It's due to such enduring fairy tales as The Little Mermaid that campaigns such as these have a truly personal and emotional impact.
Unlike just seeing 'pretty pictures' of fantasy creatures and objects created out of trash to promote awareness of waste and environmental danger, beloved fairy tales access the emotions of those who have loved the tales. The many versions of the fairy tale in books and film (and, yes, Disney) have already stirred the imaginations of people, especially young people, around the globe. They relate to the plight of The Little Mermaid - her wish to be part of the world, to not be segregated, to have a voice and so much more, and once connected, they remain so.
After tale familiarity, it only takes an image alluding to a beloved fairy tale character for an important message such as this one to get through, and that's what photographer and visual artist, Benjamin Von Wong, harnesses very effectively.
Frankly we encourage using fairy tales and fairy tale imagery to galvanize people to action here, as the urgency of this issue is such that marine biologists and other scientists around the world are now predicting that bird and marine life will be decimated within three decades because of plastic in our oceans!
Discussing the problem in Australia alone, The Boomerang Alliance (Australia's prime campaign group on waste and recycling) lists multiple, serious issues to the eco-system and wildlife, but if that's not reason enough to take the issue seriously, they add that "every time you eat seafood you’re potentially ingesting these same indestructible plastic particles into your own body".
By the year 2050 there will be more plastic rubbish floating in our oceans than fish unless we make some drastic changes to the way use and dispose of plastic materials.
To raise awareness of the ocean’s urgent plight, Benjamin Von Wong, a renowned Canadian conceptual photographer and conservationist, has developed an epic visual movement called #mermaidshateplastic, which he hopes will draw the world’s attention to the grave threat plastic waste poses to the world’s oceans.
Using his signature hyper-realistic art style, Von Wong photographed models transformed into ‘mermaids’ ‘swimming’ amid 10,000 discarded plastic bottles he used to represent the sea. The ambitious shoot took place in a Montreal warehouse where Von Wong staged each of his scenes and photographed from above.
Currently in Australia, Von Wong spoke to news.com.au about the #mermaidshateplastic campaign, which launched globally last week.
“To me, the ocean is … like space but on our own planet and it’s something I find really fascinating,” Von Wong says. “But, virtually every single piece of plastic that has ever been created still exists on the planet today and if we do nothing, by 2050 there will be more plastics than fish in the sea and that’s terrifying.”
As an artist, Von Wong says that while he isn’t able to find the tangible solution to this problem, he’s chosen to apply his creative skills to draw the world’s attention to the ocean’s urgent plight. “I’m not a plastics engineer, I can’t create a new material, I can’t impact policy but what I can do, hopefully, is drive awareness,” Von Wong explains.
Take a look at the creation process, which, by the way, uses collected beach and recycling waste for materials:
You can read the whole article HERE, along with ideas on how to halt the cycle of waste in easy ways every day, help the process of cleanup with just seconds of action, and, ultimately, stop plastic from not just being part of our world, but destroying it.
Did we mention we're pretty excited about the new online course on The Fairy Tale that's transformed from wishes to reality, thanks to the enchanting, whip smart -and possibly a little devious- duo of Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto, the fairy godmothers behind the new Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic?
So far we've learned about the magical beginnings of Carterhaugh School, peeked behind-the-scenes at the ladies who made this dreams a reality and discovered why studying The Fairy Tale at Carterhaugh is going to be different from all other fairy tale study offered to date.
If you missed our first two interview posts you can find them here:
But there is another, very unique and exciting aspect to this course that will make it unlike anything you've done before. Not only will participants:
study beyond the typical introduction to fairy tales (ie. "Did you know the originals before Disney were dark..?" etc)
explore a wide variety of tales - both from the classic canon and many beyond
explore tales from a range of cultures and authors/sources
dive into the magical melting pot of salon conversations
be treated to insights by special guest lecturer, Shveta Thakrar, for the Beastly Bride Day
... they will also have the opportunity to explore fairy tales in a specifically personal way: by choosing one of three paths...
There will be a final assignment prompt for which you may choose the path of the scholar, the path of the writer, or the path of the artist. Personal feedback on completed final assignments is available upon request – we would love to see what you come up with!
Oh the possibilities! Let's find out more in Part III today of our exclusive behind-the-scenes interview.
Thank you again, Mistresses Brittany and Sara, for joining us today.
In the introduction to this 10 week course you mention a final assignment in which the participant has the option to choose a) the path of the scholar, b) the path of the writer, or c) the path of the artist, all of which sound intriguing. For people who might struggle between choosing, can you tell us more about the paths (is this a case of needles and pins?), and what the purpose is of structuring the assignment this way? (Should folk be thinking destiny? The path less traveled? Or something else?)
We offer the three paths in order to make the final project useful and relevant to a broader group of students with diverse interests and ways of processing stories and information. The Path of the Scholar is the option most similar to a traditional college paper, but there are many avenues that you might take to writing it, including a persuasive paper about a possible meaning or interpretation for one of the tales( Why is this meaning or interpretation important to you? To what extent can you sustain it with concrete details from the text?) or a personal essay (If you had to choose one of the narratives we have read to apply to your own life, what would it be and why? How does this narrative help you make sense of your own story?) The Path of the Writer invites you to retell or adapt one of the narratives we have explored. You could write a short story, a poem, a letter, a short play, or other written form that: retells the tale from the perspective of a different character (or from the perspective of an object); makes significant plot changes to the tale, explains a “narrative gap” or an instance of “leaping and lingering,” a moment that isn’t narrated or doesn’t make sense to you, in one of the tales; explores a character’s interiority; or sets a tale in a contemporary setting. The Path of the Artist asks to you respond to one of the stories through a visual medium. You can create a painting, a carving, a garment, a piece of jewelry, a drawing, a sculpture, a comic, or other visual form that: retells a particular moment in one of the stories; captures the emotion you felt upon reading a particular passage or expresses the emotions you think the characters would have experienced during their journey; recreates an object or character from one of the tales; depicts a moment that is not narrated (a moment from before the tale begins or after it ends.) We’ve also had students create their own path or expand/ adapt these prompts in order to accommodate their own interests.
Is there any accreditation given (or magical powers bestowed) to participants who successfully complete the course? Will there be any keepsakes that participants can stow as proof they went into these woods and talked to the many Others therein?
While we cannot offer any official accreditations, we do plan to issue certificates to those who complete the course. As we talk about below, we’ll also be sending a special package in the mail with keepsakes!
You recently had a 'short course' Folklore for All Hallows Eve. Can you tell us about how that went, (at the cross roads, in the dead of night in the thinning mist) the different sorts of things participants studied (eg. etiquette for greeting the grateful dead) and what the results were?
The Folklore for All Hallows’ Eve course was our first course at Carterhaugh, so we approached it very much as an experiment- if it went well, we would expand and offer more classes, and, if not, we could say we tried and move on. However, we had a fantastic experience teaching this first course. The three lessons were all oriented around seasonal, spooky folk narratives, so we had a lesson each on eerie ballads, creepy fairy tales, and urban legends. The reception thus far has been very positive- final projects are rolling in from our students, and they are wonderful! And many students from that course have already enrolled for the Fairy Tale Course, so we think we’re on the right track!
Being online -a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶g̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶i̶n̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶e̶c̶h̶-̶s̶a̶v̶v̶y̶ ̶f̶a̶i̶r̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶d̶m̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶- brings so many possibilities to a course, including the possibility of meeting like-minded people from places you would never be able to visit in your lifetime. Is there any portal available for current and prospective participants to meet, interact and share fairy tale ideas, discoveries and related works?
Yes! That’s one of the things that has been so great about this venture so far. Every course will have their own special Facebook group only for students - the one for the “Folklore for All Hallows’ Eve” was very lively and fun! We also have a main Facebook group where people can ask us questions about the courses and connect with others as well. You can find that already active group here - https://www.facebook.com/groups/305213463204876/
We'll wrap up our interview in the next post as there are yet more goodies up for fairy tale participants that we simply have to save, to showcase all by themselves...
Join us tomorrow for Part IV, our final part of the interview with these amazing women who are busy spreading magic to all they can, and who encourage knowledge and exploration of the world, of tales, of history and of our future potential - something which our world sorely needs right now.
To sign up for Carterhaugh School's, The Fairy Tale long course and take advantage of this wonderful study opportunity, as well as embark on a uniquely and personally tailored fairy tale journey, click HERE.
And remember that this makes for a perfect last minute holiday gift: No wrapping, convenient payment options and fairy tale happiness for many months to come! It's a pretty wonderful way to give a fairy tale enthusiast a gift they'll love and never forget.
Once again, here is a summary of the details:
Dates: January 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, February 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to access everything indefinitely and watch whenever is most convenient to you.
Total Number of Lessons: 10
What’s Included: Welcome Letter, Mailed Special Welcome Package, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired
Any Additional Materials Needed: No
Registration Closes: January 15th at Midnight
Price: $150 – you can pay in one, two, or three installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on January 15th.
The long wait is finally over. Your patience has paid off and our new collection of short stories and poems has arrived at last.
Perhaps the oddest thing about the original Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, is the name. Considering it's called, "The Snow Queen", our titular character has a surprisingly small role amongst the many adventures that occur to Gerda and Kay.
In our latest issue, our writers ask plenty of questions about the Snow Queen herself. Andersen portrays her as the villain, but is there more to it? Could she be a victim, or even the heroine?
But these retellings also explore the wide variety of other characters--from the Robber Girl, to the crows, to the strange imp who started the whole story. Some of these pieces are cold and wintery, like you'd expect, but others will take you back to summer vacation.
A special note about our audio version: It isn't quite ready yet, but will be sent out later this week, so if you are a patron (or become one--hint hint--) you will be receiving the audio files a tiny bit late, but trust us, it's so worth the wait!
As promised, today we continue our interview with the enchanting folklore mavens behind the newest - and perhaps the only - school dedicated to fairy tale magic on the planet: The Carterhaugh School of Folklore & the Fantastic.
(Miss our Introduction and Interview Part I? You can find that right HERE.)
In this Part II of our tour behind the scenes of creating the school and online course in The Fairy Tale, we ask Brittany Warman and Sara Cleto for more specifics on why our readers - many of whom know more about fairy tales than even fairly well read folk - would not only enjoy the course, but might come to view it as their (online) fairy tale equivalent of Hogwarts. Let's see what they said:
For our readers, most of whom have done more than dabble in the delights and dangers of fairy tales than most people, what is unique about your course and why would it complement their deeper-than-average delvings into fairy tales?
One of the reasons we think a school like this might be welcome to people already well-versed in these materials is the fact that folklore is an enormous category that unfortunately breeds a great deal of misinformation, even in printed materials. Fairy tales fall victim to this kind of misinformation all the time. In a Carterhaugh class, we will be your guides – we know exactly how to navigate this material and can teach you to do the same! At OSU we have taught all kinds of courses, earning nominations for teaching awards and commendations from both supervisors and students. When we aren’t teaching or working on our dissertations, we are scholars and writers who have published peer-reviewed articles, sold stories and poems, written book introductions and encyclopedia entries, and published both creative and academic reviews. A class with us isn’t going to be the same ol’ “did you know the ORIGINAL fairy tales had dark endings?!” you see so often on the Internet - we’re going to take you beyond that, exploring the subtleties of those “dark” endings, exposing you to the real secrets of the stories you thought you knew, showing you their range across cultures, and hopefully introducing you to an unfamiliar text or two as well. The other reason we think you’ll find our courses unique is that, although we will be supported by our backgrounds in academia and creative writing, we aim to use our knowledge and our passion for these subjects to share their wonder, solidify their importance in society, and spread a bit of magic into the world. You will be taking classes with two teachers who embrace and believe in the power of these tales. These courses are designed for people who dreamed of elven battles while studying economics, those who have always sworn they could see ghosts, those who longed for a school of magic to send them an unexpected acceptance letter. We’re doing our best to bring that kind of school into the banality of the “real world” while maintaining academic rigor.
What would an average week look like as a course participant in 'The Fairy Tale'? (eg hours needed, how much reading [is it provided or does it require extra purchasing of texts], sorts of lecturer presentations, project work etc) Does 10 lessons mean 10 consecutive weeks, or is that flexible? Do wings and wands come as standard accessories?
The length and structure of each Carterhaugh course varies, but the course on The Fairy Tale will span five weeks with two lessons released each week for a total of ten lessons. An average week would include two recorded lectures and supplemental readings (a few short stories.) However, a student can take as much time as they like to go through the materials- everything is theirs to download and view at whatever time is most convenient for them. The workload can be whatever the student wishes to do- we will provide all the readings (no extra purchases are necessary), and students can read everything, skim, or pick whichever texts most interest them to focus on. The final project is optional, and it can be as simple or elaborate as a student wishes to make it. Carterhaugh can be whatever a student needs- it can be very in-depth and rigorous, and it can be leisurely and casual, depending on the time that a student wants to devote to the course. Sadly, wings and wands are not included in this particular course, but we encourage their use and will provide other necessary materials.
What fairy tales are you planning to cover in the course? Do you have a spell to fold space/time to fit in the hundreds we're all interested in?
Tragically, we don’t have that spell yet. If you come across it, PLEASE tell us! We’ll hit the classics like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast, but we’ll also explore lesser-known fairy tales. For example, we’ll take a look at Asbjørnsen and Moe’s “Tatterhood,” peek into Baba Yaga’s hut, and read some of the ornate, outrageous stories written by French conteuses. And even the classics might surprise you- we’ll look at a Chinese Cinderella story that predates Perrault and the Grimms, a Sleeping Beauty who must contend with an ogre in addition to a curse, and a Beast who is half-hedgehog and rides around the woods on a rooster while playing a bagpipe. No, we are not making this up.
Note to readers: Carterhaugh School have now released their course schedule so we are including it at the end of this part of the interview to whet your appetites and see the wonderful range of tales and topics that will be covered. It's pretty exciting stuff!
Is there any recommended pre-reading, rituals or spell practicing that fairy tale news readers might wish to prepare themselves with?
We plan to provide all the materials you’ll need for the course, so there’s really no need to prepare anything in advance!
What other sorts of irresistible and goblin-fruit-laden courses are you planning to offer in the future, and will they have similar formats?
This is our first long course, so we’ll have to see how this one goes first! We would love to do courses on folklore generally, fairylore and other supernatural lore, folklore and fantastic literature, “mythpunk” literature, and a huge variety of other things as well. We’re still developing our format but all of our courses will likely be similar in structure. We'll stop here for today, but are including the course schedule below. Stay tuned for Part III of our interview, posting tomorrow!
And don't forget - if you're feeling inspired to sign up yourself, or give the wonderful (wonderful!) gift of registration to a fairy tale enthusiast, here is the detail summary for easy reference:
Dates: January 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th, 30th, February 2nd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th – note that these are simply the dates that materials will be posted! You will be able to access everything indefinitely and watch whenever is most convenient to you.
Total Number of Lessons: 10
What’s Included: Welcome Letter, Mailed Special Welcome Package, 10 Video Lectures, 10 PowerPoint Presentations, 10 Beautiful PDF “Grimoire Page” Lesson Summaries, PDFs or Links to Any Supplementary Reading, Personal Feedback on Completed Final Assignment if Desired
Any Additional Materials Needed: No
Registration Closes: January 15th at MidnightPrice: $150 – you can pay in one, two, or three installments! Full payment must be complete by the time registration closes on January 15th.
