S24 Performance of Children's Literature

CASD 1717 – Spring 2024

Dancing Little Red Riding Hood

Watch: 3 Short Ballet Videos

In the Tchaikovsky ballet Sleeping Beauty, there is a scene that features many fairy tale characters, including Little Red Riding Hood. Below are three different versions of the brief piece that shows The Little Red Riding Hood story. Pay close attention to how movement tells the story.

Each of these videos use the same music but slightly different choreography to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood in less than 90 seconds. How does the movement of the dancer’s body help to tell each version of the story?

Go Back
Other cultural Little Red Riding Hoods

Comments

22 responses to “Performing and Filming Little Red Riding Hood”

  1. Badra Ahmad Avatar
    Badra Ahmad

    the dancer’s graceful and cautious movements may depict Little Red Riding Hood’s innocence and vulnerability as she ventures through the forest. In the other interpretation, the dancer’s quick and darting motions might convey her growing apprehension and fear as she encounters the wolf. The use of gestures and facial expressions can help portray key moments in the story, such as Little Red Riding Hood’s interaction with the wolf and her eventual escape. Overall, the choreography works in harmony with the music to evoke the emotions and narrative of the classic tale, offering viewers a visual representation of the story’s themes and dynamics.

    Reply
  2. Renee Montperous Avatar
    Renee Montperous

    Along with the music, the dancer’s movements provide a unique style. The dancers in the first video begin the scene with a swift and graceful dance, enjoying themselves as she wander through the woods. She trusts the wolf and they dance together and the wolf takes her away but the last two videos their dancing appears to be more about edging away from the wolf and how they manage to escape. Especially in the second video she signals the wolf ‘no” through out her dance, as if she didn’t trust him from the very begnning.

    Reply
  3. Obeed Ahmed Avatar
    Obeed Ahmed

    The innocence and fragility of Little Red Riding Hood as she makes her way through the woodland may be portrayed by the dancer’s delicate and cautious moves. According to the other reading, the dancer’s fast and erratic movements might represent her increasing anxiety and apprehension upon seeing the wolf. In the first video, the dancers enter the scene with a quick and elegant dance, clearly having fun as they stroll through the woods.

    Reply
  4. Hasiena Madramootoo Avatar
    Hasiena Madramootoo

    These dancers showcases a variety of body movement and facial expression, that helps to tells a different version of the story. In the first video the dancer presents the idea of playfulness as she goes through the woods. In the other video the dancers movements presents the idea of awareness as the quickly get away from the wolf.

    Reply
  5. Natasha Marques Avatar
    Natasha Marques

    All three videos you can tell that they are telling the same part of the story. Red entering the forest and heading to grandma’s house and their encounter with the wolf. You can hear the blissful music and the smooth and graceful movements to go along. You can also see when the music gets high and deep that danger is around and to be cautious.

    Reply
    1. Quesia Cruz Avatar
      Quesia Cruz

      Hi Natasha, youre right I was able to tell when if was dangerous, when the wolf would come around their body felt certain kind of tension.

      Reply
  6. Vanessa Alamo Avatar
    Vanessa Alamo

    These dancers give a different interpretation of the story with a range of body language and facial expressions. The way she moves so gracefully and beautifully can almost show how a girl or young woman would be described in a book. The dancer in the first movie captures a lighthearted sense as she travels through the woods. Through their movements, the dancers in the other movie demonstrate awareness as they make a quick getaway from the wolf.

    Reply
  7. Ekaterini Fasarakis Avatar
    Ekaterini Fasarakis

    The dancers and variety of movements allow the audience to understand the storyline. Using facial expressions and gestures on the stage also allows the audience to understand the feelings involved while the dancers move across the stage. The music plays a big role in setting the tone of each part of the dance as the music grows louder and deeper something bad is bound to happen. I also noticed that the second video shows how Little Red Riding Hood escaped the Wolf compared to the other two where she was captured by the Wolf and dragged off stage. The audience knows the basic storyline and they can predict the ending.

    Reply
  8. hannah xhani Avatar
    hannah xhani

    Every Little Red Riding Hood story was presented with the dancer’s body moving in an active and expressive way to communicate the feelings and story points particular to that interpretation, enhancing the audience’s perception and comprehension .

    Reply
  9. Marissa Acosta Avatar
    Marissa Acosta

    The dancers in these videos demonstrate complex and layered emotions depicted on their faces and through their cohesive body movements. It’s graceful yet dark and deep – showing the anxieties and innocence in the story.

    Reply
    1. Quesia Cruz Avatar
      Quesia Cruz

      Hi Marissa, you explained it just the way it is, their body would deliver complex emotions that we were able to identify what was happening in the story.

      Reply
  10. Milen Bekis Avatar
    Milen Bekis

    The dancers in all three videos are very elegant and graceful. They each move so innocently and careless. The wolf on the other hand is like praying on the little red riding hood. This reminds me of how women in the modern world have to be scared of walking on the streets alone. Especially at night. The first video does a great job at showing this, how little red riding hood goes to her grandmas house and is obviously walking there while someone is praying on her.

