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Author
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Comment
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janeyolen
Registered User
(5/7/04 5:23 pm)
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folktales about dance
My daughter and I are doing a collection of folktales about dance for children. We are finding them pretty thin on the ground. We need ten really good stories, and really only like 5-6 so far.
Twelve Dancing Princes, Grimms/Germany
at least one fairy folk dancing under the hill--Ireland, Scotland, Wales
we have a couple of Norwegian fragments
Seven Star Brothers--Native American
Either "Bouki Dances the Kokioko (Haiti) or Making the Stone Smoke (West Indies)
The Mad Dancers--Jewish
Hill of Chu Kapoj Guatamala
Dancing Stone (Hawaii)
Lady in White Czech
possible others: Shiva dancing India
Dancing Palm Tree Nigeria
We could use some leads. Thanks.
Jane
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(5/7/04 8:47 pm)
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Re: folktales about dance
Isn't Katie Crackernuts's prince exhausted all the time because he's dancing w/the fairies? I might be misremembering.
And Helen, who's hanging out here tonight, said "What about the Red Shoes?"
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InkGypsy
Unregistered User
(5/7/04 8:52 pm)
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Folktales about dance
I'm assuming you've ruled out The Red Shoes by HCA...
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InkGypsy
Unregistered User
(5/7/04 8:55 pm)
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Simultaneous posting sorry!
Sorry about the double up - hit send and there it already was (!). Will keep looking though..
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InkGypsy
Unregistered User
(5/7/04 9:17 pm)
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More substantial input..
..how about Cap O' Rushes (English Fairy Tale) I think it's in the Jacob's collections.
Also found this link: faerymists.tripod.com/fyt...HE%20ELVES
"The Elves Dance" - from Sweden
Have you considered using "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"? The ballerina is central and symbolic - I've seen versions where she's forced to dance only for the bully in the nursery - a black goblin, sometimes Jack-in-the-Box.
There's the story of "Giselle" (is there a folk version other than that used for the ballet?) - she dances for joy, dances to her death then her Prince is almost forced to dance to his death by the vengeful Wilis but she saves him safe till dawn when she and they are no more...
And Hans Andersen has a little story called "Dance, Dance Doll
Of Mine!" which reads more like a story waiting to happen than
anything else. Here's a link to the text translation: www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk...ine_e.html
Will keep hunting..
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janeyolen
Registered User
(5/8/04 4:34 am)
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Re: Thanks so far
Thanks for all the suggestions.
We have thought long and hard about HCA but these are to be folktales, not art tales, and we really want a preponderance of "up" stories, positive stories about dance. (It is to be gorgeously illustrated and for a young audience.)
Dance has to be a central element in the story, not just "And they went to the ball." Or "She danced in red hot iron shoes till she dropped down dead."
As to Kate Crackernuts etc., it is a 12 Dancing Princesses variant.
And we need to get more non-European stories. And definitely more non-British Isles.
Jane
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Jess
Unregistered User
(5/8/04 8:43 am)
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Other Asian? North American
Jane,
I am surprised there are no Chinese or Japanese tales about dancing that are bright and happy. I have a friend living in Japan right now who is Tawainese, and her mother's family is from the Mainland. I will have to ask her if she or her mother have any favorite "dancing" folktales from their childhoods (and titles). Since she is in Japan right now, I will ask her too to ask the other mothers/librarians/friendsl if they know of any Japanese tales that would fit the bill. She loves this kind of thing too. We often discuss writing and tales together.
Does the "dancing" need to be female or female/male dancing? I wonder if in some cultures if men danced more than women, and if the tales would center on men dancing (to ask for help or guidance)? Would that be okay?
Jess
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jane
Unregistered User
(5/8/04 11:44 am)
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Thanks.
Thanks for pointing me to the Scandanavian stories. Both are variants of stories I knew, but I like them better.
As to boy or girl or men or women dancing--we want good dance stories. But not a preponderance of men/boys dancing as we expect the girls will be more attracted to this book than the boys.
As far as Giselle goes, I meant to say above that our ballet book is coming out this fall (we didn 't use Giselle, though.) However, it is not so much about dancing as it is a ballet.
Jane
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Amal
Registered User
(5/8/04 7:40 pm)
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Re: Thanks.
It's more in the realm of mythology than folktale, but if you're including Shiva, what about Ishtar's dance into the underworld for Dumuzi?
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janeyolen
Registered User
(5/9/04 5:49 am)
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Alas
Amal--the problem with using the story of Ishtar is that she is NOT dancing as she goes down into the underworld. Yes, there is some thought that the dance of the seven veils (and the story of Salome) may harken back to the Ishtar tale, but in the story itself she is not dancing.
