While Visions of Sugar Plums Danced in their Heads

Nutcracker 2015 Image Courtesy of ENB

If it were possible to pinpoint the single most influential and enduring cultural moment in Culturebaby's life to date, without doubt I'd look to our trip to see the English National Ballet's gloriously Edwardian and throroughly spellbinding production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker last January. I've waited until now to write it up, partly because I was fascinated to chart how far Culturebaby's devotion extended and partly because, with advent on the horizon, now is the time for us to be booking for our little sugar plums.

This production is the perfect first introduction to ballet for a child. Short, fast moving, easily intelligible and gloriously visual, the Nutcracker is thoroughly gripping throughout. The music is distinctive and memorable; the costumes the stuff of childhood dreams. The whole experience is the epitome of Christmas enchantment. If, like mine, your child is in love with their ballet slippers, I can't think of a better Christmas present. When the plastic paraphenalia of each short-lived fad is long gone, I have no doubt that this is an experience that will remain tightly woven into the fabric of her childhood memories; more valuable than toys, and with the potential to be renewed annually. Unique in many ways, the Nutcracker of course provides an additional inspiration with its host of talented children and their personification of a goal less distant for little ones than the beating of a white swan's wings...

Nutcracker  Image Courtesy of ENB

Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB

The Nutcracker was the first ballet I saw as a child and I still remember it, but it wasn't by the ENB and I wasn't three. I was initially hesitant, unsure whether this was too soon.  Would she sit still? Would she be able to concentrate? Would it be too frightening? I needn't have worried. By no means an unusual toddler, and as prone to fidgetting as any, she sat utterly entranced throughout the entire production, and not only that; she lived it daily for the following six months. Every day she requested to listen to the full ballet as she played, and on many an occasion she watched the Kirov's production on DVD and copied the steps. She created again and again the land of sweets with materials as diverse as playdoh, confectionaries and crayon. She saw the theme everywhere from the art of Hunderwasser to the decoration of a cupcake. Our old wooden nutcracker and a stuffed toy mouse were constant companions. We looked for every possible version of the story available.

Nutcracker  Image Courtesy of ENB

I have no doubt that the combination of a wonderful, Christmassy tale, with some of the most ingenious music ever composed have fuelled her adoration, but seeing such a brilliantly visual and exquisitely designed and imagined re-telling by the ENB have allowed her to relive the experience again and again.

Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB

Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB

Nutcracker Image Courtesy of ENB

Given the extent of Culturebaby's fascination, I thought we'd share some great follow on activities and reads along the theme of the Nutcracker that are all very simple to do at home.

1. Make your own land of sweets

There are so many ways to bring alive every child's wildest dreams - to reside in that most scrumptious of worlds. The Culturegrandparents know this aspiration/headache well. My ten year old birthday cake request was indeed for a replica of my favourite illustration from a childhood copy of the classic. Re-living history they purchased a range of appropriate items and began with a liquorice allsorts-man and his car...

We also had a number of great sessions with a batch of playdoh, creating cake-like structures and brightly coloured characters.

 2. Find inspiration in art - It seemed that everywhere we looked there were potential scenes from the land of sweets ready to explore. Some of Culturebaby's earliest figurative drawings featured our eponymous hero and his nemesis. She also took rather a liking to drawing fields and fields of lollypops.

In particular she adored a project we did to replicate one of the colourful artist Hunderwasser's iconic images. I will write this up in more detail soon, but this project was extremely simple. Using collages of circles of varying sizes and a range of colours and textures we made a series of very effective artworks. Immediately Culturebaby related these to the land of sweets of her own continued imagination.

 3. Imaginative and dress-up play - Such a perennial and essential element of childhood. Happily Culturegrandma located an old wooden nutcracker, and Ikea provided a rat. Slightly bewildering a choice for a mass produced stuffed toy aside, we were entirely delighted to adopt our own mouse king. Culturebaby still sleeps with him in close proximity.

