"The Steadfast Tin Soldier" Comes to Life (Live Storytelling. With Paint! You Gotta See the Video - Just Amazing)

Being performed this weekend at the Sydney Opera House (in Australia) is a live storytelling - in words and paint (!) - of The Steadfast Tin Soldier by the German puppetry company Thalias Kompagnons. Instead of just using puppets though, this time around, the main storytelling medium is paint. Real, drippy, wet, squishy, live, colorful and amazing paint. This is the art of storytelling with Art!

I dearly wish I could take my son to see this. Actually, since I'm trying to incorporate a little storytelling in as I teach Art Appreciation to my son's class, this would be perfect to take all the kids to. (If we didn't have to pay for 26 return tickets to Oz, that is.) This would be a perfect introduction to the power of painting and art, as well as be an incredibly dynamic way to hear/see experience a fairy tale coming to life and discover the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. 

Although it's obviously a poor substitute for the live performance, there is a video, showing some of how the story is told. Take a look - it's quite amazing (and now I want to go paint!):

I get the strong feeling Hans Andersen would have LOVED this!

The promotional material about the performance reads:

In this delightful and imaginative retelling of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale, our storyteller brings The Steadfast Tin Soldier to life with his vigorous live-painting techniques. 

On a large clear canvas, the story unfolds as a child’s nursery is sketched, coloured and painted. It’s here that the tin soldier steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina.  But all too soon, the peaceful scene is interrupted by the red goblin, and as the colours begin to fly, the adventure begins! 

In this unique performance, German company Thalias Kompagnons creates a joyful introduction to the creative techniques of both modern painting and live theatre. Enthralling, exciting and not always neat and tidy, The Steadfast Tin Soldier is sure to inspire the artist in all of us! 

On the company website I found this summary of the play, which explains why they chose live art-in-the-making as the medium for this performance:

On the play
	Painting is the art form which seems to be closest to children. They pick up crayons naturally and start using them, creating their own world, filled with a great variety of things. Who would not want to join them in this sphere of dreams? The fairy tale painter sketches a large nursery, decorating it with wondrous toys and figures. But as happens in painting – the image starts to develop its own life. Here a tin soldier who is the worse for wear steps out of line and falls in love with the tissue paper ballerina. The red goblin interferes. The image comes apart at the seams. Will the painter be steadfast and, together with the tin soldier, find a new path back to beauty? A joyful introduction to the creative techniques of modern painting which is not always neat and tidy. With his painted theatre productions, Joachim Torbahn has succeeded in creating an internationally admired novel synthesis between visual art and the theatre. He was invited to perform his homage to Paul Klee "What does Red do on Thursdays?" for children over four, at many festivals, including productions in Italy, Slovenia, Finland, Hungary, Russia, Corea, Japan and Australia.

As you might expect - the reviews are excellent. You can find more information about the company and the sort of shows they have HERE and read some of the reviews there too.

For those lucky enough to be local, you can find more information about times and tickets (which are very reasonably priced) HERE.

The presentation reminds me of seeing shows in shopping centers and malls when I was just beginning "big school" - a wonderful way to introduce the public to the power of storytelling and theater - and of turning up to dark mysterious theaters with no idea what I would see, only to be thoroughly entranced by what followed. Those experiences marked me for life in the best way and I wish there were more traveling and available I could take my son to experience (he's just started "big school" this year so it's very much on my mind).

Maybe one day there will be enough Once Upon A Blog readers in close proximity that we could actually put together something amazing ourselves (to be filed under "Big Dreams I Will Never Give Up On").

Kaguya-Hime Gets A Full Trailer (And It's Beautiful!)

This is one film that shouldn't disappoint. Everything about the trailer, from the brushwork style, to the iconic scenes in the 10th Century tale, to the scroll-like artwork, to the very human moments, evoke a beautiful and beloved story - and show a film that does it's best to uphold all that people love in the legend, bringing it to life as best they can.

Miyazaki has always held the title as the fable keeper of Ghibli, while Takahata has been better known for exploring themes of human tragedy, though both have been equally as impressive as animation artists and directors. With Kaguya-hime no Monogatari (The Tale of Princess Kaguya), Isao Takahata is showing the world that he, too, can make beautiful and beloved tales for families, and his place in the hearts of the people in Japan is secured with bringing their most ancient and beloved tale to life.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. Here's the full trailer:

There's still no word on a release date outside of Japan, but Japanese audiences will see their beloved fairy tale in theaters starting November 23, 2013. Studio Ghibli's current film playing in theaters is Miyazaki's The Wind Rises, which will be released in theaters in the US on February 21st, so Princess Kaguya won't come out till after then. Remember they will be putting together the subtitles, translation and foreign voice actors. Theatrical releases outside Japan will either have subtitles with the original cast or a whole new English-speaking voice cast - no word yet on which way they've decided to go, but we should see news on a release date at least, very soon now.

