Audience guide for: May 16-18, 2014 (Discover Dance performance, May 16, 10:00am) The Vets, Providence, RI Original Story Choreography Music JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE JORDEN MORRIS Sir BENJAMIN BRITTEN, ERIC COATES, Sir EDWARD ELGAR, RON GOODWIN, MONTAGUE PHILLIPS BRENNA DiFRANCESCO AS TINKERBELL. PHOTO BY A. CEMAL EKIN.
Dear Educator, Next week, Festival Ballet Providence performs the magical ballet Peter Pan. The audience, whether student or adult will be transported to a world of swashbuckling pirates, crocodiles, fairies, and characters who fly through the air. The company s beautiful dancing as well as the dazzling music, sets, and costumes are sure to capture the mind s imagination and hopefully inspire creativity. This comprehensive educational packet is meant to prepare you and your students for your experience at the theater. The first section contains information about your arrival at the VETS Memorial Auditorium and the student s expected behavior at the theater. We hope this will answer any questions you might have. Then there is a section filled with behind-the-scenes information about the ballet. This information should inform the students about the production. They will be able to make mental connections during the show that they would not have made before. Lastly, you will find a section with classroom assignments and activities. These activities are ideas to incorporate Peter Pan into your classroom. Feel free to simplify or build upon the activities and execute them before or after the show. We hope this packet will enhance your experience of the magical ballet, Peter Pan and we cannot wait to see you in the theater next week! Sincerely, Louisa Chapman Educational Outreach Coordinator THEATER INFORMATION The performance will begin promptly at 10:00am and lasts approximately two hours, with one intermission. Let your children know, in advance, what behavior is expected of them. This is a LIVE performance. Unlike television or the movies, the people on stage are there at that moment and are dancing for the audience s pleasure. School clothes are appropriate dress, however, some children may choose to dress up. Please plan to arrive at The Vets (One Avenue of the Arts, Providence, RI 02903) at least 30 minutes prior to the performance as latecomers cannot be seated once the performance has begun. Once you arrive at the theater, please see an usher who will check your group off of our master list and direct you to your seats. No food, drink, chewing gum, skateboards, cameras, or recording equipment are allowed inside the theater. Please leave these items at home as we do not have provisions for storing them. It is important to have your children visit the rest rooms before the performance begins. It is not appropriate to visit the rest rooms during a live performance. Ushers can direct you to the restrooms.
Students should be encouraged to: Watch the dancers Listen to the music Look at the costumes and set designs THEATER ETIQUETTE FOR STUDENTS Laugh when they see the dancers do something funny Clap to show the dancers that they are enjoying the performance when the dancing has finished. It is customary to applaud when the dancers take a bow. Students should NOT be encouraged to: Talk or make noise because they might miss something important Chew gum or eat because it is disruptive to others and makes a mess at the theater. Leave their seats before the lights go on because this is very disruptive to their neighbors ACT I SYNOPSIS At the Darling family home in London, young Wendy dances in her bedroom with Nana, the dog while her brothers John and Michael pretend to be pirates and swordfight with Father. Mrs. Darling and Liza the maid enter to ready the children for bed. The playful children foil all of Mother s attempts to get them into bed and convince their parents to tell them a story. Finally peace is achieved and with the children drifting off to sleep, Mother and Father leave for a dinner party. When the coast is clear, Tinker Bell enters the nursery in search of Peter s shadow, which he lost while listening at the window to Wendy telling stories to the boys. After madly searching the room she finally finds it in the washstand. Peter enters and tries frantically to catch his shadow. Unable to do so, he slumps down beside Wendy s bed and begins to cry. Wendy awakens to see Peter crying and offers to sew his shadow back on. She is quite taken with Peter and seems to have a vague recollection of him. She offers him a kiss and when he doesn t know what that is, gives him a thimble. Peter invites Wendy to Neverland where she can be the mother and tell stories to the Lost Boys. Meanwhile Tinker Bell is very jealous and upset at Peter s attention to Wendy. After accepting Peter s invitation, Wendy wakens John and Michael who are overjoyed to see Peter and Tinker Bell in the nursery. All three children have a quick flying lesson and with the help of Tinker Bell s fairy dust take off through the nursery window. After flying over London they are off to adventures in Neverland second to the right and then straight on til morning! In Neverland, Tiger Lily, the Fairies and the Crocodile are in the lagoon when they hear the pirates coming and quickly hide. Smee tells Captain Hook that Peter has returned to the island with new treasures when suddenly the Crocodile appears and tries to get another taste of Hook. Peter brings the children to the Fairy forest where all of the sprites dance in celebration. The Lost Boys arrive and everyone is happy that Peter has returned to Neverland. But the merriment does not last long when the Pirates challenge Peter and the boys to a fight. Dueling with Hook, Peter is almost defeated, when just in the nick of time the Crocodile chases Hook away. MINDAUGAS BAUZYS AS CAPTAIN HOOK
