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Interview with Antonio Rocha

SWC: Tell us a little bit more about you. What got you seriously interested in storytelling? Was there a life-shaping experience that sparked your interest in storytelling and made you cultivate a passion for this art form?

Antonio: It was the mid eighties, I was living in Brazil and working for an airline company, when I took a mime class and fell in love with the creation of illusion and eloquent imagery for physical/non-verbal storytelling.

After that, I moved to the USA to continue my studies with Master mime, storyteller, actor, poet, Tony Montanaro. He was an amazing director and very inspirational.

A few years later I adapted some Brazilian folktales and performed it with movement and the spoken word. I discovered the humanity behind the art: how storytelling has the power to connect us all and rid ourselves of prejudice, conflict, and misunderstandings.

SWC: It is a common saying—rather flippantly brandished but true nonetheless—that the arts does not pay. Did you have any doubts that your passion for storytelling and mime could translate into a professional career?

Antonio: The Performing Arts is a very difficult world because there is a lot of competition. It is not the type of career that, if you graduate from college with high honours, you will be guaranteed a spot in a company.

So, I had doubts, but the doubts were not as big as the belief I had—that this is what I am here on Earth for. Once I made the decision to be in the performing arts, many doors began to open.

It was amazing, considering the odds—I was young, in Brazil and almost penniless. Then I got a grant to study with Tony Montanaro in Maine. Then I got a scholarship to attend the University in Maine in theatre studies and graduated with high honours. So, I saw these as signs that I was doing the right thing.

SWC: It is indeed very inspiring to meet someone like you with a deep commitment and devotion to one’s art. Nevertheless, it is a common enough adage that one should not develop one’s interest into a professional career for fear that ultimately, it will become just that—a job and no more—complete with the tedium and monotony of routine.

Your mode of storytelling focuses a lot on the technical practicalities (voice projection) and theoretical aspects. Do you ever have concerns that you will be bogged down in the mechanical minutiae that take the fun out of storytelling, which is usually seen as a spontaneous act of creation?

Antonio: No! The spontaneous act of creation is very big, so big it over takes the other mundane issues of being a professional performer (waiting in line at security check points at airports, delayed flights, bookkeeping, being away from loved ones, etc).

The fantastic live interaction of listening and telling that exists once I am on stage goes also hand in hand with the act of creation and spontaneity. Once I debut a new story I keep reshaping it and creating new details in front of the audience. So the creative process is an ever lasting one and far superior to any of the mechanical minutiae.

I don’t think that my mode of storytelling focuses a lot on technical practicalities. Every art form has its technical aspect and one must use them in order to be a professional and reach the people. They are a part of my training and the way to get the story to the audience’s mind. Voice projection, for example, without it they won’t hear the story.

SWC: Thanks for the assurance. We were just wondering about the wellspring of such creativity: where do you get inspiration for your stories?

Antonio: They come to me in many different ways. Books, memories, what surrounds me, nature and most importantly what I want to pass on to people. Storytelling is about history, culture, customs and also about change.

We need to evolve much more as a species. We think that technological gadgets are going to do it, but no, human connection will. Not connection through cell phones and email, but through storytelling. The emails and cell phones are there to get the storyteller to the stage, and in a hurry!

SWC: And once you’re on stage, what is the greatest joy that you derive from your storytelling performances?

Antonio: The deep sacred connection with the listener.

SWC: With a list of accolades to your name now, what do you think is your greatest accomplishment so far?

Antonio: With regards to professional achievements, I must say that is was two free performances I gave in East Africa. The schools were very poor; the classrooms had no windows, just square holes on the walls, no paved floor, but dirt. So, I went there to tell stories and the kids were just amazing—not only did they listen well on a Saturday (non-school day) but danced and recited poems for me, gave me gifts and food.

It was so touching to receive so much from people who have so little. Then to top it all, they named me Matheka, which means; “The one who brings joy and laughter”.

SWC: Young people are often steeped in increasingly sophisticated media offerings. How can storytelling compete with a ubiquitous and influential media culture? Does storytelling have any relevance in modern-day popular culture or is it about to go the way of primitive grandma tales by the fireside?

Antonio: Storytelling is one of the most misunderstood art forms out there. A lot of people think it is someone reading to a child, that is not it, that is story reading. Interestingly so, everybody uses the word storytelling to explain how good someone is at their jobs. The critics say in Hollywood about a certain film director, “So and so is a good storyteller”. “That such author is a good storyteller”. “That such song writer is a good storyteller.”

So I do think storytelling has relevance in modern-day popular culture. But the only way to reach the young ones with storytelling's purest form, a human standing in front of a group telling a story, one must bring the teller to where the kids are over and over and over again.

People have to understand that professional tellers get trained, go to conferences, spend time and money on their craft, work hard and so they need to have a respectful pay. That is so important, to be respected in that level.

Unfortunately we live in a world that the CEO of a company makes millions a year and an educator a few thousands. A long time a go every village had a storyteller and they were respected. In order for us, as humans, to move on ahead, we need to go back to the basics and re-discover life in its purest form.

SWC: Lastly, a facetious question: which is your favourite character and why?

Antonio: My favourite character in my repertoire is a snake I play in one of my stories. I get down to the floor and turn into a snake. Why is it my favourite character? Because I morph into the character’s qualities and people forget I am there. All they see is the snake. So they say.