Note: The images are from a flyer/pamphlet promoting the movie in Japan, found on eBay.

"Cruel Beauty" Book Trailer & Behind-the-Pages with Author Rosamund Hodge

NOTE: The trailer AUTOPLAYS! Argh!

I really hate autoplay functions so apologize for this. I've been into the HTML but can't figure out what to change/delete so it doesn't do it. I'm going to leave it like this for a bit while I try to figure out something else. In the meantime it's very annoying (sorry!) but until they upload the trailer to YouTube we're stuck with this. Very sorry!

Now that I've finally read a little about the book from the author, I'm actually interested. I've seen so many variations on Beauty & the Beast be published for the YA demographic but rarely do they seem to have a unique take, so unless they are a favorite author of mine to start with or one of those poetic and edgy authors who handles words as well as Francesca Lia Block, my eyes to to glaze over quickly.

However.

Ms. Hodge not only finds a way to make Beauty more interesting (to me) but has found a way to blend the dichotomy of Beauty and the Beast and Bluebeard, into a single, smooth narrative. Color me intrigued.

The book keeps catching my eye because of the ridiculously stunning cover (genius really), so when I saw an author interview posted I quickly skimmed, then went back and read it properly when I realized what the premise actually was. I think it might be worth picking up when it's released in January 2014.

Here are some excerpts in which the author shares what drew her to a Beauty who was cruel:

Rosamund Hodge

I never thought I could retell Beauty and the Beast. I liked it. I read Robin McKinley's Beauty and watched the Disney movie, and I enjoyed them both. But the story felt finished. Complete. What drives me to write retellings is finding the holes, the mysteries that don't add up. Beauty learns to love somebody who looks like a monster and Beast learns to love despite the monstrous parts of himself. It's a moving story, but what's to retell? 

by Erik Dreyer

When I read (East of the Sun, West of the Moon), it was like lightning in my mind! Suddenly Beauty and the Beast wasn't a static and separate little unit; it was one thread in a tapestry of stories where brave young women travel to strange places and marry men who are really monsters, or monsters who are really men. 

And then I thought: Who says there is only one monster? 

What if the brave young woman is one, too? (a la Mean Girls) 

Loving a monster when you're beautiful and sweet and kind — that's a good story to read. Finding the courage to love a monster when you feel just as ugly yourself? That's the kind of story I want to tell...

You can read the rest of the (much longer) article HERE.

There's another interview post on Ms. Hodge's website HERE which asks a question fairy tale folk in particular should be interested to hear:

CRUEL BEAUTY is loosely based on the classic stories of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and BLUEBEARD. Did you read a lot of fairy tales and fantasy growing up? How did they influence your writing? 

by Twinnovations

Sometimes I hardly read anything else! I also devoured a huge quantity of mythology, which has deeply influenced my writing. (In fact, Cruel Beauty is based almost as much on the myth of Cupid and Psyche as it is on Beauty and the Beast). 

What I love the most about myths and fairy tales is how you are never just reading a story. You are reading the hundredth iteration of a story that’s been told for thousands of years. And when stories are told and retold for that long, they acquire a life of their own. They follow a peculiar, dream-like logic that doesn’t always make sense, but feels like it would make sense if you could just peel back a few more versions of the story. You can feel the bones beneath the skin. You look at the story, and it looks back at you. 

And a good fairy tale retelling taps into that sense of story-behind-story. It feels inevitable. You read it and you think, Yes, obviously, this is what happened. This is what it means. Writing a fairy tale retelling feels like discovery, not invention. Why did I combine Beauty and the Beast with Bluebeard? Because I was thinking about those stories one day and I realized, Beauty married the Beast in order to kill him. She’s afraid she will die like his previous wives. That’s what happened. How else could it be?

A cruel Beauty reminds me a little of issues in Pride and Prejudice but this looks like it will be much edgier, what with the assassin training, Bluebeard references and all!

Take a look at the book trailer:

UPDATE AT 1PM ON FRIDAY:

I HAVE DELETED THE TRAILER AS I CAN'T GET IT TO STOP AUTO-PLAYING, WHICH IS BEYOND IRRITATING! To see it, please click the link below and scroll down to the end of the article to view it.