ACT II In London, Mr. Darling and Liza try to console Mrs. Darling who is heartbroken over the disappearance of the children. Meanwhile in Neverland Wendy has settled into the role of Mother to the Lost Boys. When Peter goes to check on the island, Wendy and Tinker Bell give the boys their medicine and tuck everyone into bed for the night unaware of the adventure just ahead. The Pirates enter the underground home and capture all the children. Only Tinker Bell escapes! Captain Hook, disappointed in not finding Peter, poisons the medicine bottle in hopes that he will drink from it when he returns. Later as Peter gathers his sword and his courage before heading out to save the children, he remembers to take his medicine. But before he can, Tinker Bell drinks it herself to save Peter s life. Tinker Bell begins to fade despite Peter s attempt to revive her. She slips away. Only the Fairies, having sensed Tinker Bell weakening, are able to revive her by dancing until she is magically resurrected. On the pirate ship the new recruits are put to work. Peter flies to the ship and after a fierce battle defeats Captain Hook and the pirates. After celebrating their victory, Peter begrudgingly agrees to take Wendy, John and Michael home. Wendy is worried that her brothers are forgetting their real parents. The Fairies fly the ship home, where the children surprise Mrs. Darling in the nursery. Mr. Darling, Nana & Liza hear the commotion and rush in where they are introduced to the Lost Boys who have decided it is time to grow up. After the others leave the nursery, Wendy returns, having sensed that Peter is still nearby. He has been waiting outside the window. After a tender moment, with Peter promising to return, Wendy watches him fly off into the stars. And on to another adventure! J.M. BARRIE, AUTHOR OF PETER PAN Sir James Matthew Barrie, more commonly known as J. M. Barrie, was a Scottish novelist and dramatist. He is best known for creating the character Peter Pan, whom he based on his friends, the Llewelyn-Davies boys. Around 1898, Barrie developed a friendship with the Arthur Llewelyn-Davies family, which had a profound influence on Peter Pan. Barrie walked his dog in Kensington Gardens and there met the two oldest Llewelyn-Davies children, George and John, when their nurse brought them to the Gardens to play. He later met their parents, Arthur and Sylvia (daughter of novelist George du Maurier). His strongest friendship was with Sylvia and the five boys, whom he adored. Barrie spent hours playing with the boys, telling them stories and creating plays for them. The famous character of Peter Pan first appeared in the 1902 book The Little White Bird. Two years later, his play Peter Pan premiered on the London stage and became a great success. Barrie also wrote a book based on the play called Peter and Wendy, which was published in 1911. When Arthur and Sylvia Lewellyn-Davies both died, he in 1908 and his wife in 1910, Barrie became an unofficial guardian of their five sons, George, John, Peter, Michael and Nicholas. Barrie died in June 1937 at the age of 77, with Peter and Nicholas Llewellyn-Davies at his side. BRENNA DiFRANCESCO AS TINKERBELL J. M. BARRIE
JORDEN MORRIS, CHOREOGRAPHER OF PETER PAN A choreographer is the person who creates and arranges the movements of a dance. The Choreographer for Peter Pan is Jorden Morris. Jorden Morris is the creative mastermind behind the choreography of Peter Pan. Hailing from Banff, Alberta, Canada, Morris began his dance training at age ten. He studied at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts and then continued his training at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, Professional Division. He joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a corps de ballet member in 1987 and hailed by the Winnipeg Free Press as a future star he quickly rose to principal dancer. Morris began to study and explore choreography. His retirement from the stage in 1999 also saw the premiere of his first work, The Three Musketeers. He went on to create such works as Elle est Quatre, Faure, Pas Espagnol, and Moulin Rouge. Morris transformed a popular children s television show The Toy Castle into an interactive live dance performance. In December 2006, Royal Winnipeg Ballet presented the world premiere of Morris full-length classical ballet Peter Pan. The critically acclaimed work played to sold-out houses and has toured