Dancing Ghosts and Haunted Shoes in Fairy Tales (+ The Most Adorable Little Short!)

A little ghost Singin' in the Rain (fan art) by Cellsai

Are there ghosts in fairy tales?

The answer isn't as straightforward as you might think. The dead - and symbols of someone dead (especially beloved dead) are fairly common in fairy tales (eg the help Cinderella receives from birds in the Grimm version are symbolic of her mother watching over her) but actual ghosts, not so much. Unless you're talking Irish fairy tales. Or Japanese. But then these are more often "spirits" than the ghost of someone people/the characters knew passed on.

There is a whole category of folktale categorized as The Grateful Dead (and Heidi of SurLaLune is busy working on a collection of these! I can't wait!) but usually these aren't classic ghost stories in the usual sense either.

Enchanted - or haunted - objects appear every so often as well but not usually in the modern sense of the word haunted. I often wonder, though, what on earth happened to those red shoes, once they were cut off Karen's feet? Did they continue dancing through the ages? Did they change form and haunt other people who had to dance or they felt they would die?

OK, I admit it. I don't have a well researched and deep article on this topic for you. It's really an excuse to bring you this completely delightful little animation I saw for the first time today. It will at first puzzle you, then make you smile wider and wider the longer you watch. Full disclosure: I had to watch it over again immediately when I first saw it, so consider yourself warned. ;)

Lovers of musicals, prepare to fall in love again:

義足のMoses from ががめ on Vimeo.

Seeing a short like the one above makes me wonder: what if one of the Twelve Dancing Princesses was caught in that limbo or underworld land because she loved dancing so much and was doomed to wander and dance alone for the rest of her days? What if that princess found her way to the abandoned stage of a musical?

Or, what if the spirit of Karen (the girl from The Red Shoes by HCA) was forced to walk, er float, upon the earth (considering her feet were cut off). I would think that perhaps the saddest thing for her would be not necessarily that she was dead, but that she couldn't dance. And what if she found some shoes that continued to dance by themselves, long after their owners stopped? What would her response be?

I should go look up that Ferragamo exhibit o shoes again (The Amazing Shoemaker - Fairy Tales and Legends About Shoes and Shoemakers), which JUST GOT EXTENDED THROUGH TO MAY 18, 2014! No doubt the topic of ghosts or shoe haunting will be addressed there in some form...

{Aaaand this is how my hooked-on-fairy-tales brain works, much of the day... be glad you don't live inside my head. }

As always, feel free to add your own crazy thoughts and/or studied insights in the comments below. The whole topic is pretty fascinating and I'm sort of surprised there isn't more literature available on it regarding fairy tales in particular. Folktales however, I'll bet some of you have entire shelves just devoted to those, and we'd love to hear about it.

Now, I'm going to go watch the short again...

Note: I'm sorry I don't have much information on the animator. All I know is that they're Japanese and I can't access the websites they appear on without an account. Your best shot is to go to the Vimeo address and leave a message, or follow up via that way. Good luck!

"White Shoe" - A Ferragamo Fairy Tale

A lovely short film was made specially for a uniquely "fairy tale entwined" exhibit, built on the many stories, tales, legends - both fairy tale and real - of shoes. This particular film is based on the life, talent and work of one of Italy's most famous shoemakers, Salvatore Ferragamo (saying "cobblers" doesn't seem quite right!).

The exhibit is titled The Prodigious Shoemaker: Tales and Legends of Shoes and Shoemakers so the specific fairy tale quality of the film fits exceptionally well.

The film was designed to be viewed by visitors as they wander through the presentation in which art pieces and works in various media, blend together. They put history and fantasy side by side, with the express intent of showing one couldn't live without the other (as aspect I LOVE!). The stories range from tales - both true and fantastic - around Chinese foot binding, to Cinderella, to The Red Shoes and much, much more.

The official website for the exhibit is in Italian and to do too much to translate it in a hurry from the auto-translate seems to lose a little of the magic of the description, so I'm leaving most of the odd language intact for you to be enchanted by, just as I was on first reading it:

To show the tales, it would seem a contradiction in terms to show what was/is real physically and what is fantasy. Instead, the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Florence will show from April 19, 2013 to 31 March 2014 that you can also watch the legends and not just listen to them. It will be through the world of the fairy tale, filling the spacious rooms of the Palazzo Ferroni with "The Prodigious Shoemaker," which will open in Florence on April 18. It's a magical time for fairy tales. At the movies Tim Burton brings his "Alice in Wonderland" and other filmmakers have updated certain icons of childhood, from Little Red Riding Hood to the Beauty and the Beast, to two recent versions of Snow White. And this month are leaving "the great and powerful Oz" and "Jack and the Beanstalk" while in the near future are provided "Hansel and Gretel" and a "Maleficent" starring Angelina Jolie, taken from "The Sleeping Beauty". In short, what was a wealth of children today it is also great, so need to dream.