Jane
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InkGypsy
Unregistered User
(5/9/04 5:50 pm)
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Still searching
OK - here's a funny one - probably not what you're looking for as the main protagonist in a little boy but it's very funny and from Zimbabwe:
www.spiritoftrees.org/fol...ature.html
Also had a thought about the ballet Spectre de la Rosa. The girl goes to the equivalent of a coming-out ball (coming of age, that is) then returns home with a head full of music and dreamy images - the Spirit of the rose comes alive and woos her to dance with him in her dream. Dance is used more as a metaphor more than a story point or anything else so I'll keep hunting.
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mmcphie
Unregistered User
(5/9/04 5:57 pm)
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Dancing Stories
What about "The Weeping Lass at the Dancing Place"?
or "Anansi's Hat-Shaking Dance"?
or "Coyote Dances with the Stars"?
or "Conejito" or "Roly Poly Rice Ball" from Margaret Read MacDonald?
Marilyn McPhie
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InkGypsy
Unregistered User
(5/9/04 6:03 pm)
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Wakakirri Story-Dance
And while you're on the subject of dance and stories you may segway (sp?) into taking a look at this web page .. wish I was home to go check it out! Haven't found any Aboriginal dance-specific stories in my collections yet though.
www.wakakirri.com/about.html
On the Aussie front, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (by May Gibbs) are a collection of Euro-Australian (ie. not Native Aboriginal but more modern with a definite European influence but remaining specifically Australian) fantasy-folk stories that use the native flora and fauna come-to-life. No dance-centric ones I can think of but it reminds me of the Waltz of the Flowers. Again, not quite what you're looking for but the tangents while researching are interesting.
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InkGypsy
Unregistered User
(5/9/04 6:39 pm)
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Dreamtime story - Brolga
I knew I'd find one! This link gives the legend and a little info about the bird as well.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brolga
Bangarra Dance Theater in Australia recently based a piece on this legend too. There's a dance journal called "Brolga" and I remember seeing a painting called "Dance of the Brolgas" (artist: Sidney Nolan I think) with a nymph like figure playing pipes alongside the dancing birds in a landscape but I can't find a visual link for you.
There's also apparently an Aboriginal Legend legend that goes something like: "girls who do too much dancing and not enough work will be changed into brolgas.."
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aka
Greensleeves
(5/10/04 9:20 am)
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Re: Dreamtime story - Brolga
Have you checked back issues of Parabola? Volume 4 issue
2 had the theme of "Sacred Dance: moving to worship, moving
to transcend." I don't know what was included in that, but
it might be worth looking into.
Edited by: aka Greensleeves at: 5/10/04 9:21 am
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janeyolen
Registered User
(5/10/04 2:03 pm)
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Re: Dreamtime story - Brolga
Thanks all. The Australian story is the most interestingformour project, I think.
Jane
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Erica
Carlson
Registered User
(5/10/04 6:20 pm)
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Re: Dreamtime story - Brolga
I'm having a devil of a time locating the reference, and it may be too Western anyway, but isn't there a version of the Demeter-Persephone myth where Iambe dances to make Demeter laugh?
--E.
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Veronica
Schanoes
Registered User
(5/10/04 8:03 pm)
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Re: Dreamtime story - Brolga
In Helene P. Foley's translation of The Homeric Hymn to Demeter,
Iambe jests and mocks. I had some classics teachers who told me
that there's a tradition that Iambe lifted up her skirt and showed
Demeter her vulva. Don't know anything about dancing, though.
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janeyolen
Registered User
(5/11/04 4:58 am)
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Re: Thanks again
You are all wonderful. (But I knew that already.) Am considering the Scottish "Girl on the Dancing Ground" though it is really a "Wife of Ushur's Well" type story more than a dancing story.
We have ruled out (except for one West Indian Anansi story) animals dancing stories.
Jane
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Jessica
Unregistered User
(5/12/04 12:41 am)
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reply
What about the Japanese tale (granted, I think it's more myth than folktale) of Uzume & Amaterasu?
The basic gist of the story is (a) Susano (god of storms) so disgusts his sister Amaterasu (sun-goddess) that she locks herself away in the Cave of Heaven. (b) Dark, sunless world is bad for everybody. (c) Amaterasu refuses to come out. (d) To coax her out, Uzume invents dance. (e) All the gods holler in amazement at the new art-form. (f) Finally, Amaterasu gets so curious, she opens the cave and shines again on the world. Disaster averted.
--Jessica
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janeyolen
Registered User
(5/12/04 4:50 am)
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Re: reply
Amaterasu (sp???) sounds really interesting. I am reading about her now, Thanks for pointing me in that direction.
Jane
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