The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic Wins AFS Dorothy Howard Prize! + Sign-Ups Open for 'Folklore of Halloween' Mini-Course

Huge congratulations to Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto for winning the 2019 Dorothy Howard prize for The Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic!

The prize recognizes excellence, relevance, and innovation in folklore education; essentially saying that Sara and Brittany are doing awesome and important work in their area of passion, which is, making excellent folklore education available to everyone. What wonderful confirmation that all their hard work and effort is worth it. To be recognized by your professional peers for a unique initiative is truly fantastic!

"The committee called Caterhaugh School “a folklore school for the digital age” that brings the scholarly study of folklore to a “global audience” online ." (from @BriarSpell's Twitter account)

Congratulations ladies!

We look forward to seeing what Carterhaugh is busy teaching folks for many years to come.

As for our readers, if you'e been sitting on the fence, wondering whether taking one of Carterhaigh's courses is worth it, hopefully, this helps convince you it is. Not only are the courses intriguing, beautifully presented, accessible to anyone with an interest, and taught with humor and magic, but they are also excellent in their content too.

Here's a quick overview of what they've offered to date:

“An Eerie Tale to Tell…”: Folklore for All Hallows’ Eve
[OCT 2016 – Complete]

The Fairy Tale
[WINTER 2017 – Complete]

The Legend
[SUMMER 2017 – Complete]

Witches in Folklore and Literature
[FALL 2017 – Complete]

Myth and Mythic Adaptation
[SUMMER 2018 – Complete]

Find Your Fairy Tale
[FALL 2018 – Complete]

Seeking the Witch: Traditional Tales and Everyday Magic
[FALL 2018 – Complete]

Live Lectures and Workshops:

[Click here to see live lectures and workshops]

And they're busy finishing up preparing a new big course which will be released very soon. In the meantime, they have something special for the season...

They put together a special new mini-course on Halloween Folklore (a very popularly requested topic) which will go live on OCTOBER 28.  It's being offered at a SUPER LOW PRICE of $25, (a one-time offer!) with a whole lot of benefits and a great way to sample the sorts of things Brittany and Sara put together.

Let us assure you, Sara and Brittany, are here for the fun on all aspects of Halloween as well as ready to impart sme serious lore, tales and hints for dealing with everything from lost spirits and Halloween fairies to useful rituals (and where those rituals came from). They've been posting some very fun content on the Carterhaugh blog, such as:

• Witchy Playlists (music to get you in the mood)
• Vampire Stories (to help you get the shivers, despite the unseasonal heat!)
• Gothic fashion (it's the season for trying new looks and costumes after all)

Our favorite, though, is Sara's article on the witch Watho, from George MacDonald's fairy tale The Day Boy and the Night Girl. See the author's description:

“THERE was once a witch who desired to know everything. But the wiser a witch is, the harder she knocks her head against the wall when she comes to it. Her name was Watho, and she had a wolf in her mind. She cared for nothing in itself — only for knowing it. She was not naturally cruel, but the wolf had made her cruel. She was tall and graceful, with a white skin, red hair, and black eyes, which had a red fire in them. She was straight and strong, but now and then would fall bent together, shudder, and sit for a moment with her head turned over her shoulder, as if the wolf had got out of her mind onto her back.” – George MacDonald (images from a 1988 edition)

Yep - she's a shape-changing witch, a werewolf witch, really, but not just that. She's not only mystically but had a (mad)scientific mind. In fact, the fairy tale begins with her deciding to do an experiment... She's not your average antagonist!

(And now we'd like to see all the suggestions for a Watho Halloween costume please!)

You can read all about the course HERE, including what will be taught and all the exclusive downloads, access and opportunities.

But be quick.

Places close at Midnight on October 27th!

Our Fairy Tale Mixtape

The soldier lifted the dog down on the floor and opened the chest. Hans Tegner

Adam of Fairy Tale Fandom had a great post quite some time ago now, on Andrew Lang, whom he describes as a sort of (slightly rebellious) "mixmaster", putting together mixes of tales that, at the time, went against trends and sensibilities and crossed many countries and boundaries and even strayed over into myth and legends in some of his color books. (Go see HERE for the whole recap on Lang's contribution to fairy tale book and collections.)

