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PRESENTS THE STORY OFWritten & choreographed by Stephanie DattellasArtwork by Sofia BrummittSnow White

Ballet Theatre Company501 (c)(3) not-for-profit organization20 Jefferson Ave, West Hartford, CT 06110Text copyright by Stephanie DattellasArtwork by Sofia Brummitt

The beloved fairytale originated as a story written by theBrothers Grimm in the early 19th century and has since beenretold in styles ranging from a Broadway play to Disney’s firstanimated feature film. Dattellas’ rendition of Snow White blendselements from the traditional tale with her own ballet twists,following Snow White as she experiences hardships, friendships,and unexpected trials with unwavering kindness. Written & choreographed by Stephanie DattellasArtwork by Sofia BrummittSnow White

during a winter snowfall where aQueen sits sewing by an openwindow. She accidentally pricks herfinger with her needle, causing threedrops of blood to drip onto thefreshly-fallen, white snow. The story begins1

She then says to herself, “How I wishthat I had a daughter that had skinwhite as snow, lips red as blood, andhair as black as ebony.” A short while later, the queen givesbirth to a baby daughter who shenames Snow White. Tragically, thequeen passes away during childbirth.2

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Many years later, the courtyardgarden awakens to Snow White’sloving attention. She is surrounded byflowers and her adoring bunnies,bluebirds, and butterflies. In the garden, she unexpectedly meetsa handsome stranger. They spend theday together before regrettablyparting as dusk falls.4

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Snow White’s stepmother, who tookreign as the Queen of the kingdomafter marrying Snow White’s father,consults her Magic Mirror todetermine who is the fairest in theland. Expecting to hear herselfdeclared the fairest, she is outragedwhen the Mirror reveals that SnowWhite is, indeed, the fairest of them all. 6

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The Queen sends her sirens tosummon the Huntsman, and ordershim to take Snow White into the forestand kill her.The Huntsman greets Snow White inthe Garden and convinces her totravel into the forest with everyintention of completing his order bythe Queen. However, her happyinnocence overcomes him, and hefinds that he is unable to take her life.Instead, he sends her deeper into theforest. 8

As night falls, it grows dark and SnowWhite is frightened. She continuespast terrifying sights until themorning light slowly appears,revealing a friendly looking cottage.Snow White enters the cottage andfinds no one home. Snow White tidiesup the cottage, and puts dinner on thestove before climbing into a plush bedto rest. The Dwarfs, the residents ofthe cottage, return home and awakenher. Delighted to have a guest, theyintroduce themselves: Brainy, Smiley,Timid, Snoozy, Sniffly, Grouchy, andMuzzy.9

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Back at the castle, the Queen onceagain consults the Mirror, only to hearthat Snow White still lives, shelteredby Dwarfs deep in the forest. TheQueen disguises herself as a beautifulmodiste selling handmade scarvesand sets off for the Dwarfs’ cottage. 11

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In the forest outside the cottage, themodiste (Scarf Witch) enchants SnowWhite with beautiful scarves ofdifferent fabrics and patterns. Afterthe modiste convinces Snow White totry on one of her designs, she securesthe scarf tightly around Snow White,who, overcome by its evil magic, losesher breath. The Dwarfs return home to find herlaying on the ground and hastilyunravel the scarf to revive SnowWhite. 13

Upon returning to her castle, the Queenlearns that Snow White escaped themagic scarf. She decides to return tothe cottage, this time disguised as aMerchant Woman, selling ornatejewelry and combs.14

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The Merchant Woman (Comb Witch)shows Snow White a beautiful comband places it in her hair. Snow Whiteis quickly overcome by its evil spelland passes out. When the Dwarfs return home, theyfind Snow White lying in the grass.The Dwarfs remove the comb and sheis released from its power. Worriedand not wanting to leave her alone, theDwarfs draw straws to see who willstay to protect Snow White. Muzzydraws the shortest straw, so he staysbehind as the rest go off to work. 16

The Queen again learns that SnowWhite still lives. In a fury, she flipsthrough the pages of her wickedspellbook in search of a spell thatSnow White and the Dwarfs won’t beable to thwart. The Queen discovers a spell for apoisonous apple and cackles with glee.With a shiny, very poisonous applethat looks too delicious for SnowWhite to resist, she disguises herselfas a peasant woman and sets off to theDwarfs’ cottage.17

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Muzzy and Snow White are enjoying alovely afternoon in the meadowoutside the cottage. The Queen’ssirens slip sleeping powder into hisdrink and unwittingly, he falls asleep. Without a dwarf to protect her, thepeasant woman (Apple Witch)convinces the unsuspecting SnowWhite to take a bite of a beautiful,shiny, poisonous apple. 19

The Dwarfs again return to find SnowWhite on the ground, but are unableto wake her. Furious with Muzzy, theyconfront him, only to find that he wastricked with a sleeping potion.Saddened, they prepare a beautifulresting place and say good-bye toSnow White. Muzzy sneaks off inshame. 20