4. Dancing the ballet - The Culturebabies love their ballet classes, and Culturebaby is lucky enough to be able to attend an English National Ballet Juniors class weekly, but soooo much dancing can be done at home. Juggling scarves are a great and versatile prop, as are ribbons and wands. The soundtrack of the Nutcracker is so distinctive that it is easy for even the youngest child to follow the story as the ballet plays in the background. The girls also love studying the Kirov's production on DVD and attempting to replicate steps. If nothing else, it is exceptionally cute to observe.

5. Create a Christmas-themed sensory basket

These baskets or trays are a really big hit in our household and I create different ones each season. Last year's Christmas basket featured a small Christmas tree with miniature decorations; wooden and felt snowflakes, stars, reindeer, bells, and other items to collect, match and sort;  themed clips for fine motor skill practice and characters to bring alive as they play tiny musical instruments, receive presents and help to decorate. We also had a series of DIY themed shape and colour sorting toys.

 6. Reading together - There are some fabulous versions of the Nutcracker out there specifically for young children. As a child I had a stunningly illustrated copy, most probably now out of print (which Culturebaby still adores) and I want to get my hands on Maurice Sendak's picture book, but these aside, I have five excellent recommendations that are perfect for pre-schoolers.

Firstly, a trio from Usborne. As readers know, I'm a huge fan of this publisher. Their series of young reading books which introduce classic stories from nursery rhymes to Greek myths feature in Culturebaby's bedtime selections every day. Cleverly, they have produced a staged approach to their best-loved tales for developing readers who still want to read the same classic story, but in more depth as they grow. Using the same illustrator, they have built on their gorgeous short picture book adaptation by Emma Helborough and illustrated by Anna Luraschi, which is also available as a fantastic sound book version with clips from some of the best known pieces, to produce a more complex and in depth version for older children and early readers. At present, the two girls can both enjoy the simpler version together, and Culturebaby is very taken with the 'big girl' version. Usborne has also produced a beautiful volume of Ballet Stories for Bedtime. Containing fewer (but still plenty of) illustrations and reasonably in depth text, this compendium covers not only the Nutcracker but also six other classic ballets, including some lesser-known stories to discover.

As we are devotees of the ingenious books of James Mayhew (author of the Katie series of art books) we were delighted to discover that one of the five Ella Bella books featured The Nutcracker. Ella Bella is a little ballerina who is lucky enough to regularly experience the enchantment of her ballet teacher's magical musical box. When she discovers herself alone with this box of delights, she is transported into the story and each time she helps to save the day for the characters. Aiding Clara and her prince as they seek to escape from the clutches of the mouse king, Ella Bella is transported through snow to the land of sweets and the ultimate Christmas party.

Finally, this year we have been sent a new, beautifully engineered pop-up edition of the Nutcracker story from Walker Books, illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat. For children of all ages, and indeed any adult, this simply told version of the classic story is gorgeously illustrated with characters in silhouette set against stunning skies and with splashes of coloured decoration. There is a final, exquisitely crafted, pop-up scene of the land of sweets. These theatrical images throughout the edition were inspired by the sets from the original 1892 production performed in St Petersburg. The descriptions are also simply beautiful. In this land snowflakes taste of rosebuds and raspberries, peppermint and honey; oceans are flecked with gold and "lollipops grew in the flowerbeds, lemonade flowed from the fountains, and a sherbet path twisted off into marshmallow mountains." The descriptions are sumptuous, lyrical and spellbinding. I know that Culturebaby will fall in love with it when she opens it in her literary advent calendar.

 

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of the new Nutcracker from Walker Books for review purposes, and we were given two seats to the brilliant 2014 production of the Nutcracker. All other materials are our own.

Letting the Wild In: Barrowland Ballet's Tiger Tale

Photograph courtesy of Sadlers Wells

It's been a while since I've last been able to blog; an unfortunate hangover from the heady cocktail of moving house, internet deprivation and the classical-sounding but thoroughly unpleasant labyrinthitis. At least marginally recovered from the former (we are still box-city), and set on extricating the Minotaur rumbling around in my inner ear, I'm planning on catching up a little.

