Storytelling

Svend-Erik is in the great European tradition of Dario Fo’s artistry. He begins in a natural low key mode till he establishes a genial rapport with his listeners and then he uses his gifts of expression to usher us into the story experience.


Moving face and increasingly form, Svend-Erik draws us through the tale with a full gamut of emotions, liberal doses of humour, and an undergirding of humane understanding.


This approach to storytelling is firmly rooted in Svend-Erik Engh's Scandinavian culture, in particular its educational traditions, as inspired by N. F. S. Grundtvig, the great Danish philosopher of poetry and myth.


Donald Smith, director of Scottish International Storytelling Festival



Fairy tales and legends

My own creations

Personal stories

I love to dive deep into the old traditional tales, and the Danish collector of folktales, Evald Tang Kristensen, is a major source. He walked the heath of Jutland around 1870 and he collected every story, every song, everything that the people told/sang/recited in those days. So it is a broad mixture of deep wisdom and pure fun that these stories reflects.

Norse myths are another dwell full of wisdom and wonderful images.

27 of my favorite stories is collected in the book Danish Folktales to be published by The History Press October 2023.

When I tell these stories my listeners eyes reflects recognation and a will to explore more. 

I love to dive deep into my own creations, stories that I have found on my many walks around where I have lived in Denmark and now here in Edinburgh, Scotland. I walk along The Water of Leith and I get inspired by the light, the streaming water and a meeting with my favorite bird, a deeper. 

When I tell these stories my listeners are invited into a world of the unknown, so I have to be gentle. 

I love to dive deep into my own past, stories from a childhood in the working class of suburban Copenhagen in the 1960's and later a wild youth in the middle of Copenhagen in the early 1980's. I have to take care that the stories are personal, not private. 

When I tell these stories I see my listeners dive into their own childhood, remember their own youth. The Venligt Vibrerende Vekselvirkning created by the storyteller telling these stories is very personal, they are creating a deep listening.

 

Svend-Erik is in the great European tradition of Dario Fo’s artistry. He begins in a natural low key mode till he establishes a genial rapport with his listeners and then he uses his gifts of expression to usher us into the story experience.

Donald Smith, Director of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival