Educator Testimonial

When I first saw Katherine on stage at the Australian Storytelling Conference I knew that I had to meet her.

First of all, she stands out in a crowd. With her unique branding, evident in her stylish costuming which seems to wink at you as she moves on stage, she is eye candy incarnate. But Katherine wasn't just a flash in the pan. On stage, Katherine is full of energy delivered with big smiles. She gave the conference a signature by introducing creative ways to engage the audience with sight, sound and story. She made every teller feel special, whether it be in the way she introduced them, or with her thoughtful gifts.

I carried the rocks she gave me 28,000 miles throughout Australia post-conference and subsequently, back to the US, so precious a reminder they were of my time at the conference and the memories I had of Katherine make it seem all so easy.

Elaine Muray
Storyteller/Educator
Pacific Regional Director, National Storytelling Network, USA

Collaborator Testimonial

I met Katherine McLeod for the first time at the Storytelling Conference in Singapore in 2003. Katherine was the "Festival Weaver" and her unique style and powerful energy caught my attention.

Katherine has an amazing talent engaging large audiences through warm up games and rhythms, filling participants with humour and laughter.

In the year 2005 my theatre company The Jumping JellyBeans was appointed by the Malaysian Ministry of Culture and Heritage to organize the Kuala Lumpur International Children's Festival as the Festival Artistic Director. Katherine McLeod was the first person we thought to involve and asked her to be our Festival Weaver. Also in this occasion, Katherine demonstrated her amazing talent and entrenched professionalism captivating the heart of the one thousand children guests that the festival had daily. I remember seeing children dropped off by their parents running to the small theatre where Katherine would open the day dressed up with hypnotizing costumes and stories from all over the world. Katherine would introduce the workshops facilitators' everyday with new tricks and jokes and ensured that each one would start the day with great enthusiasm.

Besides the role of Festival Weaver, Katherine performed for our program in several venues, reaching underprivileged children in homes and hospitals. She also performed together with theatre groups from Italy and Malaysia in street performances during the outreach program of the Children's Festival demonstrating an outstanding ability in communicating and adapting her skills and repertoire to contribute to mixed urban theatre interventions of improvised working teams.

It is always a pleasure working with Katherine.

Cinzia Ciaramicoli
The Jumping JellyBeans Sdn Bhd
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Educator Testimonial

From the moment Katherine stepped into the assembly hall, dressed whimsically and with her drums beating softly, the atmosphere was electric and the students energized. Her interactive storytelling had the younger children enthralled, and the older ones loved the musical opportunities her piece presented.

Later in the day, as individual classes had their own sessions, she tailored each one to the language and interest levels of all, from kindergarten to Gr.7. The staff enjoyed and made full use of the workshop she presented to them, applying their learning in subsequent lessons.

The most frequent follow up question was "when is the storytelling lady coming back to visit?"

Kate Gale
Teacher Librarian
Macau/Hong Kong