Photograph courtesy of Sadlers Wells

A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to be invited along to Barrowland Ballet's captivating, multi-sensory, immersive and utterly surprising Tiger Tale. Culturebaby is ever singleminded in her desire to be a Prima Ballerina, and Culturetot is tiptoeing along in her wake, so I thought it would a great opportunity to show them a contemporary ballet, designed for families. It's not all about the tutus and sugar plums...

Tiger Tale is a simple story, told with movement. Although it can be read on a number of levels and was deeply thought provoking for adults, it was also strikingly accessible -  Culturetot at almost two seemed to understand the plot. A family, seemingly unhappy and suffering the mundanity of everyday life, continually and mechanically go through the motions of co-existence. Little love is displayed and the child in particular is driven to frustration and resentment.

Photograph courtesy of Sadlers Wells

Photograph courtesy of Sadlers Wells

Then, alarming yet ultimately delivering salvation, a tiger arrives to turn their home upside down, break down barriers, release their true nature and teach them to love again. Both heartwarming and disturbing (in a positive way), but also funny (the cheeky tiger doesn't stop at the family - he rampages through the audience causing chaos, stealing handbags and curling up on knees), the performance was ideal for the girls. At an hour long it kept them gripped. Their senses were engaged by everything from live music and innovative dance to explosions of colour (splashes of orange to represent the wild breaking through and destroying the sterility of grey space), smells (oranges everywhere!) sudden surprise sounds or arrivals, and ultimately the opportunity to explore the set and become part of the performance.

Photograph courtesy of Sadlers Wells

At the end, the wonderful dancers remained in character and drew in all the children from the audience to play, explore and experience the stage from the inside-out. I couldn't persuade the girls to leave; they even stayed to tidy up. It's hard to do justice to the intimate environment and the joy of participation experienced by all the children in the audience, but I've captured some of this with the photographs. Barrowland will be touring again next year and I'd highly recommend it for all children - toddlers upwards. The Sadlers Wells family programme was a new discovery for us last year, and this is only one of a diverse wealth of other interactive and exciting events for children.

 

To accompany the show, there's a trio of great picture books to share with younger children. The obvious choice, of course, is The Tiger who Came to Tea, by Judith Kerr. A perennial, and probably eternal, children's favourite, this classic needs little introduction. Though rather gentler in his occupation of home, the effect of Kerr's Tiger is not dissimilar to Barrowland's. Life and routine is turned on its head, the cupboards are laid bare, bathtime is cancelled and dinner becomes an exciting experience. Another quirky classic and favourite in our household is Maurice Sendak's Where The Wild Things Are. Written in 1963, I don't particularly remember this as a child, but Culturebaby received it as a present and immediately loved it. Young Max - clad in wolf costume - is sent to his room for wreaking havoc. From there he is transported to an island inhabited by ferocious beasts, which he intimidates and goes on to rule. It's a wonderful comment on the toddler's ability to behave in an entirely impulsive and feral way, and moments later return as if nothing happened to sanity and a hot meal.

Finally, we've recently discovered the gorgeous illustrations of Emily Hughes in her original picture book Wild, about a child brought up by nature and its many beasts. With teachers such as birds and bears, the child when 'rescued' by well meaning adults, cannot let go of her instinct for the wild and cannot comprehend the odd behaviour of civilized society. She returns to her roots and takes the family pets with her. It's a stunningly illustrated and thought provoking book from the brilliant British Indie publisher Flying Eye Books. I love what Brain Pickings wrote about it:

" Emanating from the playful and poetic story is a clarion call to shake off the external should’s that shackle us and stop keeping ourselves small by trying to please others, to celebrate what John Steinbeck called “the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected”. It is an invitation, at once tender and mischievous, to pause and ask, as Mary Oliver memorably did: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

 Disclaimer: We were offered tickets to the performance in exchange for an honest review. We all thought the whole experience was simply brilliant! We also received a copy of Wild for review purposes.

Into the Labyrinth

I must admit that it came as rather a surprise quite how captivated my three year old has become with the colourful literary world of Greek myths. It began with the chance find of a copy of Usborne's brilliant young reading series' The Minotaur as she browsed the library shelves. Her nursery teachers reported that she had commandeered the Montessori red maze to set up her own Cretan structure, and she drew maze after maze at any opportunity for weeks. When we could renew this book no longer, and following a trip for her jabs when she was promised a treat for being brave, aptly she chose her own copy of this aged tale of courage.

