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Kamini's Story
 Storytelling has always been vital for Kamini Ramachandran, from her earliest memories of her grandparents telling her stories to her efforts in continuing this storytelling tradition with her two young sons everyday since they were six months old.
Fluent in both English and Malay, Kamini studied English Literature & Language at the University of Reading (UK) and taught Speech and Drama privately in Kuala Lumpur before becoming a mother. An avid collector of Children's Literature, Kamini is especially interested in Malaysian stories (such as legends from Borneo, beautiful stories from Langkawi, the clever animal tales of Sang Kancil and Buaya, and lesser known Orang Asli stories) as she still feels the pull of jungle spirits, having grown up in the jungles of Pahang, Perak and Johor. While she is comfortable telling stories to children using puppets, kamishibai boards, masks and songs, she is also adept at telling stories for adults, drawing on her preference for darker, ambiguous, other-realm tales. Her adult storytelling repertoire includes original stories based on personal experience (e.g. 'The Dato Tree'), popular urban legends (e.g. 'The Karak Highway Incident') as well as re-telling stories collected by the eminent folklorist A.K.Ramanujan.
Presently a Singapore resident, Kamini joined forces with Verena Tay to found MoonShadow Stories in November 2004 to promote the lost art of the oral narrative. Both Kamini and Verena strongly believe that children will benefit if the beauty and wonder of storytelling is first re-introduced to adults. Hence, they were the first contemporary storytellers in Singapore to focus on storytelling for adults. Since 2005, MoonShadow Stories has been busy telling stories to adults and children at The Substation, The Arts House, various museums and other venues in Singapore.
Kamini helped found the Storytelling Association (Singapore) in early 2006, serving as its current President (2010/2011), Immediate Past-President (2009/2010), Past President (2008/2009), Secretary (2007/2008) and pro-tem Secretary (2006/2007). Her role in The Association is focused on organizing and executing various storytelling activities for both members as well as the public. Besides telling stories under the auspices of the Storytelling Association, she is also an active teller within the Storytellers' Circle (the special interest group of the Society of Reading & Literacy) and a part of Story Weavers, the professional performing arm of the Storytelling Association.
Kamini has been actively involved in the Singapore International Storytelling Festival (SISF) organised by the National Book Development Council (Singapore) in her capacity as not only a participant and facilitator but also as consultant and advisor. As part of a special Storytelling Association sub-committee, she was instrumental in helping the NBDCS to organise the Asian Storytelling Congress and the International Storytellers Showcase that formed part of the inaugural Singapore International Storytelling Festival (2006).
Kamini has frequently hosted World Storytelling Day (htttp://www.storytellingday.net) during March at her home for passionate storytellers in Singapore with an evening of eating, drinking and storytelling. This year, together with Verena, she celebrates it on a larger scale with a Storytelling Marathon, Stories Day & Night: A Celebration of Storytelling.
Drawing on her extensive knowledge of stories and the storytelling craft, Kamini has provided storytelling consultancy services for a variety of educators and educational institutions. Since 2005, teachers have been asking Kamini for permission to use her version of 'Mahsuri' in their classroom drama studies. PhD candidates in education have chatted for long hours with Kamini about the art of storytelling. This year she has worked with the National Heritage Board on a special storytelling session for their museum exhibition The Ramayana Revisited.
Throughout 2009, she had a regular monthly slot at The Little Arts Academy telling stories to families and children. She has told stories in a park inside a giant inflatable nylon fish, she has celebrated Barbie's 50th anniversary with regular storytelling sessions, she has organized storytelling performances for International Women's Day and she is looking forward to going to Bangalore in October for the Jiva Conference http://www.jivacareer.org/conference/page/telling-tales.html.
Kamini also does individual training for those who want to improve their storytelling skills and she is currently focused on mentoring and nurturing upcoming storytellers who are a part of Story Lab.
As a parent volunteer, Kamini has set up a programme training student librarians to become effective storytellers at Stamford Primary School since the beginning of 2006; for three years she was committed to these weekly sessions where she hoped to encourage the students' enthusiasm for library books through stories. In June 2007, the Nanyang Polytechnic's School of Media and Design appointed her as Co-Director of its folktale animation project.
The Singapore media is also fond of featuring Kamini's talents as a professional storyteller. During 2005 and 2006, she told stories on live radio at WKRZ 91.3FM on a regular basis. More recently, she has been interviewed on radio programmes such as 'The Living Room', 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Passion People' (93.8Live) about her work as a storyteller. The New Paper has also written a feature article on her life as a professional storyteller. Kamini has also been featured telling stories on OkTo TV.
Kamini's Storytelling Resume
Click here for Kamini Ramachandran's full
storytelling resume (as of 26 Mar 2008)
Some Reviews About
Kamini as a Storyteller
“The other
talented storyteller was Kamini Ramichandran, whose calm nature and
soothing voice made listening to her tales a real pleasure...
Ramichandran paced her story well and her use of pauses succeeded in
making the audience hang on to her every word. Her success in engaging
the audience was probably due to the fact that she loves storytelling to
children and has been doing it at pre-schools and private parties.”
~ Nadia
Binte Ibrahim, ‘Once Upon a Time…’, Review of The Male Instinct,
Storytelling for Adults by MoonShadow Stories, 9 July 2005, The
Flying Inkpot Theatre Reviews,
http://inkpot.com/theatre/05reviews/0709,maleinst,ni.html (last
accessed: 6 February 2008)
“The story
that fascinated and mortified me the most was one told by Kamini called
The Orang Utan's Bride. It is a story born of Borneo about the
sea gypsy, his beautiful bride, Fatimah of the chestnut eyes, and the
Orang Utan who makes her his prisoner on the top of a tall, tall durian
tree. The climax to that tale was absolutely harrowing. I shan't spoil
it by revealing.”
~ Chand,
‘Spooks up their Sleeves. Supernatural Weaves’, Review of The
Unnatural,
Storytelling for Adults by MoonShadow Stories, Oct 2005, The Ridge,
2005 Holiday Issue, p. 18
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