Here is a tentative schedule for the upcoming fairy-tale course. Some of the individual stories are subject to change, but the themes for each lesson are set! Take a look:
Lesson One: January 16th, 2017
Intro to Fairy-Tale Study / Little Red Riding Hood / The Story of Grandmother
Lesson Two: January 19th, 2017 Cinderella Day – Cinderella / Donkeyskin / All Kinds of Furs / Yeh-hsien / The Princess in the Suit of Leather
Lesson Three: January 23rd, 2017 Jack Tales Day – Jack and the Beanstalk / Whickety-Whack, Into My Sack / Old Fire Dragaman
Lesson Four: January 26th, 2017 Beastly Bride Day – The Swan Maiden / The Crane Wife / The Loathly Lady / The Story of Uloopi and Arjuna Featuring a guest lecture by the amazing Shveta Thakrar!
Lesson Five: January 30th, 2017 Awkward Husband Day – Bluebeard / The Robber Bridegroom / Mr. Fox / Fitcher’s Bird
Lesson Six: February 2nd, 2017 Sibling Day – Hansel and Gretel / Jorinde and Joringel / The Juniper Tree / Brother and Sister / Tatterhood
Lesson Seven: February 6th, 2017 Sleeping Maiden Day – Sleeping Beauty / The Ninth Captain’s Tale / Sun, Moon, and Talia / Snow White / Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree / The Glass Casket
Lesson Eight: February 9th, 2017 Search for the Lost Husband Day – Beauty and the Beast / Hans My Hedgehog / Small Toothed Dog / The Pig King / East of the Sun, West of the Moon
Lesson Nine: February 13th, 2017 Salon Day – The White Cat / The Great Green Worm / The Rose Cloud
Lesson Ten: February 16th, 2017 The Golden Key / Wrap Up
There's a new fairy tale ballet on the world stage, but it may be more familiar than not...
Matthew Bourne's The Red Shoes, debuted this year in November (2016), and is being touted as a production you don't want to miss, even though, being based on the classic film with Moira Shearer in the role of the obsessed and torn dancer, you already probably know how it goes.
World renowned contemporary ballet choreographer, Matthew Bourne has turned more than a few classics on their heads and dealing with fairy tale themes is nothing new. He may be best known for his male swan bevy in his unique take on the classic ballet fairy tale Swan Lake, but he's also adapted other fairy tales, including The Nutcracker and Cinderella. If you've been reading this blog for a few years, you'll know that we were impressed with his bizarre combination of Sleeping Beauty and vampires, that still managed to feel classic and fairy tale like, despite it's contemporary layering of concepts and styles. Whatever he does, you can be sure Bourne will make you think differently about the fairy tales you're used to watching!
It's clear film is an inspiration for Bourne in general and he loves to bring that visceral, bodily experience to a production, so an audience truly experiences his works. With The Red Shoes, Bourne is adapting the critically acclaimed, and much beloved film by cinephiles and balletomanes everywhere - something which many are wondering why it took him so long to do, as it seems ripe for the risk-taking choreographer and contemporary ballet head to tackle, seeing as he has his own company of world touring dancers.
That is, however, a very tall order. Based on Hans Christian Andersen's story, the 1948 film is often said to be the 'perfect adaptation of the fairy tale', and one that's become not just classic on its own merit, but has built its own mythology and tale status as well.
The film, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale, is loved as well for its glorious Technicolor cinematography by Jack Cardiff and has legions of admirers, not least Martin Scorsese, who oversaw its restoration in 2009.
It was particularly important to Bourne, who recalled seeing the film as a teenager. “At that stage I’d never actually seen a ballet, it was my introduction to that world … it does seem terribly glamorous and mystical when you watch this film.”