We also discovered rather quickly that there was a host of other well written, captivatingly illustrated, early reader editions of tales from Greek mythology. These have been read and read again in recent months and few other picture books have, at the prospect of being returned to the library, led to such consternation. We've started to spot favourite characters everywhere - perching above fountains, decorating the facades of buildings and nestled between other ornaments in stately homes. I've been reminded what an essential symbolic vocabulary these ancient tales provide, granting access to much of our taken-for-granted but innate understanding of the world. For we are all ultimately the cultural descendents of the ancient Greeks, and no child should be without an understanding of these fascinating tales. With Culturebaby's latest obsession - Narnia - again it is so clear that C.S. Lewis and many of his ingenious literary friends rooted their tales in both biblical and mythical worlds. Her toy Narnian centaur often travels with us...

With perfect timing, we spotted the British Museum's Defining Beauty exhibition was open, and we headed over on a day when extra Greek-themed activities had been put on for pre-schoolers. I wasn't sure whether this sort of (rather quiet and academic) exhibition would work for her, but rather than focus on the theme we chose to go on a hunt for some of our favourite characters and this worked extremely well; keeping her interested and focused throughout. We were delighted to find the holy grails of both Gorgon and Minotaur, met Athena and Zeus (who have numerous cameo appearances in our stories), and spotted centaurs and heroes Theseus and Perseus. We even sat and quietly read one of her favourite stories about the winged horse Pegasus in front of a particularly interesting statue of Athena, the goddess who helped Bellerophon to catch him and go on to defeat the ferocious Chimera. Following the exhibition we joined activities to create a Grecian figure (Culturebaby inevitably made a minotaur instead), and make our own black and red pottery designs. Whilst this exhibition closed last weekend, this sort of character hunt can be done in any good Greek gallery. The Ashmolean and British Museum permanent collections are particularly good, and of course Greek-revival designs are everywhere!

On a recent trip to Hampshire, for instance, we discovered an unexpected little treasure trove of Greek revival imagery at The National Trust's Hinton Ampner. We had a great time meandering through the rooms counting sphinxes, centaurs and greek Gods. Next I think we will try this lovely little activity from ArtHistoryMom  - an I-spy Greek-influenced architecture hunt.

The most loved of Culture-baby's books on the theme to date have been, first from Usborne, The Minotaur by Punter and Cavallini and Perseus and the Gorgon by Sims and Bursi (these are the two absolute favourites), The Story of Pegasus by Susanna Davidson and Simona Bursi, The Wooden Horse by Punter and Pincelli, The Amazing Adventures of Ulysses by Webb and Amery, Jason and the Golden Fleece by Zeff and Cartwright, Stories of Magical Animals by Watson and Price and a very simple edition of King Midas and the Gold by Frith and Sanfillipo. She's also starting to really enjoy the Greek Beasts and Heroes series by Lucy Coats and Anthony Lewis which each follow Atticus the Storyteller who shares an assortment of short tales as he travels across Greece. Likewise Hopscotch Myths' Icarus The Boy Who Flew by Wade and Lopez, Orchard Books First Greek Myths The Secret of Pandora's Box by Pirotta and Lewis, and finally Julia Green's Sephy's Story - a modern telling of Pandora's tale and why (because of naughty Pluto) we have six months of summer and six months of winter - were all great picture books.

I'd also very much recommend Usborne's brilliant Sticker Dressing Series - Greek Myths, which has served as a great joint activity and opportunity for conversation about myth and history. On the theme of the Labyrinth, she's also really enjoyed a quirky wordless book Museum Trip by Barbara Lehman where a boy gets lost in a museum and finds himself in a series of mazes, uncovering secrets and himself becoming part of the, perhaps often ignored, exhibits.

We'd love to hear about your favourite Greek myth editions for little people too, activities to bring them alive and your discoveries of favorite mythical characters lurking in nooks and crannies across the world...