To quote Adam,

If the books of other fairy tale collectors are essentially albums, then Lang is the guy who takes tracks from all these different albums and puts them together into epic fairy tale playlists.  Sometimes it’s familiar hits you know.  Other times it’s stuff you’ve never heard of.  Sometimes he’ll just surprise the heck out of you by including something crazy like Gulliver’s Travels.  Every color fairy tale book is the equivalent of a fairy tale mixtape (or mix CD or Ipod playlist depending on your generation) all set to rock your weekend.

Charles Mikolaycak - Green Mantle

With this image (of Andrew Lang, fairy tale DJ) in mind, Adam created his own epic fairy tale anthology-mixtape and asked us to think what we would include if we made our own.

We've made lists before of favorite fairy tales we'd want to include in a book, but not one based on the "little bit familiar, little bit not, little bit surprising" premise, so we thought we'd have a go.

Predictably, we instantly had over 50, but even our best whittling only got down to 20. At this point it became painful and like the punushment of Sisyphus, edit, add, edit, repeat, so we called a halt and decided we'd just admit defeat and post 20. (After all, who makes a mixtape with only 10 songs?)

In no particular order (we are still sweating from editing this monster down. No way we're up to managing some sort of order of favorites):

1. Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave (Afanasyev)
2. The Wild Swans (HCA)
3. Jack and the Beanstalk (Jacobs)
4. The Boy Who Drew Cats (translated by Hearn)
5. The Tinderbox (HCA)
6. Tam Lin (Childs Ballad)
7. Lady of the Green Kirtle (tale akin to the legend of Morgan Le Fey from the Narnia series)
8. Sweet Porridge (Grimm)
9. Diamonds & Toads (Perrault)

Sidone in the Forest - Kinuko Y Craft

10. Little Snow White (Grimm)
11. Cap O' Rushes (Jacobs)
12. The Pied Piper (Legend, Grimm, Browning)
13. The Day Boy & The Night Girl (MacDonald)
14. Hansel & Gretel (Grimm)
15. Boots That Made the Princess Say "That's A Lie!" (Asbjørnsen and Moe )
16. The Black Bull of Norroway (Chambers/ Jacobs)
17. Jorinde & Joringel (Grimm)
18. The Heart's Door (Finnish fr Scandinavian Folk & Fairy Tales - Ed. Claire Booss)
19. Swan Lake (Russian & German tale hybrid)
20. The Boy Went Forth To Learn What Fear Was (Grimm)

Ta da!

We have a feeling, that as soon as we post it, we're going to want to do a PART II of this post. You know, for the flip side... of (Album I of the Box Set).

We'd love to see your mix of 10-20 (some classic, some lesser known, some other stories altogether) as would Adam, of course. It's a good exercise in making you think about why you like certain tales too. Give it a go!

Reflecting on the rumblings in the newsroom here, wouldn't it be awesome if we had a "new millenium fairy tale bloggers collective mixtape-anthology" of fairy tale must haves? (With pictures please!) There'd be some overlap for sure (at least one of ours is on Adam's list too because it's also a "must" for all here) but there'd be a really interesting variety and cross-section of tales too.

We can dream...

Rima Staines

"The Light Princess" (A.R.T. Institute) Flies Into New Victory Theater

Poster from original production by A.R.T.

It's so interesting to see all the different stage versions of this fairy tale. George MacDonald's fairy tales (full text of The Light Princess is HERE) seems to have come back into public consciousness again in recent years with Twyla Tharp's work (contemporary dance), Tori Amos' musical theater adaptation (the photos look amazing! I will have to do a catch up post...) and now the A.R.T. Institute are presenting their version.

Note: this is one of many current family theater offerings advertising their "sensory friendliness" so for sensitive children and kids dealing with autism, this is produced to be as enjoyable for all as possible.

From the press release:

Can a girl who can’t fall at all, fall in love? The Light Princess follows the journey of a young princess cursed to live without gravity in a new musical from A.R.T. Institute.  

Funny, romantic and buoyed by whimsical original songs, The Light Princess is an enchanting tale for all ages, running at The New Victory Theater from February 27th to March 8th, 2015.