Commenting on the challenge to take what works so well on screen and translate that to stage, here's how Bourne described it, during the development phase of the production:
“It is actually about dance and dancers, a world that we all understand so well. The film’s genius is to make that theatrical world at times surreal, larger than life and highly cinematic. My challenge will be to capture some of that surreal, sensuous quality within the more natural theatre setting.”
Bourne said the story of how to become the best, and the sacrifices that had to be made, had a continuing relevance, particularly given the success of programmes such as the X Factor.
“It is about the dedication it takes to become a star … sometimes that hard grind is forgotten about with things like X Factor. It is still relevant.”
Note: the two images show Vicki Page in the similar ecstasies she feels for her two loves: dancing and her lover-eventually-husband, Julian Craster.
So what's the outcome?
Before we get into what the critics are saying, here's a little about the production with regard to adapting the film, to give you an idea of what it's like, including a very short video showing some clips:
A beloved fairy tale and Academy Award-winning movie, The Red Shoes has seduced audiences and inspired generations with its tale of obsession, possession and one girl’s dream to be the greatest dancer in the world.
Matthew Bourne’s magical adaptation is set to a new score arranged by Terry Davies using the music of golden-age Hollywood composer, Bernard Herrmann (famous for his work with Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles), with sumptuous set and costume designs by Lez Brotherston, Paule Constable (lighting) and Paul Groothuis (Sound).
"Victoria Page" will be created by New Adventures star Ashley Shaw, most recently seen across the UK and internationally as "Aurora" in Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty. Cordelia Braithwaite and Katrina Lyndon (at certain performances) will also play the role.
The Red Shoes will dazzle your senses and break your heart.
Even if it's well done, whether faithful to the film or fresh in many ways, why take the time to go see this? Yes, there will be parts of this that can't be captured on stage because they were created - masterfully - for the film medium, and so those montages and transitions where Vicki Page is dancing her role of a lifetime in the Hans Andersen fairy tale ballet role will have a hard time measuring up, if you adore the screen representation. No film, however, is going to viscerally communicate the physical and mental intensity and anguish that Page goes through, quite as well as watching it happen right before your eyes to a real live person - which is what principal dancer Ashley Shaw is lauded as doing.
And it's just as well.
While The Red Shoes 1948 film remains a runaway hit, even now, with almost everyone who sees it (whether they like ballet and fairy tales, or not) the Broadway version of The Red Shoes barely lasted 5 days in 1993, before it was shut down, losing millions. It's clear the risk of translating a cinematic hit into a similarly successful stage production is no easy feat. Fortunately something unique and wonderful appears to be happening with Bourne's take, galvanizing the production and performers to present the 'best' of live performance potential, making it clear why there truly is no such thing that can fully replace live theater.
Bourne: “The film does have that quality of being a monument, but I think you change something straight away when you take it from screen to stage. And, even though I’ve followed the film quite closely, I’ve been able to see lots of ways of expanding on it through dance. There will be quite a few surprises along the way.”
One area where Bourne has let his imagination run riot is in choreographing the life of the ballet company Page belongs to. In the film, the company is run by Boris Lermontov, a steely aesthete and ruthless boss who has shades of the great Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev. But while Bourne has retained the character of Lermontov, he’s given the company a new identity, one that bears a distinct resemblance to the Royal Ballet back in 1948, when it was still known as Sadler’s Wells Ballet. The company had just emerged from the war years, when it went slogging around Britain entertaining the public and the troops. For Bourne, it seemed to have something of the improvised, mongrel quality of his own troupe, New Adventures.
“It was a company I felt we could relate to, even though we’re not a ballet company ourselves. When we were building up the background and the characters in the story, I had my dancers research the lives of English dancers like Beryl Grey. Vicky, of course, is a little bit Margot Fonteyn and, although the audience doesn’t have to know about those connections, they make the work a bit richer.”
