Embodying fairy tales: composition training in narrative, image, and performance

Abstract

In this article, the authors discuss the results of a semester-long collaborative teaching project that melded composition training practices with traditional literary methods in an interdisciplinary university course for performing and non-performing arts undergraduate students. Drawing on disability studies perspectives, students used light, sound, and movement to reform traditional fairy tales, including the Grimms’ ‘Snow White’, ‘Hansel and Gretel’, and ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ as well as Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’ and the ‘Little Mermaid’ to challenge constructions of normalcy. This paper details the embodied practices and pedagogies used to train performing arts and non-performing arts students in composition techniques and to facilitate the creation of interdisciplinary performances that challenged the ableist ideologies contained within familiar fairy tale narratives.