In this delightful musical by writing duo Lila Rose Kaplan (Wildflower, Second Stage Theater; Biography of a Constellation, 2009 National Science Playwriting Award from the Kennedy Center) and Mike Pettry (2012 ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Lyric Award winner for musical theater and a 2007 Jonathan Larson Award winner), two witty wisemen sing a story of a young princess cursed by a wicked witch to float through life indefinitely.

With direction by Allegra Libonati, The Light Princess comes from a widely lauded and popular run at the acclaimed American Repertory Theater (Artistic Director, Diane Paulus). Accompanied by live, onstage music and cleverly choreographed byJeffrey Kuperman and Rick Kuperman, our young heroine twirls above the stage, through the kingdom and into a magical forest as she searches for a way to come back to earth by her sixteenth birthday (or be doomed to defy gravity forever!).

Based on the nineteenth-century Scottish fairy tale by George MacDonald, The Light Princess features actors from the A.R.T. Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

Here's the entertaining trailer. It certainly looks like a lot of fun for actors and audience!

I like this trailer from A.R.T.'s production the year before as well. It gives a different overview (and the actors will be different), but if you're not familiar with the story or production , this may fill in some gaps:

The performances run from February 27th through to March 8th, 2015 and the The New Victory Theater in New York, NY.

More information and tickets can be found HERE.

Fairy tale bonus of the day:

Here's a lovely illustration of The Light Princess by Alteya of deviantArt.

Tori Amos' "The Light Princess" Starts Rehearsals (+ Film Making Comp To Win Tickets!)

Do you remember a little post from a few years ago, mentioning Tori Amos was composing lyrics and a score for George MacDonald's fairy tale The Light Princess*? Well the show is finally complete, started rehearsals a couple of days ago and is due to open in the National Theater, London, this September 25th (2013). And yes: You can now buy tickets!

All the official information and ticket links are HERE.

Press release:

Once, in opposing kingdoms lived a princess and a prince who had lost their mothers. Althea, unable to cry, became light with grief and floated, and so was locked away. Digby became so heavy-hearted that he could never smile, and so was trained as a warrior. 

One day, he declares war. Althea is forced out of hiding and down to ground but, in defiance of her father, she escapes, only to encounter the solemn prince on contested land. Beside a lake the warring heirs begin a passionate and illicit affair. But for Althea to find real love, she must first confront the world’s darkness and face her own deepest fears. 

The Light Princess brings together iconic singer-songwriter Tori Amos with playwright Samuel Adamson and directorMarianne Elliott (Curious Incident) in this spectacular coming-of-age story. A dark fairytale about grief, rebellion and the power of love. 

I’m done, Father,Keep your crown,I swear you’ll never bring me down!I am not queen material!

The cast went into rehearsals on Monday (August 5th, 2013) and are tweeting their experiences! Check the latest tweets HERE (no account required). Sounds like they're having a ball and like it will be a great show too.

We now also have some details about the show and how Ms. Amos adapted the fairy tale for a modern audience.
✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson NOON TODAY at ComicCon!

From The Twelve Dancing Princesses Retold & Illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

Ruth Sanderson is in the spotlight at ComicCon today! And yes, she WILL be talking about fairy tales and very specifically, according to the program. I hope those of us who can't be there will be able to get some notes or see a video excerpt of the presentation and panel.

From the official ComicCon Schedule:

A Token Of Love by Ruth Sanderson

Thursday July 18, 2013 12:00pm – 1:00pm 

Spotlight on Ruth Sanderson 

Award-winning illustrator and Comic-Con special guest Ruth Sanderson (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) will give a visual presentation on her career as a fantasy artist and fairy tale author/illustrator, and on her move to a more graphic format for a fairy tale for older children. Ruth’s work has appeared in fantasy magazines and on many book covers, and she has illustrated over 80 books for children. Her artwork can be seen in Spectrum, and she was the 2011 Artist Guest of Honor at the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego.Room 91: Programs, Art and Illustration, Comic-Con Special Guest Spotlights & Appearances, Science Fiction & Fantasy

from The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Ruth Sanderson

Here's a recent interview with Ms. Sanderson HERE on how she views retellings, what she thinks of "too many princesses" and a change in style she's working on. The preview below shows one of her illustrations for George MacDonald's fairy tale "The Golden Key". (Click on the link HERE to see more of the amazing things she's been up to including more on this tale.)