    Reply
  11. Quesia Cruz Avatar
    Quesia Cruz

    How does the movement of the dancer’s body help to tell each version of the story

    The dancer’s body helps tell each version of the story by acting accordingly to what was happening in the story, when the wolf would come out they would exchange some dialog even if there were no words the movement would say so, we would clearly observe when little red riding hood was trying to get away from the wolf but at the end of the play it would end like the original story, the would would end up eating her.

    Reply
  12. Basamat Hamdan Avatar
    Basamat Hamdan

    Little Red Riding Hood’s movements are slow in this video, emphasizing how clueless and innocent she is as she wanders through the forest and speaks to the wolf. The wolf ends up carrying the girl away, signaling that he achieved his goal of eating her.

    In the second one, the girl doesn’t want anything to do with the wolf. This is evident in the way she shakes her hands and arms, almost to say “no.” She also hides behind the trees and runs away from the wolf. I assume she’s meant to survive in this ending, as she didn’t get carried away. This version emphasizes her escape really well!

    The last video had the girl actually dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, as she had the little basket of food and her hood on. The wolf’s character had on a full face covering, but otherwise dressed more like a prince. Perhaps this is to symbolize the deception. Similar to the first video, the girl is carried away in this version. However, she is clearly apprehensive of the wolf and tries to get him away from her by making him look away.

    Reply
  13. Cheyenne La Fritz Avatar
    Cheyenne La Fritz

    1) Little Red Riding Hood puts her arms towards the wolf with the rest of her body away from him. She would sometimes put her head in her hands and bend forward, looking in pain or frightened.
    2) Little Red Riding Hood cries and shakes her hands while walking backward to indicate she does not want the wolf to approach her. She then hides in the trees, getting away from the wolf.
    3) Little Red Riding Hood uses her pointer finger to indicate she is confused or thinking. The wolf, one step behind her follows her movement. Their splitting shows the two different paths they can take.

    Reply
  14. Ashley Arely Vila Avatar
    Ashley Arely Vila

    Each of these videos use the same music but slightly different choreography to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood in less than 90 seconds. How does the movement of the dancer’s body help to tell each version of the story?

    the movements of the dancer’s body helps each version tell the story by over exaggerating movements and emphasizing their facial expressions. In some she would look frightened and in other scenes she would run and hide.

    Reply
  15. Aya Ibrahim Avatar
    Aya Ibrahim

    The movement of the dancer’s body helps to tell each version of the story in that while it is mostly silent except for the music, the characters make gestures appropriate to the sequence of events taking place. For instance, the dancer that represents Little Red Riding Hood initially is much more carefree, as this is representative of her naivety of the approaching danger of the wolf, and thus her movements are less hurried and more leisurely. However, once the wolf character appears, you can see the dancer who represents Red shift from surprised to curious and to then uncomfortable as his intentions become clearer when he does not leave her alone. You can really feel her anxiety through her facial expressions and the change in choreography.

    Reply
  16. Martina Arriola Avatar
    Martina Arriola

    In each performance, the dancers use precise movements to convey the essence of Little Red Riding Hood’s story. Moscow Ballet’s version employs graceful leaps and delicate gestures to depict her innocence and vulnerability. On the contrary, Maria Mishina & Dmitry Ulyanov’s interpretation showcases powerful, dynamic movements reflecting the confrontation between Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. The Royal Ballet’s rendition combines elegance with agility, capturing the whimsical and adventurous spirit of the tale.
    Each dancer’s body language speaks the narrative nuances, evoking emotions and enhancing the storytelling experience.

    Reply
  17. Revette Hinkson Avatar
    Revette Hinkson

    The movement of the dancer’s body in the first dance, seem to project more carefree spirit as her movements made her appear vulnerable, seemingly being a bit playful with the wolf, while the dancer in second choreography appears to express more fear. In the third video, in my opinion the dancer’s movement expressed some curiosity at first but this seem to be rapidly followed by fear.

    Reply
  18. Jennifer F. Angel Avatar
    Jennifer F. Angel

    The expressions of the dancers change depending on the character. In all of the videos the dancer that is Little Red Riding Hood takes long strides and soft hops. She twirls and leaps meanwhile, the Wolf jumps and throws himself to the ground. He makes big gestures and surrounds Little Red Riding Hood. It shows who is the innocent one and who is not, the wolf is invading Little Red Riding Hood’s space. Something that also should be considered is the music as well, when Little Red Riding Hood is prancing around the music is softer and when the wolf comes around the music gets louder. The music is soft to show innocence and calmness and the loud music makes everyone stop and worry what is going to happen. It is a disruption to the wonder of Little Red Riding Hood.

    Reply
  19. Hanan Almoflihi Avatar
    Hanan Almoflihi

    It was very cool to see how the dancers told a story without words, and just used their body movements and facial expressions to preform the story. The delicate movements of the little red riding hood dancers, and the aggressive big movements of the wolf dancers were similar through both dances. The plots and endings were drastically different, with one having a happy ending and one having a sad one.

    Reply
  20. Juliana Moreno Duran Avatar
    Juliana Moreno Duran

    This was such a different experience!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *