She Who Dares! BACK to Awards & Reviews

A review by Karen Waterman

I always love attending the Toronto Festival of Storytelling and this year's 29th Annual, was once
again inspiring, playful and life confirming. In our fast paced world it so nice to slow down and
listen to the wit and wisdom of stories handed down through generations and to realize that over
the years, human nature really hasn't changed that much!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of listening to Deborah Dunleavy share her love of stories with two
audiences, one who had come to hear her stories of brave, visionary women and one who had
come to hear her very successful storytelling guild from Brockville, 1000 Island Yarnspinners.
Both were delightful presentations.

Deborah introduced the program by explaining that she chose stories that spoke to the rhythm of
her own heartbeat. She spoke to the many women of different ages and backgrounds (and a few
brave men) explaining that she hoped these stories would connect to our own struggles and
beliefs.

Using a combination of expressive voice, expertly placed movement and even song, Deborah
was able to awaken our imaginations, take on a wide range of characters, make us laugh and
send shivers up our spines. Her stories about Xenobia, a fierce and gracious ancient warrior who
fought against the Romans sparked my curiousity about women's place in history. Why had I
never heard of her? Deborah's journey around the world to Japan, Ireland, France and historic
Canada has inspired me to read some of her sources such as "Her Stories" by Virginia Hamilton.

Hearing about Deborah's travels to Ireland was very exciting. She was able to weave a scary
spell with Lady Wilde's horror story about twelve witches and a solitary woman guarding her small
children in a lonely cottage in the woods. Her words recreated the mesmerizing rhythm of the
hags carding the cloth and spinning the cloth. Deborah created a detailed forest filled with spirits
and danger. Even though our little room in the Church was bright and sunny, she had us all
sitting on the edge of our seats. I was totally lost in the story.

My favourite story was of a lighter note. It was a true account reported in the June l823 edition of
the Halifax Acadian Newspaper. It seems that one lady of the night called Mary Palmer was
entertaining a somewhat inebriated Officer who fell asleep in her room. Feeling a little
mischievous and wondering about the power of a uniform, Mary freed her guest of his attire and
went down to flirt and taunt her friends down by the water. She became a little intoxicated with
her new found freedom as a man and began swearing and carrying on so much that the night
watchman (after several warnings) carted her away to the military police headquarters. Through
a series of unfortunate events, Mary had to spend the night in jail and appear in court.

Although she apologized for disturbing the peace, and promised never to do it again, the
magistrate gave her a severe warning, “ You should be an ornament and not a disgrace to your
sex!” he bellowed. Poor Mary, disgraced, headed home and to her surprise, found her gentlemen
friend sitting on her bed dressed in her own petticoats.

What a wonderful, entertaining and enlightening afternoon we spent. Deborah, a woman herself
of some age and wisdom, shared a variety of stories about dreams, visions, strength, weakness,
security, doubt, love, betrayal, cleverness and triumph over all kinds of adversity. In listening to
the rhythm of her own heart, Deborah certainly opened it and shared it with us, her grateful
audience.