My apologies for any inconvenience regarding the auto-play function for the past half day and now the need to go see the trailer on another page. Hopefully one day I'll be able to update this and embed a trailer you can choose whether to view when you're ready to, or not.

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CLICK HERE TO GO TO ARTICLE WITH BOOK TRAILER

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 Rosamund Hodge will also be releasing a novella, Gilded Ashes, retelling of Cinderella in April (which you can see a glimpse of at the end of the trailer). To me, this is even more intriguing than the Beauty and the Beast blend. See what she says about it:

Tell us about GILDED ASHES, your digital novella set in the world of CRUEL BEAUTY. 

by Cindy Bean

It’s a retelling of Cinderella, which is a fairy tale that most people feel needs an explanation. Traditionally, Cinderella is sweet, obedient, and cheerful despite being relentlessly abused. Why doesn’t she rebel against her wicked stepmother? Why is she happy? 

I started thinking about the Brothers Grimm version of the story, where Cinderella doesn’t have a fairy godmother; instead, it’s the ghost of her dead mother who gives her the dress and sends her to the ball. I wondered, why would a mother haunt her daughter? To protect her, of course.  And suddenly it all became clear: Cinderella’s dead mother haunts the house and destroys anyone who makes her daughter cry. So no matter what her stepfamily does to her, Cinderella has to smile and be happy. Or all of them will die. 

But, of course, everything gets a lot more complicated when she falls in love.

See what I mean? I like the way this author thinks.

Even though I'm not a big YA reader, both of these are now officially on my to-be-read pile.

Online Magazine "la Vie Sirène" Is Featuring Fairy Tales EVERY DAY During November!

The lovely Joy Siren has an obsession very much like mine. She adores everything mermaid and her Siren School is the place to go if you want to fish for what she knows. The depths of her knowledge on the subject are DEEP folks! (Puns intended as they're also completely true.)

Just as I find more than I can post on every day regarding fairy tales, Joy does the same for her mermaid students and siren scholars, and her daily magazine, la Vie Sirène, is brimming full of delights and treasures.

It's no wonder, then, that our paths would cross at some point (which they did not too long ago, thanks to Facebook) and this month I was delighted to find out that she is focusing on all things fairy tale, yours truly and this blog included.

I'm a little in awe of the life this amazing woman has led and the brave choices she's made. I'm also stunned by how just one person can accomplish so much on so little and inspire so many people in doing so. Because of this, I was incredibly humbled when she asked to interview me for the November fairy tale issue. Let me tell you, Joy's questions had me squeaking the rust out of my brain bolts to answer her insightful questions. She forced me to articulate - in black and white! - a lot of what I end up talking to people about when they ask "why fairy tales", so if you want the scoop, check with Joy. She is holding the key to all my fairy tale secrets. (And I believe I finally let out a little family "secret" I haven't shared before too...) ;)

In the meantime she has something new to read every day, and just posted an interview with the photographer she worked with, Love BEA Photography, to make the cover for the November "fairy tale special" issue.

And if you love mermaids, or inspirational women connecting and making their lives beautiful - which is so much of what Joy does - Siren School is everywhere online! You can find Joy and her school:

• On Pinterest HERE
• On Twitter HERE
• On Facebook HERE
• On Tumblr HERE
• On YouTube HERE
• On Google+ HERE
• The daily magazine, la Vie Sirène  - currently in fairy tale mode - is HERE
• The blog is HERE (with cool regular features I might add)
• And much, much more, which you can find on the main website, HERE

And you noticed the "school" aspect, right? It's not just a pun. Ms. Siren actually runs classes and workshops, activities, socials and more! Anyone is eligible to enroll and there are many choices, depending on how far you want to dive in. It's really quite amazing. You'll just have to go see her site for yourself.

Go! Enjoy! And tell her you love what you see. (And send some cheers to Love BEA Photography for their fantastic foray into the fairy tale realm as well.)

Syfy's Swan Song "Face Off" Finale

It's not surprising that fairy tales, or some version of them, crop up on a special effects make-up show but last night's finale on Syfy's Face Off was extra special.

The remaining three contestants had to design and create two characters from Swan Lake for two principal dancers of the Los Angeles Ballet: one was the maiden as she's being transformed into a swan and the other the evil sorcerer who made it happen (aka Von Rothbart for all the ballet people).

