Back in 2019, I saw (and reviewed) the premiere of Grimm Tales, a new ballet by Artistic Director Stephen Mills. A link to my original review is below. This revival of Grimm Tales was performed at the Long Center in Austin this past weekend.
Mills wrote the ballet based on three tales published by the Brothers Grimm, and they were grim tales indeed. The Juniper Tale, which concluded the ballet, featured an extended scene of cannibalism.
“These stories were never written for children. They were published between 1812 and 1857,” explained Natalie Frank, whose artwork served as a dramatic backdrop to the ballet. “The Grimm brothers were philologists in Germany, who compiled encyclopedias and dictionaries for the royal court. They had women story-tellers come from all over Germany to tell them these tales, dating back to the 13th century. The tales were a way for women to talk about their lives. Often there was not enough to eat, so there was cannibalization.”
I spoke to one long-time ballet attendee, who had missed the 2019 performance. Her view was less than sanguine. “The music was thoroughly fitting to the somewhat medieval (crayon?) sketches of the Germanic ‘fasnacht’ or Carnival evening, where grotesque animated figures prowl the city streets. But the ballet itself was boring.
“The original costumes entertained for a good portion of the three selected tales, but once I absorbed all the colours, shapes and hues I was yawning. Especially repetitive was Snow White, where the words ‘Mirror Mirror on the Wall’ appeared at least five times. We got it the first time! And there were only four dwarfs. Where were the other three?” In the original Snow White, published by the Grimm Brothers in 1812, the dwarf count was seven, so it does seem curious to introduce fewer in the ballet.
At least the music was beyond reproach. Even Mills described it as “sinister in many ways.” The composer Graham Reynolds gave his thoughts on it:
“I like every palette to be different. Some are more different than others, depending on the source material. I’ve really always liked writing for dance and I really like writing for visual arts. I like to put up the artbook on the piano, open it to a page, and start playing to capture some ideas and then notate them. One thing I’d forgotten was how much I had written for violin: Alexis Buffum (who teaches violin in Austin) played all the violin parts.”
The stand-out performance of the evening was by Colin Canavan as the King in The Frog King. As silent film actors knew, exaggerated movements were key to expressing thoughts and emotions. Canavan took this to the next level, taking a truly royal command of the action. Other lead ballet performers include Alyssa Manguiat as the Princess and Paul Martin as the Frog King. In Snow White, Grace Morton as Snow White; and in The Juniper Tree Amaya Joseph and Morgan Stillman as the Mother & Father; and Colin Heino as the Bird.
We are very fortunate to have such a world-class Artistic Director here in Austin. The work of Mills and his sterling company of performers does great credit to our city. I urge more locals to take advantage of this, especially as the upcoming season promises such extraordinary delights as a vampiric Marie Antoinette!
My review from 2019 gives further insight into the ballet, and includes an artwork by Frank:
For tickets to future performances visit www.balletaustin.org
Lead photo: The Frog King with the Princess
second photo: Reynolds (l), Mills, and Frank
third photo: Curtain call at the Long Center
