Mermaids with Legs

With the growing craze of making books and musicals into movies and then putting movies back into books and musicals, it is natural that Disney’s The Little Mermaid became a ballet. However, this particular story proves a little more challenging to adapt to the ballet medium than Lion King did because, let’s face it, dancers have legs and mermaids don’t. 

It is hard to find the first ballet company that not only gave the Little Mermaid legs but also put her on pointe, but several companies have taken on the challenge of presenting The Little Mermaid as a chance to expand their creativity in costuming and props, and developing their artistry to portray mermaids, sea creatures, and humans.

The Inland Pacific Ballet Company based their production on the Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen’s story, complete with fishy props and a spectacular shipwreck. Inland Pacific Ballet kept Disney’s happy ending, but changed the Little Mermaid back into a mermaid and her prince join her under the sea as a merman.  

Another ballet company approaches The Little Mermaid quite differently. The San Francisco Ballet was more concerned about sticking to Andersen’s original story, highlighting the details Disney did not include in order to emphasize the Little Mermaid’s loss of love. German choreographer for the San Francisco Ballet, Neumeier, is fascinated with pain, choreographing dances where the Little Mermaid can barely walk on land and shedding tears over her prince, so his Little Mermaid winces across the stage. 

A male “sea witch” dominates the stage with imposing moves and demonic costuming. The Mermaid also loses her tail, not her voice, for the price of gaining legs. This makes the story more relevant to the ballet world because the dancers do not talk during ballets anyway.  

Neumeier wanted to show Andersen’s original ending, and he did this by twisting an unusual frame story around the popularly known Little Mermaid: A poet creates our heroine from a tear of longing he sheds in the sea over losing his best male friend to marriage. In the end, it is because the poet created the mermaid and identifies with her intense grief that gives the Little Mermaid an immortal soul. 

This version was aired on PBS in 2011 and became immensely popular for its portrayal of grief and the questions it presents of male-male relationships. These adult themes change the story from Andersen’s intention of teaching children to be good (so that by being good, children help give good mermaids souls so that they may gain access to heaven) to focusing on love and addressing current political concerns and societal issues--just as we see demonstrated by this YouTube clip:

Through the ballets, we see that Andersen’s story continues to change and evolve beyond Disney, making the themes of the story more relevant to the concerns of their audiences.

Another recommended ballet to watch was produced by the California Arts Academy:

BROADWAY!

When the story of the Little Mermaid is referred to in a conversation, most people think of the happy love story between Ariel and Prince Eric - Flounder and Sebastian the crab aiding her, while the evil Ursula tries her hardest to thwart the inevitable "True Love's Kiss." I think it is safe to say that at least 75% of American children have seen the animated Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. Disney movies have become a huge part of American culture because of "The American Dream" that started this country and has kept it alive until today. People came, and still come to America in search of greener pastures, hoping for more than they could ever dream of in their home country. These hopes are based on stories and tales that they have heard from those who have traveled and come back, letters they have received, and even just imaginations of what a better world would be like. America, to many people, is whatever they want it to be.

All of these hopes, dreams, and aspirations have been translated into the stories that are shared among groups in America. The stories we share are about the struggles between good and evil with good ultimately prevailing, finding true love and getting it, fighting for freedom and receiving it, and glossing over violence or minimizing the seriousness of graphic life situations. The stories we tell are meant to make us feel good and give us hope - to make us happy.

When you look at the elements of the Disney and Broadway musical of The Little Mermaid, comparing them to Hans Christian Andersen story (one of the closest written documents we have of the story), you can see how "The American Dream" has influenced and drastically changed them. Many of the fairytales that we know seem so child friendly, but when we read the original versions from Hans Christensen and the Grimm Brothers we sometimes cringe and are unsatisfied with the endings. There weren't many "happily ever after's" back in the day.

There are a few differences between the movie version and the broadway version which are mostly due to stage limitations. Prince Eric does not have dog; there is not a huge storm that destroys the ship; instead of using Flotsam and Jetsam to spy on Ariel, Ursula uses a magical Nautilus shell; Ursula's alter ego, Vanessa, is not there; and Ursula does not grow to monstrous proportions at the very end. Other than that, the only difference between the movie and the musical is that they add a few songs to the musical.

The differences between the Hans Christian Andersen version, however, are drastic. I will only highlight the major differences, or the ones that really change the meaning of the story. We all remember the story, like I said already, as Ariel seeking "True Love's Kiss" after she makes a deal with Ursula. Ariel only has three days to make Prince Eric fall in love with her but in return for receiving legs, Ariel has to give her voice to Ursula for those three days. That's not so bad. Originally though, Ursula cut Ariel's tongue out and the legs that she was given weren't all that great. Even though she was the most beautiful dancer, every step she took felt as if she were walking on knives and she sometimes bled. We definitely cannot tell our children stories like that! Also, she was meant to marry Prince Eric and as soon as he married somebody else the deal would be off and Ariel would be turned to sea foam.

It is interesting to note that not only were the conditions of the deal changed but Ariel's entire motive for going to the Sea Witch (in the Hans Christian Andersen) in the first place. She did fall in love with the Prince when she saved him, but the reason she wanted to be with the humans and marry Prince Eric was because she wanted to live forever after she died. Mermaids turn to sea foam when they die but humans spirits live on when they die. In the Broadway version, Ariel's only motive for going to live with the humans is because she is in love with Prince Eric. It is true lives kiss that will allow her to keep her legs and live happily ever after with the Prince.

It is interesting to see the shifting and differing values between different cultures and between different time periods. The word "fairytale" means something totally different to someone that lived in Denmark 200 years compared to someone who lives in America right now. There isn't anything wrong with the different values, it just makes for an insightful study to see what things are more important to one people than to another. There is a lot to be learned from both types of stories, the old  ones and the new ones. In addition to that, it seems that even though we like to change stories to fit our circumstances, we don't come up with as many new ones.

Something that I won't go into right now would be to ask the questions:

Why are the different values portrayed today more important to us? 

Are they as important to you personally as they seem to be to society?

What values from the old stories are still important to you? 

Which story would you rather tell to your children? To a friend? Would it be a combination? 

Why did Disney change it from Denmark to France???

The Statue of the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen, Denmark

The statue of the Little Mermaid is a very monumental piece in Copenhagen, Denmark. it represents symbolism and nationalism for the community. It also represents the fairy tale, and a love story. People often say that the statue is on a rock because it is suppose to symbolize Ariel going to shore to look for Prince Eric. 

Some interesting facts about this statue is: 

• Receives more than 1 million visitors per year.
• The "icon" of Denmark
• Sculpted by Edvard Erikson
• The model for his statue was his wife
• Approximately 14 copies around the world (United States, Brazil, Romania, and Spain)

They just celebrated their 100th year anniversary last August in 2013. The statue was made in the early 1900's and the original statue is kept secret with Edvard, himself. Just like the Statue of Liberty is a prominent figure in New York, this statue acts as a prominent figure in Denmark,

If you are ever in Denmark it is definitely an attraction to go see!

Rusalka

Among other art forms, the story of the little mermaid is represented in the opera Rusalka, Op. 114, by Antonín Dvořák. Hans Christian Andersen originally wrote his folktale in the early 1800's but Rusalka was performed in early 1900's. 

Rusalka is a water nymph, a female spirit in Slavic mythology. Her name comes directly from East Slavic русалка (originally meaning "red-haired girl") and still vernacularly translates as "mermaid" from Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian. Rusalka also appears in West Slavic folklore under the names víla (Czech, Slovak) or wiła(Polish). For those Harry Potter fans out there, YES, the Veela from the Quidditch World Cup are related. J.K. Rowling wrote it as a reference to the Greek sirens referred to in Homer's The Odyssey. So think of it this way: Greek Sirens = Veela = Mermaid = Red-haired Girl = Rusalka, yes?

The original tale of the little mermaid is quite different from the Disney version you may all know. We will elaborate on that later. But I want to show some differences between the operatic interpretation Rusalka and Hans Christian Anderson's version. First off, Rusalka is a water nymph that resides in a lake, rather than the ocean. And the witch that she goes to is a witch of the forest, of whom both sea creature and human alike go to for potions and magic.

In the Hans Christian Anderson version of the story, he depicts the witch as a sea monster mixed with an old lady (think Ursula from Disney...).

And the deal that the mermaid cuts with this witch has more dire consequences in the opera than in the folk story. In the opera, if the wedding doesn't workout between Rusalka and the Prince, then they both will be eternally damned. But in the folk story, the little mermaid is the only one that gets punished: she cannot have true love or an eternal soul. Both stories end with her not getting with the prince. But in the opera, she ends up turning into a demon of death. In the folk story, she just turns into sea foam. 

Because this story is a variation on the folk story, we have to ask why it was reproduced in operatic form? Society seems to demand it as a form of entertainment. But because it is an opera, there are some implications to note.

When people go to the opera they feel more educated or high society, right? It's not like you go to an opera and then walk away feeling more stupid or uneducated. Opera is sometimes referred to as the highest art form because it combines orchestra, acting, art, and singing. So by attending this opera, people can feel more apart of the opera connoisseur group. 

People are also connected by the expression of unattainable love. I think many of us have experienced one-sided, unattainable love before. It seems to be a human theme that we demand from the media. So the media gives it to us. And because it is in a foreign language, it forces those who do not speak that language to be more culturally aware. It is easy for us to think that we are the only ones on this planet and that everyone speaks English. But this story of Rusalka can remind us English speakers that there are good things that come from other cultures too!

This is Renee Fleming singing the famous "Moon Aria" from Rusalka. Enjoy-

WELCOME!