(Pictures from the display are included in this post... enjoy!)
This month's theme...
Snow White
The tale of Snow White is one of the most popular fairy tales in the world, and most of us are pretty familiar with the story:
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Snow White who lived with her evil stepmother.
The stepmother wanted to be the"fairest one of all," and because of her jealously, she plots Snow White's demise with her huntsman.
Her plan does not work, and Snow White stumbles into a group of dwarfs who help hide her from the evil stepmother.
Stepmother finds out that Snow White is still alive and plans to trick Snow White by disguising herself and giving Snow White a poisoned apple.
Snow White eats the apples and falls asleep/dies.
The dwarves place Snow White in an elegant glass coffin.
A handsome prince comes along and sees Snow White.
He kisses her; she wakes up.
They ride off together and live happily ever after.
The end!
Disney has helped develop this classic fairytale story into a now very popular story among young children. During our Halloween Week celebration here at Ballet Petite, I had several little ballerinas proudly wear their Snow White dress to class. It was really fun!
Dance is my life and passion, but I actually graduated with an English degree in college. I'm very partial to literature and reading because of it, which is why I enjoy working at Ballet Petite. I love that we incorporate literature into the classroom for our young students.
What really peaked my interest at school was studying fairy tales, folklore, and legends. I took several of these classes. It was even more fascinating when I started studying children's literature and saw how folklore magically and interestingly merged with it.
A fairy tale is a type of folk short story narrative that contains fantasy elements and characters, like dwarves. Another way to distinguish a fairy tale from any other folktale is that there is no way that it could possibly happen. Fairy tales also have no sense of time, hence the words, "once upon a time."
One of the original uses of fairy tales was a way of storytelling and warning. They were often told to children and young adults to teach them life lessons and to keep them safe. During the time of the Grimms Brothers, well-known collectors of folklore and fairy tales during the early 1800s, children had a high mortality rate and were often the victims of sickness and accidents.
So, the moral of Snow White:
- Don't trust strangers.
- Don't let jealously consume you.
However, I think the really interesting part of folklore and children's literature is the censorship.Earlier versions of fairy tales had a tendency to be very violent. Without going into too much detail, in the Grimm's early collections of Snow White, in order to make sure Snow White was gone, the stepmother wanted the huntsman to bring back Snow White's organs so that she could eat them. Another brief example of violence is, as punishment, the stepmother has to wear red hot shoes for the wedding of Snow White and dance until she dies.
Aren't you glad those parts are now taken out? That really was how they told the story to children during way-back-when! But, its so interesting how the censorship of children's literature changes through the ages.
In terms of Ballet Petite, I think it would be better to stick with Disney. It's much more fun and magical for those little ones!
Fairy tales are not always what they appear to be, especially when you think of their history and what their orginial use was.
Next time you're in the library, check out a book on fairy tales and spot the differences between contemporary and historical folklore. You may realize some very interesting things about the fairy tales that we all know and love.
Miss Tess
tessc@balletpetite.com
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