extensively. JORDEN MORRIS Q: What drew you to Peter Pan? QUESTIONS FOR THE CHOREOGRAPHER JM: The sense of wonder and magic that surrounds Peter and Neverland - the characters and how clear and fantastic they are the endless possibility of imagination he (author J.M. Barrie) writes about. Q: What are some of the things you need to plan for or consider when choreographing any piece? JM: You need to plan for sleepless nights, endless hours with the music score, lots of headaches and discarded ideas/choreography....but really, you need to have a relationship with the music that goes far beyond knowing it and liking it. You need be aware of how the movement fits the dancers and why. In a story ballet like Peter, you have to decide what scenes and chapters are going to be the character building scenes. Which ones are going to advance the plot, and which ones are going to create an emotional situation or reaction then future out how to put them all together as seamlessly as possible. THE MUSIC FOR PETER PAN Most ballets are performed to complete scores that a composer created specifically for the ballet. There is no classical ballet score for the story of Peter Pan however, like there is for the ballet Cinderella or The Sleeping Beauty. To solve this problem, the music for Peter Pan is written by 5 different composers who all lived in the same time period: Sir Benjamin Britten, Eric Coates, Sir Edward Elgar, Ron Goodwin, and Montague Philips. Choreographer Jorden Morris said about choosing the music, The music came about from the desire to use composers that were writing and performing music while J.M. Barrie was writing the book. It s quite possible that J.M. Barrie attended concerts of these composers while writing the book and perhaps heard some of the characters in the music. The Montague Phillips and Eric Coates have that London soundscape I was looking for as wel las certain characters theme music (i.e. Wendy, Peter), while the Elgar provides the Neverland and Ship scenes plus other character themes (Tink, Tigerlily, and Croc, etc...) SIR BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Fairies Revive Tinkerbell Sir Benjamin Britten, Fugue from The Young Person s Guide to The Orchestra, Op. 34. http://youtu.be/zzhj6ztgsem This piece of music accompanies the scene in the ballet where Tinkerbell fades because she drank poison and her fairy friends revive her through dance. Listen to the music. Does the music sound fairy like? What makes it sound fairy like: high or low instruments? Fast or slow? Steady or trilled? Do you hear how the music builds to a victorious, strong finale? In the ballet, Tinker Bell s strength builds with the music until she is revived. MUSICAL EXCERPTS BALLET BASICS Mr. and Mrs. Darling Pas de Deux Sir Edward Elgar, IX Nimrod from Variations on an Original Theme Enigma Op. 36 http://youtu.be/sugobb8m1ee This piece of music accompanies the scene opening Act II of the ballet. Mr. and Mrs. Darling are heartbroken over their missing children. Listen to the music. Does the music sound happy or sad? Why does it sound sad? Is it soft or loud? Is it fast or slow? Does it seem reflective? Mrs. Darling looks about the entire room, wistfully remembering her children and missing them. These five basic positions are the foundation for all ballet moves. They will help you understand the positions that a dancers moves through. Each position has a shape for the feet and the arms. Every ballet dancer starts with these five positions and masters them early on to be able to perform complex movements. If you master these moves you will be on your way to becoming a ballet dancer! For each of these movements you must maintain good dancing posture: Stand up tall and straight, don t let your stomach hang out or your bottom stick out. Think of having a long neck and lift the chin slightly, as if you have glitter on your cheekbones. ACTIVITY - Teach your students the first five positions of ballet: Teach the students as many or as few of these positions as they can learn. Play a game by yelling out the number of a position and having them achieve it as quickly as possible. FIRST POSITION SECOND POSITION THIRD POSITION FOURTH POSITION FIFTH POSITION Feet: Touch your heels together and turn out your legs so that feet make a very wide V-shape. Arms: Make an oval in front of your chest, like you are hugging a beach ball. Feet: Keep your legs turned out but slide your feet shoulder-width apart. Arms: Open the oval so that your elbows are in line with your shoulders. Feet: Keep your legs turned out and touch one heel in front of the arch of the other foot. Arms: Keep one arm opened to the side and cross the other one in front of your chest, like first position. Feet: From 3rd position, slide the front foot forward so they are still crossed with six inches of space between them. Arms: Keep one arm in front of your chest and lift the other one in a half oval above your head. Feet: Put one foot turned out, directly in front of the other foot. The front toe touches the back heel, and the back heel touches the front toe. Arms: Make an oval above your head with both arms.