Scratchboard illustration - preview of The Golden Key illustrated by Ruth Sanderson

Twyla Tharp's "The Princess & the Goblin" (Pics & Video)

You may remember my post HERE about Twlya Tharp's new ballet The Princess and the Goblin, based on the fairy tale of the same name by George MacDonald. The show has since debuted and is being very well received. Performances of this premiere run end this weekend. Now, that there are some available, I thought I'd share some images and a brief video montage of the performance.

There's also a lengthy and balanced New York Times review HERE which discusses the fairy tale and the changes made by Ms. Tharp. Overall it seems people are happily surprised by Ms. Tharp's narrative ballet (usually she's far more abstract) as well as her use of children. I do find it interesting that the reviewer thinks that while venerating children in the ballet, she also underestimated them by her choice of plot changes. The review makes a good point about this fairy tale having a lot more to it than first meets the eye - just as many do.

Twyla Tharp's "The Princess and the Goblin"

Twyla Tharp! (Fangirl squee!)

Ahem.

Anyone who has ever followed ballet and dance will be more than aware of legendary American choreographer Twyla Tharp. There's a good chance, even if you're not a dance fanatic, that you've seen some of her work in various movies and musicals [Hair (1978), Ragtime (1980), Amadeus (1984), White Nights (1985), Movin' Out (2002), Come Fly With Me (2010)] as well.

Still working hard at 70, Ms. Tharp spent last Summer choreographing and rehearsing her new full length fairy tale based ballet, The Princess and the Goblin (based on George MacDonald's fairy tale of the same name) with Atlanta Ballet. It's the first time in her fifty-year-long career that Ms. Tharp will have used children in a production.

Twyla Tharp (age 66) photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Commissioned by the ballet in conjunction with Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the work is based on George MacDonald’s late 19th-century children’s tale of the same name.

“[MacDonald] came to my attention through several sources about 20 years ago because I was looking for a narrative that would apply to children,” Tharp, a New York resident, said in a statement. “This ballet will in fact be the story of a girl’s coming of age. It’s a traditional Romantic-era tale, but it’s always a male who comes of age, from Goethe on. I would say that when it was first suggested, that this might be a ballet I had to think very hard about it. Although it was written 200 years ago, there are elements in it that are timeless and that are very relevant.” (Source)

Here's a synopsis from Atlanta Ballet Blog:

The Princess and the Goblin by PJ Lynch 

Arrogant King Papa has let his vanity get the best of him.  As he and his courtiers increasingly absorb themselves with frivolous parties and protocols, they remain oblivious to the disturbing fact that their own children have gone missing.  Unable to make King Papa realize his arrogance and ignorance, young Princess Irene decides to take action. 

Together with her Great Grandmother, her best friend Curdie, and a little bit of faith, Irene ventures deep into the underworld – the Goblin kingdom – to rescue the forgotten children.  Proving that faith and goodness can triumph over evil and tyranny, Irene frees the children and teaches the adults a valuable lesson about humility and forgiveness.

You can read a little more about the creation of the ballet and what it was like for the dancers to work with Ms. Tharp HERE and see some rehearsal photos HERE. (No production photos as yet but I'm very curious to see what it will look like!)

I also recommend watching this lovely short video on Ms. Tharp and her creation of the ballet below:



The family friendly ballet makes it's world premiere next week on February 10 at The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Atlanta GA. Ticket information is HERE.

Happy National Tell A Fairy Tale Day!

February 26 is National Tell A Fairy Tale Day!
Yep - that's today in the US.

Officially:

This day celebrates Fairy Tales! On this day we are encouraged to have fun reading fairy tales and discussing fairy tale stories!

This is the first time I've heard of it too (if you look at the link you'll see it's a little hard to verify an official source except that a lot of people are celebrating it) but hey, sounds great to me!
There's a nice little article posted today by Hannah Boyd titled "Why Fairy Tales Matter" HERE.

So: if you could pass on ONE fairy tale ONLY to the next generation, which one would that be and why?

I know - impossible question. I have trouble answering that one too.

Let's try this one instead:

What one (or two) little-known fairy tale do enjoy?

I'll start:
"The Cat on the Dovrefell" also known as "The Trolls and the Pussycat"
Norwegian fairy tale collected by Asbjørnsen and Moe.
Trolls, a polar bear and a lot of humor. Love it! (Text HERE.)

