Performances ran August 3-10 at the Proscenium theatre at the University of Minnesota's Rarig center.

CRITICAL/AUDIENCE RESPONSE

“It conjures a romantic, malevolent world. Vera Mariner is the star of the Minnesota Shakespeare Project’s adult retelling of the familiar fairy tale. As narrator and a participant she conjures a world both romantic and malevolent. The movement-based work neatly differentiates the 12 princesses with scant use of dialogue. The minimalist staging wisely leaves the enchantment to the imagination. This exploration of passion and compulsion, love and family does not take itself too seriously, leavening the profundity with humor. In the end, it is deeply moving.”
—William Randall Beard, Star Tribune

“There is something extremely intriguing and powerful about a chorus of 12 beautifully presented women on stage … or of course, anywhere for that matter. The entire company (and there are a lot of them) played the space with utter grace … such physical lightness, poise and precision of ensemble movement: this is not easy to achieve. It’s obvious that a lot of work has gone into this piece. It made me want to go home a find a classic tale or myth to read … and then put it on stage. ... Charming, well presented, beautiful chorus movement, with a touch of play. Go and see it, allow yourself to be charmed.”
—Jon Ferguson, audience member

“Just a really beautiful production all the way around—wonderful for children and adults!”
—Lynette Eastwold, audience member

STORY REFERENCES

In creating the script for this production, we read many versions of the classic fairytale. If you are finding this page because you are researching versions of the tale, here is a peephole into our research (in no particular order):

The Phoenix Dance
Dia Calhoun
This young-adult novel views the story through the lens of bipolar disorder. A very interesting and enlightening read.

The Night Dance
Suzanne Wehn
Another young-adult novelization of the story. This version incorporates Arthurian legend.

“The Girl Detective”
Included in Stranger Things Happen; Kelly Link (Small Beer Press : Brooklyn, NY : 2001)
A very interesting, completely non-linear story. It is not directly the story of the 12 Dancing Princesses, but uses many motifs and themes from the story ... and features the 12 Tap-Dancing Bank Robbers. It deals primarily with the issue of missing mothers, an idea which was very important in our telling of the story.

“The Twelve Dancing Princesses”
by Patricia A. McKillip. Included in A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales; ed. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers : New York : 2000)
A wonderfully eerie version of the story, basically following the plot outline of the Grimm version (a soldier, invisibility cloak, etc.)

“The Twelve Dancing Princesses”
by Anne Sexton. Included in Transformations (Mariner Books : Boston : 2001 ... originally published in 1971).
Sexton's Transformations, which are modern poetic re-imaginings of Grimm's fairy tales, shows the princesses as misunderstood party girls.

"The Princess with the Twelve Pairs of Golden Shoes"
Danish, traditional. Included in Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales; Marie-Louise von Franz (Inner City Books : Toronto : 1997).
This version of the story features one princess and twelve pairs of shoes. It also has an interesting twist on the underground groves of trees. We took from this story the idea that the solver of the mystery doesn't reveal the secret until he is on the gallows awaiting execution.

Illustrated versions:
There are many story-book versions of the story. I have listed these by illustrator, as most of the text is very close to Grimm or the French (Andrew Lang) version. I have also included a description of the illustrative style.

Errol Le Cain, 1978 - Rococco ... still the standard for beautiful illustrations.

Isadore Selzer, 1988 - Renaissance

Anne Dalton, 1989 - Rococco

Kinuko Y. Craft, 1989 - Italian Renaissance ... slight twist to the French version of the story in this one, with a prophecy of doom delivered to the ailing queen before she died. Story re-told by Marianna Mayer.

Ruth Sanderson, 1990 - Medieval

Dorothée Duntze, 1995 - Whimsical pastels ... the boats are shoes, etc.

Jane Ray, 1996 - Sort of folk-arty ... full of beautiful pattern and detail.

Gordon Fitchett, 2000 - All the characters are depicted as ducks.