CREATE YOUR OWN NEVERLAND Neverland is a land of dreams. All children visit it in their dreams but each child envisions the island differently. Of course the Neverlands vary a good deal. John s, for instance, had a lagoon with flamingoes flying over it at which John was shooting, while Michael, who was very small, had a flamingo with lagoons flying over it. John lived in a boat turned upside down on the sands, Michael in a wigwam, Wendy in a house of leaves deftly sewn together. John had no friends, Michael had friends at night, Wendy had a pet wolf forsaken by its parents, but on the whole the Neverlands have a family resemblance, and if they stood still in a row you could say of them that they have each other s nose, and so forth. On these magic shores children at play are for ever beaching their coracles [simple boat]. We too have been there; we can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land no more. ENGLISH J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan, Chapter One. Write a fictional story describing an adventure in your very own Neverland. In the story describe: A place in Neverland. Perhaps there is a lake of purple water surrounded by berry bushes that grow strawberries and blueberries at the same time. A character that lives in Neverland. Perhaps that character is evil and you must battle them, like captain hook or they are nice and you become friends, exploring the island together. An event that happens in Neverland. Perhaps you and your new friend fall into the purple lake when you are trying to pick berries and are rescued by giant swans swimming by. Create a map of your island of Neverland. GEOGRAPHY Draw the island as accurately as you can, showing the landscape. The island is surrounded by water but on the island show what is jungle brush, what is a lake, and if there are mountains. Use different colors and symbols to describe the topography of your island. Come up with symbols for the locations in Neverland you wrote about in your story, the home of the character you meet, where your event happens, and any extras you might want to add such as Peter Pan s house and the pirate ship. Draw a key on the map where you list and define the symbols. Put a compass rose on your map. Draw a picture of the character from your story. ART AND CHARACTER DESIGN Imagine that the ballet Peter Pan happened in your island of Neverland and your character danced and wore a costume. How would the character dance? When you draw the character you are designing their costume. Make sure to design a costume which will not be cumbersome to the dancer (i.e. they trip over it, it is too heavy, it is too large) and will enhance the look of their dancing. How would your character dance? Choose three of the positions you learned above and move from one to the other like your character would. Does your character creep and crawl? Move quick and sharp? Fly?
Choose a piece of music for your character to dance to. In a ballet, the music often describes the character and how they dance and act. There are five different pieces of music listed here all by one of the ballet s composers, Sir Edward Elgar. Explain to your class mates why you chose this piece of music. Elgar- Pomp and Circumstance Marches, No. 2 http://youtu.be/lyv1kdog170 Elgar - La capricieuse, Op.17 http://youtu.be/fzyqrglx5da Elgar- Salut d amour for violin & piano,op 12 http://youtu.be/bisdqum9n2e Elgar - pomp and Circumstance No 4. http://youtu.be/sau5vd7lc9w Elgar - Cello concerto in E Minor, Op 85, Adagio-Moderato http://youtu.be/3k79x8lbv8u -Fill out this character web listing everything about your character: http://www.teacherfiles.com/downloads/graphic_organizers/character_web.pdf List all the information you have come up with so far: where it lives, what its costume looks like, how it dances, what is its theme music, what adventure you have with it, etc. Present the character web to your class and perform your character s movements to the music SHADOW PLAY Divide students into pairs. Assign one in each pair to be Peter and the other to be his Shadow. Shadow stands in front of Peter and as Peter begins to move, Shadow mirrors him/her. Once the pair is in sync, Shadow moves behind Peter to actually shadow his/her movements. The teacher should monitor the groups, urging students to work together and move slowly. Have the pair switch roles and try it again. How is it different to mirror someone s actions as opposed to shadowing them? Is one harder than the other? Learn about the science of shadows! Observing and Drawing Shadows (adapted from Eye on the Sky Lesson Plan No. 4: http://www.eyeonthesky.org/lessonplans/04sun_shadows.html FOREVER YOUNG DISCUSSION All children, except one, grow up. The first line of the novel Peter Pan and Wendy sets the stage for a central theme of the story. Open a class discussion about what it would be like to never age or grow up. What age would students choose to be if they were to stay young forever? Why? What are some of the pros and cons of staying young? What would our world look like if everyone was young and there were no parents? What is something your parents used to have to do for you that you can now do by yourself? What things do you still need your parent s help for?
FILL-IN-THE-BLANK NEVERLAND ADVENTURE Fill in the blanks with the correct type of word to create your own adventure with Peter Pan! It can be serious or funny but get creative. Bring your adventure to the performance and put it in the basket in the lobby and we will post our favorites on the company s website, www.festivalballetprovidence.org! Peter Pan and (your name) flew off to an adventure in Neverland. They were exploring next to the lagoon and discovered a (noun) filled with (noun). All of a sudden, they were attacked by a pirate named (pirate name). He/she was named that because he/she had a (noun) instead of a (body part). Tinkerbell distracted the pirate by (verb) and Peter and (your name) defeated the pirate by (verb) with (noun). They flew back home to (place) and looked forward to their next night s adventure in Neverland!
TINKERBELL Happy thoughts make you Fly! Draw your happy thoughts around Tinkerbell:
CAPTAIN HOOK
HOW DO THEY FLY? Flying in Peter Pan, whether in the ballet or in a Broadway production, is magical. Foy enterprises (also known as Flying by Foy), the company that creates the flying sequences in this ballet, owes its existence to Peter Pan. Always interested in theater, Peter Foy was acting in a stage production of Where the Rainbow Ends in 1941. When the stage manager became ill, Peter took over the flying sequences. By 1950, as an employee of Kirby s Flying Ballets, he supervised the flying in the Broadway production of Peter Pan with Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff; and in 1954 Jerome Robbins selected him to create the magic of flight for his Broadway musical with Mary Martin. The company is now known the world over and has created the flying techniques and systems used in hundreds of movies, concerts, commercials, television shows, and theatrical productions. Foy has flown numerous stars, including Peter Pans Martin, Sandy Duncan and Cathy Rigby, as well as celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Jack Benny, Robin Williams, Sandy Duncan, Lucille Ball, Beyonce, David Letterman, Taylor Swift and Gene Kelly. Flying by Foy worked with choreographer Jorden Morris to create the flight sequences for the original production of Peter Pan for Royal Winnipeg Ballet. For FBP s production, Foy will send a Flying Director to oversee the flight set-up and choreography. The Flying Director supervises installation of the flying equipment in the theater, conducts an Introduction to Flying class for FBP dancers, fits harnesses on dancers, and solidifies the choreography with Mr. Morris and FBP Artistic Director Mihailo Djuric. For Peter Pan, Foy uses 2 track systems and 2 pendulums, requiring six operators (Vets stage hands). The track systems allow for vertical and horizontal travel, while the pendulums can only create vertical travel, though with an illusion of horizontal flight. Though the systems Foy uses are highly complex and utilize state-of-the-art technology, the company never loses sight of the intent of founder Peter Foy: to create magic in the theater. ROYAL WINNIPEG BALLET. PHOTO COURTESY OF VANCOUVER SUN. SPECIAL THANKS: Jorden Morris; Royal Winnipeg Ballet; Pittsburgh Ballet Theater; Flying By Foy; Vancouver Sun; A Cemal Ekin; Louisa Chapman