"The Prodigious Shoemaker - Tales and Legends of shoes and shoemakers," curated by Stefania Ricci, Sergio and Luca Recovered Scarlini hath been given the task to fly the minds of visitors through the history of the shoe, a theme that has always fascinated writers of fairy tales. Wearing shoes was a sign of wealth and power but the shoe is also a job, that of shoemaker and cobbler, antique flavor of passion and sacrifice and so hungry. It 's the story of Salvatore Ferragamo, who has taught so much. 

Many authors and artists from different disciplines who have joined the show, creating works by helping interventions. Experts in children's fiction, as Faeti Antonio and Michele Rak, film scholars like Alexander Bernardi, writers and poets such as Hamid Ziarati, Michele Mari, Elisa Biagini for this project have written new tales supported by illustrators like Francesca and Michela Petoletti Ghermandi.The great composer Luis Bacalov wrote a new musical score as an overture to the show, while young photographers Simona Ghizzoni and Lorenzo Cicconi Massi, along with expert Henry Coppitz, have the photographer Salvatore Ferragamo shoes make them fabulous. And then the work of Annette Lemieux Messenger was approached by the myth of Mercury, that of Carol Rama to the hard version of Cinderella, that of Daniel Spoerri at Tom Thumb. An entire section of the exhibition is dedicated to the sculptures and drawings by Mimmo Paladino: For this occasion the artist field has collaborated on an original animation with the writer ecomico Alexander Berger, author of a visionary tale. And many others.

I hope to be able to write more about the exhibit soon, because the details of various pieces in particular are amazing, but for now, I'll just include this excerpt of the official introductory blurb from The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum, that's hosting and housing the exhibition:

...fairy tales are invading our imagination. As if now, more than ever, there was the need to address through the paths mysterious fantasy and dream solutions, the answers to that set of moral questions, doubts  and hardships that afflict our times. It is in times of crisis that presents a more urgent need to fantasize with imagination and overcome obstacles and fears. It is a universal need as this  is primal instinct. That's why fairy tales are considered inexhaustible reservoir of our archetypes,  of our primitive experiences.

Without further ado, for your viewing pleasure, White Shoe:

The Prodigious Shoemaker: Tales and Legends of Shoes and Shoemakers (in which White Shoe is shown in various backdrops as part of the multi-media presentation), is currently showing in Florence, Italy at The Salvatore Ferragamo Museum until March 31st, 2014.

Fairy Tale News New Year's Bumper Edition: Blog posts and/or articles discussing/using fairy tales

• Fairy Tale Survival Guide plus tips for self-rescuing princesses blogged by author Danyelle Leafty at Myth-takes

Rapunzel by Steering for North

• Which fairy tale will spawn a new princess next? Article from the LA Weekly which discusses four fairy tales not yet touched by Disney and how they would be 'Disneyfied' (i.e. what the Disney version might end up like) if they were chosen for a new 'princess film'. Article could have used a spell check (or just a read through) for mistakes but otherwise is interesting and quite amusing. Fairy tales discussed are: The Rose Elf (Andersen), Godfather Death (Grimm), The Red Shoes (Andersen). The Maiden Without Hands (Grimm).
  

Godfather Death by Lefler & Urban

• Hidden Personality - Bluebeard. One of many excellent student guest posts at the Diamonds & Toads blog (the post was an assignment). I particularly love this one on Bluebeard. Well researched with interesting thinking, clear writing and a great read. Perfect companion to the Bluebeard photoshoot I've also pointed you toward today under General Headlines.

Bluebeard by Gustav Dore

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Classic Tales 2010 Calendar by Pedro Bascon

Illustrator Pedro Bascon is busy painting his own versions of some fairy and folktales for a 2010 calendar.

I haven't seen a collection quite like this on a fairy tale theme and find that the strong design approach brings a new perspective and emphasis to aspects of the tale/s one may not normally think of.

I love the simple but strong designs. It's not as easy to achieve as one might think. Pedro's work in using a forced 'canvas size' for the design is very pleasing to the eye and communicates the tales instantly - yet there's more to see if you look closely too. It's always interesting to see what results when you put restrictions on a creative work.








You can view some close ups of the pieces by going to his sample page HERE.

You can also find out more about Pedro HERE and contact him directly to ask how to purchase a calendar if you're interested (he's very nice and approachable!).

He is currently investigating how to make his calendar available in the US (his contact details are all on his home page HERE).