In the market square, the villagers arebuying and selling their wares. Muzzyenters and asks help from the locals tofind the Prince. When Muzzy hasalmost lost hope, the Prince arrives,and Muzzy explains the situation,requesting his help. Following Muzzy, the Prince is led toSnow White, who he immediatelyrecognizes as the lovely young girlfrom the Garden. He lovingly takesher hand, and much to everyone’sdelight, Snow White awakens! Truelove has broken the spell of thepoisonous apple! 21

Distraught, the Queen arrives andseeks forgiveness. The Prince andSnow White refuse, causing theQueen to disappear forever in a puffof smoke. 22

Snow White and her Prince celebratetheir wedding and they live happily ever after.23

Snow White- Snow White isthe beautiful princess andmain character in this ballet.She shows kindness to everyliving thing, making her the“fairest of them all!” Whiletrying to escape the EvilQueen’s wrath, shebefriends the Seven Dwarfs.Evil Queen- The Evil Queenis quite jealous of herstepdaughter Snow White,whom her Magic Mirroridentifies as the “fairest ofthem all.” She attempts totake Snow White’s lifemultiple times throughoutthe ballet using her evilmagic. Main Characters 24

Main Characters The Prince- The handsome Prince shows how heroic heis when he saves the day at the end of the ballet. With atrue love’s kiss, Snow White is awakened!25Huntsman- The Evil Queen orders the Huntsman to takeSnow White into the forest and take her life. Luckily, theHuntsman reveals that he does have a heart and lets SnowWhite escape.

Main Characters Scarf Witch - The Scarf Witch is theEvil Queen disguised as a beautifulmodiste selling handmade scarves. The Scarf Witch secures a scarftightly around Snow White, who isovercome by its evil magic and losesher breath. Comb Witch- The Comb Witch is theEvil Queen disguised as a merchantwoman selling ornate jewelry andcombs. She places a beautiful combin Snow White’s hair, who isovercome by its evil magic andpasses out. Apple Witch- The Apple Witch is theEvil Queen disguised as a peasantwoman. The Apple Witch convincesSnow White to take a bite of abeautiful, shiny, poisonous apple. 26

Main Characters 27Muzzy - A little bit clumsy but also sweet, Muzzy is thesilliest out of all of the Dwarfs.Smiley - Smiley always has a giant smile on his face. He’sbound to put you in a good mood! Snoozy - Snoozy is always in the mood for a nap. Don’tinterrupt his beauty sleep!Brainy - The other Dwarfs always go to Brainy when theyhave a question. He always has the right answer andwants to share his knowledge!Sniffly - Even though Sniffly is usually feeling under theweather, he doesn’t let his runny nose get in the way of hiswork in the mines.Grouchy - Even though he is always in a bad mood, therest of the Dwarfs still love Grouchy just the same!Timid - Timid doesn’t have a lot to say and any attentionon him makes him blush. He is quite shy but he is closewith the rest of the Dwarfs.

Main Characters 28MuzzySmiley Snoozy BrainySniffly Grouchy Timid

History of Snow WhiteThe Snow White Ballet is based on the Grimmfairytale story, but you might recognize muchof the plot from the Disney movie Snow Whiteand the Seven Dwarfs. The original libretto forthis ballet, inspired by the Brothers Grimmfairytale, was written by Witold Borkowskiand Stanislav Piotrowski. Libretto means “littlebook”and it is the written text of the completeplot of a dance performance.29

The Snow White Ballet had its premiereperformance in the Czech Republic at theJanacek Theatre on May 30th, 1973.Witold Borkowski choreographed the ballet andBogdan Pawlowski composed its musical score. Many ballet companies still perform the SnowWhite ballet today with their own choreographyand some adaptations to the story.Ballet Theatre Company Artistic DirectorStephanie Dattellas’ version of Snow Whiteincludes different pieces of music from variousballets and operas such as: Swan Lake, TheSleeping Beauty, La Bayadère, and Coppélia. Source - Cinderella: An Abridged History of the Ballet The Ballet Score30

Ballet TerminologyDemi plié- a movement inwhich the dancer bends theirknees while keeping their heelson the groundBattement Tendu- when adancer stretches one leg outand points their toes whilestanding tall on their other legRetiré- a position created bybending one leg and attachingthe pinky toe to the knee of thestanding legAttitude- a position where theworking leg is lifted in the air tothe front (devant), side (a laseconde), or to the back(derrière)Arabesque- a position inwhich the weight of the body issupported on one leg, while theother leg is extended high in theback with the knee stretchedPenché- when a dancer is bentforward over one leg with theother in arabesque well above90 degreesGrand Jeté- a high jump withone leg stretched out front andthe other behind in a split Pas de Deux- the Frenchphrase "pas de deux" translatesto "step of two", and this refersto a routine performed by twodancers working together31

dancebtc.orgChoreographed by Stephanie DattellasArtwork by Sofia BrummittSnow White