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Thumbelina

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A one-act ballet about the journey of Thumbelina—a tiny being navigating a world of giants and insects as she searches for belonging.  Thumbelina’s odyssey unfolds through a series of encounters with creatures both threatening and compassionate: a kidnapping toad, rescuing fish, a fickle beetle, a pragmatic mouse, and ultimately a wounded swallow who leads her to her true community.  Music and costumes evoke the baroque, while the contemporary ballet choreography -- inspired by animal locomotion -- reveals the structural bones of the H. C. Anderson's beloved fairy tale: a poignant dance narrative about finding one's place .

Synopsis

Scene 1: A tulip in Spring. 

Thumbelina is born in a tulip. She is the size of the gardeners's human thumb , which we  may see via shadow puppet effects behind a white scrim.

Scene 2: A lily pad in Summer

Thumbelina kidnapped by a bossy toad who attempts to teach her to move like an amphibian.  Frustrated by her relative lack of ballon., he tries to teach her "proper" toad postures and locomotion and becomes increasingly domineering.  She is subsequently rescued by several little fish, but cannot keep up with their synchronized swimming patterns and gets lost.  

Scene 3: A beetle's nest

Thumbelina follows a butterfly for a while, but is soon kidnapped by a beetle, who takes a liking to her.  But he critiques her lack of exoskeleton and wing structure. Demonstrating complex insect articulation, he expects her to mimic it, growing increasingly impatient with her bipedal motion. The beetle abandons her.

Scene 4: A mouse's house in Autumn

Thumbelina meets kindly Mrs. Mouse who takes her in, serves her tea and comforts her.  Mrs Mouse is well-intentioned and hatches a plan to marry Thumbelina to pompous Mr. Mole. He is rich but stiff and tiresome.  He proposes, and without waiting for her response begins a rehearsal of a formal wedding dance.  

Scene 5: A mole's tunnel in Winter

Preparing for her wedding, Thumbelina is sad. She discovers a swallow who at first seems to be dead but is in fact only chilled.  She revives him.  In gratitude he offers her a ride far away from the mole.'s tunnel.  

Scene 6: A garden in Spring

The swallow gently deposits Thumbelina in a garden, where she discovers a tiny flower prince her own size, and several of his friends.  They move and dance like her, and she understands the patterns of their ensemble dances.  At last she has found her place and her people.  They crown her with her very own flower and all dance happily together.

Overall Cast:

7-8 dancers / 10-11 costumes, with hats, masks, tails, fingers that can be removed or added to a base layer. 

Music

Piano works by Francois Couperin.  

230 short pieces are available, ranging from 1:30 to 5:45 in duration.  They could be combined with works by Rameau if necessary. 

"The little fishes who swam about in the water beneath, had seen the toad, and heard what he said, so they lifted their heads above the water to look at the little maiden. "

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"A graceful little white butterfly constantly fluttered round her, and at last alighted on the leaf."

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Costumes

Only Thumbelina is dressed in bright colors.  Other characters wear a white or gray base layer.  On top of this they may wear a mask, a tail, or long, articulated beetle fingers -- -parts that evoke the whole of the creature they are portraying, but allow them to change character without a full costume change.  At the end, the flower fairies are, like Thumbelina in full color.  

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Toad Mask

Beetle inspiration

Thumbelina inspiration

There is no horse character, but I like the semi transparent look of this mask, with visible boning. 

Articulated fingers for the beetle. 

Flower fairy hat

Mole idea.jpg

Mole idea

Swallow concept.jpg

Bird inspiration

I have done a piece for Ballet Memphis  (pictured below) which used this idea of a base layer with additional pieces that could be added and removed.  These pieces are made of horsehair mesh, which evokes a "skeletal-baroque" aesthetic that could work well here.  

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