PORT ANGELES — Daniel Deardorff aims to shine a light into the past, a light that reveals what may be missing from our workaday world.
A teller of old stories, stories that pull people closer to the sweet and simple, Deardorff has been performing since he was just 22.
He started out in Los Angeles, where he began touring with Seals and Crofts and went on to produce albums for the children’s group “Tickle Tune Typhoon,” collaborate with famed poet Robert Bly and, more recently, establish the Mythsinger Foundation in Port Townsend (www.mythsinger.org).
Deardorff, a Port Townsender who’ll turn 59 this year, will come west tonight for “Deep-Song from the Shadow-Heart,” a performance of song and story at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
‘Acts of Healing’
The 7 p.m. event is part of the center’s “Acts of Healing” series, a response to its current exhibition “Outbreak!”
That show, which stays up through March 13, is an array of paintings by Bryn Barnard depicting plagues and diseases that changed history.
“Outbreak!” could use an antidote, believes the arts center’s director, Jake Seniuk.
He brought in sound healer Vickie Dodd and didgeridoo player-“sound massage parlor” practitioner Stuart Dempster last month.
Deardorff, next in the “Healing” saga, will appear alongside singer Judith Kate Friedman of Songwriting Works in Port Townsend.
As a storyteller, Deardorff is interested in the old, indigenous tales.
Cultural tales
These are stories that come not from one person but from a whole culture whose people learned, as he says, “to live in participation with the world around them.”
“At a certain point, when we begin to move toward civilization, we move away from that participation,” he said.
But “it’s amazing how much cultural memory is stored in the old stories. When we hear them, it’s as if the images have been sifted through the hearts of many people.
“So the medicine in these stories is very strong.”
Deardorff tells stories from everywhere: North America, Siberia, Western Europe. And they can be taken as mere entertainment.
But they’re more than that, thanks to the people who come to listen.
“This is different than going to a movie or watching TV because you’re in the room with the storyteller, and the story actually has a chance to respond to you,” he said.
“If you decide to come, it may change the way the story is told.”
When a teller and a listener share a tale, both can enjoy a moment of healing, Deardorff added.
“In modernity, we’ve been separated from a feeling of full participation and membership in the living world around us.
“And because of that, we’re estranged and alienated from parts of ourselves,” he continued.
“When we get a chance to drop down into that place of participation and connectedness, parts of ourselves that have been exiled return to us.”
‘Feeding the story’
When he performs at the fine arts center, Deardorff will do something called “feeding the story.” He will discuss with the audience members which parts of it moved them most.
“For me,” he said, “that is the greatest healing there is.”
Tickets for “Deep-Song from the Shadow-Heart” are on sale at Port Book & News, 104 E. First St., Port Angeles, for $12, or $10 for Friends of the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center members.
Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
More details are available at 360-457-3532.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3550 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
