks and homes– and contemporary Spain, which listens to them at theaters. Though sensitivities vary, the art is the same, and the storytelling techniques are similar, as well, which is why Héctor Urién is presenting this initiative at Casa Árabe. He will attempt to show us the foundations of this ancestral art form, thereby arousing emotions through his own live voice, with the spoken word.

Héctor Urién (Madrid, 1977) makes a living from storytelling. As a professional storyteller, he performs his art and stagecraft at theaters in Spain and Latin America. Drawn by his curiosity and a deeply ingrained scientific streak, Urién has developed his own ongoing storytelling workshop in Madrid, where students and teacher discover the inner workings of stories and the mystery of the oral narrative together. As an on-stage storyteller, his most original and inspiring project is related with The Arabian Nights, which he continues to tell every Tuesday evening at a small theater in downtown Madrid. A narrator of short, direct tales, he has taken part in several domestic and foreign festivals, as well as co-directing the annual festival Ávila de cuento (Storybook Avila) and recently having an essay published by the Palabras del candil publishing firm: Fractal storytelling: the art and science of oral tradition, in which he presents an innovative, surprising perspective on storytelling, built upon the ideas of chaos theory and fractal geometry.

Class information sheet