"The Lame Fox" or "Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye"
Serbian fairy tale collected by A. H. Wratislaw (also in Andrew Lang's Grey Fairy Book)
A very patient (non-trickster) fox helps a boy win a golden horse, a golden tree and a golden girl. (Text HERE.)

And one more (because once you get me going it's hard to stop...):

"The Day Boy and the Night Girl"
by George MacDonald (one of my favorite fairy tale writers)
Opposites attract and help each other overcome their fears and the "witch with the wolf inside". (Text HERE.)
I also enjoy Jorinde & Joringel (Grimm's), The Tinder Box (H. C. Andersen - this is more popular than the others I've mentioned) and The Marsh King's Daughter (also by H.C. Andersen), which you probably know already if you've been reading this blog for a while. :)

Your turn.
Note: All images are of more familiar tales by the amazing Kinuko Y. Craft. SOURCE.

Tori Amos and The Light Princess

NOTE: My apologies to my email subscribers who got this post in their inbox without any content earlier today!

Singer-songwriter Tori Amos, who's music is famously "fairy tale influenced" is well into development on a new musical based on a short story fairy tale by George MacDonald: "The Light Princess".

If you're not aware of the story it's a short, funny tale (with lots of puns and tongue in cheek) about a gravity-deficient princess who has trouble falling into/in anything! (She was cursed at a christening by someone who was forgotten from the invitation list- of course).

With chapter titles such as:
"Won't I Just?", "She Can't Be Ours.", "She Laughs Too Much", "Try Metaphysics" and "Try a Drop of Water", you can see there's a lot of 'levity' to this tale.

You can read the story HERE, hear the story HERE and for those interested in studying the form and metaphor of the story further there's an essay by Elmer Schenke available to read online that discusses the story called "ANTIGRAVITY: MATTER AND THE IMAGINATION IN GEORGE MACDONALD AND EARLY SCIENCE FICTION" - you can read that HERE.

But back to the musical.

From the independent.co.uk:

It figures that Amos, 45, once dubbed "Queen of the Fairies", should be attracted by a story about a princess whose lack of gravity causes her to float above the world. But as the North Carolina-born singer and pianist points out, MacDonald's fantastical allegory has substance and a malleable, enduring resonance, the princess's "lightness" being a vehicle for Amos to explore modern-day illnesses such as anorexia, and other elements of MacDonald's work lending themselves to environmental themes.

This being Amos, we can expect the work (which she hopes to complete by 2010) to be packed with feminist ideas. "The thing about the original story I wasn't crazy about is that the princess's disability gets blamed on an old hag," she says. "We're not going to deal in spells cast by old ladies; we're dealing with problems caused by power and greed, many of which start with men."

This sounds like a weighty interpretation of a story in which humor is integral to both the telling and the tale so I'm curious as to how Tori balances those elements in her version. She's working with writer Samuel Adamson on the story and has already written a few of the songs for her feminist retelling of the story.

Again, from the independent.co.uk:

Amos says some of the music in the piece is Wagnerian in approach, while one song, "Delectable Guy Pain", was partly inspired by the Shirley Bassey hit "Big Spender". There's an aria for the princess that Amos likens to a darker take on "Memory" from Cats. "Whatever you think of Andrew Lloyd Webber, he knows what he's doing with a melodic arc," she adds.

(You can read the whole of the long article, which discuss Tori's current projects and releases HERE.)

Here's Tori on adapting to the different style of working, with the people from National Theater (from spinner.com):

"It seems to be a full-time commitment," she says of the musical. "I've never written for other people before. Writing for a company and researching their characters, understanding how they speak, working closely with the playwright ... I've never experienced anything quite like it before. The collaboration process that I have when I'm making records is that the material is written and then you're working on arrangements. With 'The Light Princess,' another scene might be written or added or changed, which then will mean that a completely different set of songs have to be written for that scene. I like to work, so I don't mind how much work it takes. I'm not saying I'll never write another one. I'm enjoying it. But if you're writing a musical, you better like your collaborators. I happen to get along with them very well."

You can learn more about Tori Amos, read lyrics from her songs and see lots of lovely things HERE at her website.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this musical turns out!