There are also reportedly many added details of historical accuracy with regard to balletic works The Sadlers Wells Ballet Company would have performed in that same, mid-20th century timespan, as well as nods to the Hollywood era of film The Red Shoes first shone in, making the piece even more satisfying for fans of both classic ballet and the late 40's film era. For the remake of a classic, which partly relies on people's nostalgia and critical appreciation of the original adaptation, it gives Bourne' production a meta quality, (perhaps ironically) marking it as a contemporary work; something that seems to define - or at least haunt - the creation of Art in this era of the internet and self-focused social media. Essentially, it becomes it's own commentary on obsession, which is very smart and/or very apt. (You can read more about the creation and expansion of The Red Shoes contemporary ballet via an earlier article by The Guardian, when the show was being created, HERE. It will be of specific interest to dancers and those adapting film to stage.)
And the critics essentially agree. If it wasn't clear before, Australian dancer Ashley Shaw is well on her way to being a star, while the production transports the audience from lavish stage productions and world capitals, to the mess and dust of backstage and rehearsal seamlessly, as nuanced choreography is performed with impeccable skill and timing by the company dancers, making the whole package worth your time and dollars. At least, that's what the critics are indicating across the board.
Matthew Bourne’s new production of The Red Shoes looks amazing. From curtain-up we are transported to the wordless dramatic realm that Bourne and designer Lez Brotherston have made their own. Each location offers an intense distillation of atmosphere. We are whirled from the Covent Garden ballet stage to a high society soiree, and thence to Monte Carlo, where the impresario Boris Lermontov holds court. It’s a feast for the eye, with every scene animated by sharp detail and witty characterisation. The score, a montage of early pieces by Bernard Herrmann, is deftly chosen... It’s all very artfully composed, and Bourne choreographs with the lightest of touches, threading in references to Hollywood movies and Diaghilev-era ballets as he goes. The Red Shoes, I’m certain, will be dancing for years to come.
Capturing this (seminal film) in a voiceless ballet – which in some ways is a mind-boggling inversion as a ballet about a film about a ballet – is no mean feat and presents a new challenge to Bourne’s winning formula of reinventing the classics. The approach taken with his New Adventures company is to focus on bringing the surreal and experimental nature of the movie to the stage through movement, aesthetic and sound, rather than a direct replication; in particular, fluidly crossing the boundary between on and backstage, exploring the space where art and reality start to blur, and conveying something of the double-edged joy and grief of a life dedicated to art. Dancers are in one moment expensively, beautifully costumed and the next playfully prancing around in their rehearsal gear with cigarettes still hanging from their lips. Laced with comic timing and humour, Bourne contrasts the en pointepirouettes and arabesques of traditional ballet technique with unconfined contemporary movements that subvert, surprise and often make one laugh.
...this is an exquisite and inventive reimagining of a dark tale, confronting what it takes to become a great performer. Or perhaps more importantly for the prolific and visionary choreographer, at its heart is a love of theatre and dance. As Bourne quotes Michael Powell: “The Red Shoes told us to go and die for art.”
With expectations high, Bourne rises to the occasion with a slick and indulgent production that is rich in theatricality and swift with its storytelling. As ever, Lez Brotherston's original set designs are both eye-catching and memorable, effortlessly allowing the audience access to the onstage and off-stage scenes via a revolving velvet-curtained frame.
Bourne may be a genius, but his triumphs are only possible thanks to a hugely talented and dynamic cast that enable his visions to come to life, and The Red Shoes is a prime example of how powerful this combination can be.
So that settles it: when The Red Shoes comes to town, we will be lining up for tickets.
It's not every day you get to witness the history of art in the making and this is shaping up to be one of those times, especially as Shaw's star rises and this becomes 'her' role of a lifetime - hopefully with many more to come!
Here's the official trailer for the production:
While it may not garner the audience numbers of Sleeping Beauty, simply because of the lesser cross-generational appeal of the story, it's clear Bourne's The Red Shoes is a love letter to the theater, to dance and to Art. It's also clear that it all loves him right back.
The Red Shoes will remain at Sadlers Wells until January 29th, 2017 then go on tour. You can find all the touring dates HERE.