Excuse me a minute while I whoop and cheer here. I come from a ballet background and so all the ballet fairy tales are near and dear to my heart - especially when they include transformation. The iconic fairy tale ballet is, of course, Swan Lake. Indeed it's iconic for all ballet and for good reason. The light vs dark aspects and transformation of one being or creature to another is reflected in so much of life and, as the movie Black Swan showed, works as an excellent metaphor for a career in dance (and any lifestyle requiring intense commitment) as well.

For the Face Off contestants though, they were given an extra twist. Each of the contestants had to pick a different time period to incorporate into the design of their characters as well.

This meant, not only did they have two days to create two complete make-ups - one female and one male, have them be obviously different characters while from the same - unique - world, but also that they had to be performance-worthy for a live, theatrical show (ie those feathers had to stay on!) AND camera ready.

Tate chose the Industrial era,

 

 

... Roy chose the Ming Dynasty...

 

 

... and Laura chose Italian Renaissance.

 
The results from everyone - as you can see - were stunning!

Here's a teaser preview:

(Note: though I've done the research, heard the critiques, seen some behind-the-scenes and know the spoilery result, I have yet to see more than a fleeting glimpse here and there of the performances because I'm using every ounce of patience to wait to share it with my family tonight!)

SPOILERS AHEAD!!

✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ ✒ 

Ad: Robot Pinocchio Sneaks Gepetto's Car Out For A Spin (But the Nose Knows...)

Well this is interesting. Here we have a modern day Pinocchio and a very tinker-like Gepetto, who. incidentally, doesn't appear at all capable of making anything like Pinocchio (or his car) but it looks like a pretty memorable ad all the same.

The ad is for the Peugeot 208 supermini but I must admit, I'm watching the robot, not the car...

From autoevolution:

The 21st century boy made of wood is actually a robot made by a scientist. Like Sunny from iRobot, he gains consciousness and wants to experience what it's like to go for a drive in the sexy French car. The 28 gets him all the attention, warming his heart and blushing his little robot cheeks.
After he eyes all the pretty girls and is admired by the fox people, Pinocchio returns home and puts the keys on Gepetto's desk. We don't really get why his nose comes out like that. Did he tell a lie or is he just excited? Either way, it wouldn't be Pinocchio without the nose.

They didn't mention the "awaken your body to new sensations" tag line which puts a different slant on our robot's experiences!

You do have to take a beat at the end to ask "why did the nose pop out then?" And then when it begins to make sense your mind goes to places of "so the car opens you up to the possibility of not good things?" (I mean lying, people!) Maybe they should have called the car an Apple... just to confuse things even more... O.o Heh.

This concept, though - and the visuals - remind me of AI, iRobot even the "Pinocchio in reverse" story of the recent and very lovely little film Robot & Frank (you'll have to watch it to see what I mean but I highly recommend it. You can watch a trailer HERE.) 

This means, of course, that I now feel like going and looking up all the modern Pinocchio's that have appeared in recent years...

However, as far as selling me things goes: a lying robot? I think I'll skip that purchase, no matter how cute he is. ;)

"Kin" - The 1st Gorgeous, Fairy Tale Must-See, Short Film of the "Kin Fables" Series

A request from me: please put aside 8-ish minutes and make it a priority to see this!

I just saw this short film, made this year, a few days ago and it's the first I've heard of this series of short fantasy fables. I don't know why it isn't everywhere.

It's like visual poetry and is, quite simply, stunning and mesmerizing.

Just look at these screen grabs:








There is no dialogue in this short, only a song and visuals that move like a dream brought to life. The cinematography is amazing. Every frame is beautiful.

Kin is apparently the first of four short films under the banner of "Kin Fables", with the remaining three titled Salvage, Her & the River and Requiem.

Here's a note from GeekTyrant, which is where I first saw it:

Here's an amazingly stunning fantasy film called Kin, which is the first in a series of short fables, called Kin Fables, to be released by Five Knights Productions. The series is described as a musical and visual journey into fable. This one in particular was directed by Seb and Ben McKinnon. 

I don't really know what else to say except if you don't see this and love fairy tales, you are missing out. Take a look. If you're not hooked after the first minute I'll be very surprised.

There is a beautiful website with more information about this film and a peek at the coming ones, as well as some development images, such as those below:

There are many more if you click the link HERE.

There's also an explanation - and a preview - of a graphic novel in the making, to support the short films. Here's an example:

Are you being drawn in? This world is so beautiful. I want more!

I'd love to work with these filmmakers. Their vision seems very solid and complete, while at the same time poetic and allowing a lot of room for people to find their own stories within.

I'm so impressed.

I dearly hope the rest of the films are as beautiful and that there will be a DVD available at some point.

In the meantime, I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for Salvage.